Discovery Questions You Always Should Ask
Have you ever wondered why some meetings feel like a breakthrough, while others seem to tread water? A significant factor lies in the art of asking the right questions.
Successful Account Executives and Project Managers spend more than 50% of their meeting time engaging in deep, exploratory conversations. This article aims to equip you with the mastery of discovery questions — a tool paramount in uncovering the true needs, challenges, and aspirations of your clients or projects. From the initial inquiry to peeling back the layers of your client’s priorities, we will guide you through strategic questioning that builds a robust foundation for successful outcomes.
Discovery Questions To Always Ask
Exploring the Art of Discovery Questions
At the heart of every successful meeting, whether it’s a kick-off call, an account management session, or a sales pitch, lies a series of crafted discovery questions. These questions serve as the compass that navigates through the conversation, directing it toward the unearthing of clients’ needs, the challenges they face, and the goals they aim to achieve.
It’s about moving beyond the what and the how, and probing into the why. Strategic questioning opens up a dialogue that encourages openness, fosters mutual understanding, and aligns expectations. It’s this level of engagement that sets the stage for a partnership characterized by trust, collaboration, and ultimately, success.
Initial Inquiry: What prompted you to take this meeting with me today?
Posting the question, “What prompted you to take this meeting with me today?”, does more than merely kick-start a conversation. This inquiry acts as a bridge, connecting two shores: the potential client’s current position and the outcomes they envision. It’s a question that, at first glance, seems simple yet unfolds layers of understanding, setting a precedent for the remainder of the dialogue.
Encouraging openness from the get-go paves the way for a dialogue rich in authenticity and depth. It signals to the client that their needs and challenges are valid and that the meeting aims to address them head-on.
This initial inquiry serves multiple purposes:
It aligns expectations, ensuring both parties understand the purpose and potential outcome of the meeting.
It fosters a sense of openness, creating an environment where the client feels comfortable sharing their true challenges and goals.
It positions you as a strategic partner, not just a service provider, indicating your interest in understanding and addressing the core of the client’s needs.
This strategic inquiry is not just about gathering information; it’s about building a relationship foundation based on mutual understanding and respect.
Envisioning Future Success: The 12-Month Roadmap
A visionary approach to discovery questions is asking clients to imagine a successful future post-engagement, specifically focusing on the outcomes they wish to achieve. This forward-thinking query not only encourages clients to think big but also aligns their vision with actionable goals. Let’s explore how this tactic benefits both parties involved, fostering a partnership that’s geared toward success from the outset.
Articulating Long-term Goals: The power of this approach lies in its ability to help clients articulate their long-term objectives. By asking them to envision where they want to be in 12 months, you’re not just focusing on the immediate challenges but are also setting the stage for a deeper conversation about their broader goals. This clarity serves as a roadmap, guiding the partnership toward achieving these milestones.
Identifying Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Success Metrics Early On: An integral part of envisioning future success involves identifying how this success will be measured. By discussing the desired outcomes early in the relationship, you can establish clear KPIs and success metrics. This not only ensures that both parties have a shared understanding of what success looks like but also enables the tracking of progress toward these goals, making adjustments as necessary.
Fostering a Results-oriented Mindset: Focusing on the outcomes from the very beginning cultivates a results-oriented mindset. This perspective ensures that every action taken is a step toward achieving the client’s envisioned success. It prioritizes outcomes over outputs, thereby aligning efforts with the ultimate goals of the partnership.
Highlighting the Value of the Potential Partnership: When clients articulate what success looks like to them, they inherently outline the value they see in the potential partnership. This shared vision of success strengthens the relationship, as it transitions from a transactional interaction to a strategic partnership with a clear and common goal.
Encouraging Strategic Thinking: Asking clients to envision their future success encourages strategic thinking. It prompts them to consider not just the immediate solutions to their problems but also how these solutions fit into their long-term plans. This strategic approach ensures that the solutions proposed will not only address current issues but also contribute to the achievement of broader objectives.
By incorporating this strategy of envisioning a successful future through the 12-month roadmap question, professionals can unlock several benefits:
Clarity in long-term goals, making it easier to strategize and prioritize actions.
Alignment on what success looks like, ensuring both parties work towards the same objectives.
A focus on results, which elevates the partnership from merely transactional to strategically impactful.
By fostering a results-oriented mindset from the start, both parties position themselves for a successful and fulfilling collaboration that meets and exceeds the set objectives.
From Problems to Stories: Finding the Emotional Core
Transforming the conventional discovery process into an engaging narrative journey, where clients recount the moment they recognized a challenge as a problem. This storytelling technique not only captivates but also offers profound insights into the emotional core of the client’s needs and pain points.
Deepening Empathy and Understanding: The act of storytelling fosters a unique connection between the speaker and the listener. When clients narrate their experiences, it allows professionals to see the world from their perspective, cultivating a deeper sense of empathy.
Techniques for Engaging Clients in Storytelling:
Active Listening: Demonstrating genuine interest in the client’s story encourages them to open up and share more freely. Active listening involves nodding, maintaining eye contact, and interjecting with questions or comments that show engagement and understanding.
Encouraging Specifics: Asking for specific details about the challenge helps clients to paint a vivid picture of their experience. This can lead to a richer, more detailed narrative that provides deeper insights into their needs.
Creating a Safe Space: Ensuring the client feels comfortable and secure to share their story without judgment is essential. A supportive environment encourages openness and vulnerability, key for authentic storytelling.
The Impact of Narrative on Memory and Decision-Making: Stories have a unique ability to stick in our minds, far more than facts or data. By framing challenges as stories, professionals can make their proposed solutions more memorable and impactful. Furthermore, stories can influence decision-making by evoking emotions, making the case for a particular course of action more compelling.
Seeking Clarity and Admitting Uncertainty
In the realm of meetings, especially those centered around discovery and understanding, the ability to seek clarity and admit uncertainty stands as a hallmark of effective communication. We should emphasize the importance of not just asking follow-up questions but also acknowledging when a point or concept remains unclear. This approach, rooted in vulnerability and honesty, not only builds trust with clients but also ensures a thorough comprehension of their needs and perspectives.
Examples of Seeking Clarity:
Asking for Examples: When a concept or statement is vague, requesting specific examples can illuminate the underlying issue and lead to a more concrete discussion.
Paraphrasing for Confirmation: Reiterating the client’s points in one’s own words can confirm understanding or reveal discrepancies that need clarification.
Acknowledging Gaps in Understanding: Simply stating, “I want to make sure I fully understand this; could you elaborate on…?” opens the door for clients to provide more detail.
In-Depth Discussions Through Follow-Up Questions: Follow-up questions serve as a tool to dig deeper into the client’s responses, peeling back layers that might not be revealed through surface-level inquiry. This technique allows professionals to uncover the root causes of challenges, the nuances of what the client values, and the specifics of what they envision as success.
Commitment to Truly Understanding the Client’s Perspective: At the core of seeking clarity and admitting uncertainty is a profound respect for the client’s viewpoint. It signifies an openness to learning and adjusting one’s approach based on the client’s feedback. This commitment fosters a collaborative environment where both parties feel heard and understood, paving the way for more personalized and effective solutions.
Peeling Back the Layers: The Priority Question
In the intricate dance of discovery within professional interactions, “What is making this such a priority right now?” emerges as a pivotal question posed by Speaker 0. This inquiry, seemingly simple at its core, acts as a lever to unearth the underlying urgency or motivations propelling the client’s current needs. The essence of this question lies not in the surface-level response it garners but in the depth of understanding it facilitates, enabling professionals to tailor solutions that resonate closely with the client’s immediate and critical challenges.
Deep Listening and Empathy in Action:
Reflecting and Validating Feelings: When a client expresses frustration or concern, acknowledging these feelings (“It sounds like this has been a significant challenge”) validates their experience and encourages openness.
Summarizing to Ensure Understanding: Periodically summarizing the conversation’s key points ensures alignment on both sides and can prompt clients to disclose additional information or correct misunderstandings.
Tailoring Solutions to Address Core Issues:
Customizing the Approach: Adjusting methodologies or strategies to better suit the client’s timeline, budget, or operational capacity.
Setting Clear Expectations: Based on the priorities identified, outlining realistic goals and milestones that reflect the client’s urgency and desired outcomes.
Building a Strategic Partnership: Demonstrating a willingness to work closely with the client, adjusting plans as needed, and maintaining open lines of communication throughout the project lifecycle.
Cheat Sheet: You’ve Scrolled This Far
The Top Questions You Should Ask During a Discovery Call
What prompted you to take this meeting with me today
Let’s pretend it’s 12 months from now. You’ve hired me, we’ve done the training, and you’re looking back. What do you need to accomplish in order to come back to your team and be like, I’m so glad we made this investment?
(When a client discusses a problem) when was the moment you realized that was a problem?
What impact does this challenge have on your operations?
What is making this such a priority right now?