Every prospect today expects the salespeople to be well-informed about their needs and demands. 

Nothing is more irritating than answering 20 discovery call questions and wondering if you will ever see your requested demo. 

This is where sellers do make the colossal mistake of asking a bundle of discovery questions. The reason is their prospects consider them as a bunch of fools who do not know much about their business. This is where the post-creditability vanishes. 

The SaaS buying process drags along even further.  

But do not worry, as today, with the help of powerful professional networks like LinkedIn, it is easier to comprehend your prospects’ goals and their pain points while navigating through your sales process.  

But the bad news is, you will not get everything readymade on the internet. It would help if you asked the right questions to truly comprehend how your B2B SaaS product can aid your prospect.  

Five must-ask questions during discovery calls for a B2B SaaS product  

Discovery calls require one to be focused, dedicated, and agile. The agenda of the call needs to be clear, guiding needs to be right, and the sales professional needs to prepare for any questions that may come their way.

1. Why is now the right time for you to try something new and fresh, i.e., an untried product? 

This is the first question in your discovery call checklist. Customers approach sellers when they need something new. Companies need to change the way they think and perform certain activities. You need to know why this is the right time to try a product. What needs does it solve? What are its priorities? Has anyone used it before? Understanding the scope of work, goals, possibilities, and processes helps align needs and create support accordingly. You need to ensure the time is right for a certain product and then communicate the same to prospects.

2. If we crack this deal, how will your business be affected in the long run? 

You need to set expectations with the seller and buyer. This question in your discovery call list will help you understand the customer-client relationship better.  You need to know and understand business needs to align them with product features. This will help set up a successful sales cycle and increase the chances of success. You can create sets of how some prospects will be affected by business decisions in the long run. For example- You can map how a certain industry reacts to a product and why. This is a question you must know an answer to as a salesperson.

3. What is your overall software process, and how does it look like? 

Another question to ask is how the software process looks like. You can understand how the buyer evaluates software which will help plan the next steps. The software process can be cumbersome in some companies. Every B2B salesperson will need to get answers on some questions such as-

• Who is the key person involved for approval?
• Is there another company whose decision is important- maybe a parent company?
• Which teams will evaluate the sign-off?

These points will fit your product in with potential buyers and help with furthering the process.

4. Would you mind elaborating on the best way to prove value to you and your teams? 

Demos are the biggest deal-deciders. They can either make the deal or break it. An irrelevant demo may be bad for a good prospect. You can instead ask the prospect for guidance and create a product tour. You can gain more value by knowing how the product will affect sales pipelines. You can find out more details about the product, inspect information, and know more deals. Here are some of the questions for which you are looking for appropriate answers:

• How do you think your sales pipeline can be improved?
• How would you connect to understand how sales deals are going on?
• What do you wish was different about the way things worked?
• How are you updating sales reps’ opportunities?

With this, you will get clarity on what works for customers and why. This question during the discovery call will help understand targeting and customer segmentation better.

5. How are you planning to grow in the near future? 

The final question during sales reps’ discovery calls are the most important one. High growth for any company means higher goals, more stakes, and increasing expectations. Goals can be different for everyone. For some companies, the goal is better companies or deals onboard. In some cases, a company wants better opportunities. Customer retention can be the priority for the same. To get customers to do that, you need to show customer stories, testimonials, reviews, and other proof of concept. This can help them achieve the goals they want to. This can be done with customer segmentation and appropriate advertising. 

4 Step Guide to Getting Your Discovery Calls Right

Planning: Planning and organizing the discovery call.

Reviewing: Please take a look at your agenda and review it clearly.

Repeating: Look at discovery calls made earlier. Notice patterns where people felt like they nailed it.

Improvising: In this, improvising is the key. You need to improvise and make changes to your discovery call script.

Final Words 

These are some of the must-ask questions that will help you learn about your prospects’ expectations and help you deliver what you promise.  

You can always customize some of them to fit into your B2B SaaS product offering and your ideal customer profile. 

These are some of the questions that will help you comprehend the next phase of your prospect’s growth. And such information is not readily available on the internet! 

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