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Many sales and presales practitioners say they are skilled at doing discovery – but are they?
Here’s a simple method to assess yourself or your team, based on seven levels of increasing proficiency:
- Nivel 1: Uncovers statements of pain.
- Nivel 2: Uncovers pain and explores more deeply.
- Nivel 3: Uncovers pain, explores deeply, broadens the pain and investigates the impact.
- Level 4: Uncovers pain, explores and broadens, investigates impact and quantifies.
- Nivel 5: Uncovers pain, explores and broadens, investigates impact, quantifies and reengineers vision.
- Level 6: Applies these skills across the Technology Adoption Curve, “burn victims”, disruptive and new product categories, transactional sales cycles, and other scenarios.
- Nivel 7: Integrates and aligns the skills above into a cohesive discovery methodology.
Pre-Assess
Before reading on, take a moment and decide where you (or your team) stand on these Levels…
Now, let’s explore each briefly.
Nivel 1
When doing discovery, if you or your colleagues simply uncover “Pain” and go no further, then you and they are novices!
For example, your prospect offers, “Our current process is manual…” Many vendors leap to propose a solution at this point. Sadly, that’s what happens in far too many “discovery calls.”
Operating at Level 1 can barely be called “doing discovery”! It is clearly insufficient and results in losses to more competent vendors and Sin decisión outcomes.
Let’s go a bit deeper…
Nivel 2
Vendor reps with slightly better discovery skills ask follow-up questions to explore the prospect’s pain more deeply. For example:
El cliente potencial dice: "Nuestro proceso actual es manual...".
El vendedor responde: "Siento oírlo, ¿por qué es un problema?".
El cliente potencial responde: "Bueno, se tarda demasiado en obtener los informes que necesitamos y a menudo hay errores en los informes...".
This represents a step up in skills attainment to Level 2. The pain is a bit deeper and broader, but we can go much further!
Nivel 3
Practitioners at Level 3 seek to understand more about the impact of the pain on the prospect’s immediate and extended organization. Let’s continue the conversation:
El cliente potencial dice: "Nuestro proceso actual es manual...".
El vendedor responde: "Siento oírlo, ¿por qué es un problema?".
El cliente potencial responde: "Bueno, se tarda demasiado en obtener los informes que necesitamos y a menudo hay errores en los informes, debido al proceso manual..."
El vendedor pregunta: "¿Qué contienen estos informes y cómo se utilizan?".
El cliente potencial responde: "Bueno, los informes nos permiten saber dónde tenemos problemas que resolver. Cuando los informes llegan tarde -que es casi siempre-, el retraso se traduce en clientes internos descontentos..."
Esta conversación continúa, explorando el contenido de los informes, cómo se consumen, la naturaleza de los problemas, cómo afecta a la población usuaria y cómo afecta el proceso a las metas y objetivos del cliente potencial.
This discussion broadens and deepens the exploration of the pain and seeks to look beyond the workflow. Who else is impacted and in which departments? Is this a local pain or something that affects the organization more extensively?
El nivel 3 consiste en comprender impacto.
Where can we go from here? To uncover value!
Nivel 4
At Level 4, customer-facing vendor reps cuantifique el dolor, utilizando los propios números del cliente potencial. Por ejemplo:
El vendedor dice: "Usted señaló que se tarda mucho en hacer estos informes, ¿cuánto se tarda hoy?".
El cliente potencial responde: "Oh, tarda una semana - 5 días laborables...".
El vendedor pregunta: "¿Cuánto tiempo le gustaría que tardara -o necesitaría que tardara- para sentir que ha abordado realmente este problema?".
El cliente potencial responde: "Bueno, si pudiéramos hacer esto con precisión en medio día, sería estupendo...".
Ahora tenemos un Delta of value: The difference between the prospect’s current state and their desired future state of 4.5 days. Our vendor should further explore this by asking how often the reports are generated, how often errors occur (and what happens when they do) and how much time is consumed by the team creating these reports.
Las respuestas a estas preguntas podrían dar lugar al siguiente intercambio:
Vendor summarizes, “So, if I understand correctly, generating these reports is currently consuming nearly 1.5 FTEs annually, and taking 4½ days longer than you want. In addition you said it is causing low internal NPS numbers for you and your team.”
El cliente potencial responde: "Así es, y hasta ahora no había interiorizado el coste total de este problema...".
Las competencias de nivel 4 consisten en descubrir valor.
¿Podemos hacerlo mejor? Absolutamente...
Nivel 5
Profesionales de nivel 5 rediseñar la visión que tiene el cliente potencial de una solución.
Frequently, prospects are sin saberlo of what is posible with your offerings. Their understanding is limited to the information that you have made publicly available, which is almost certainly a subset of what your product(s) can do!
Continuing the conversation from above, our vendor asks the prospect to describe or share an example of the report currently used. After viewing the report, the vendor realizes that it is lacking certain capabilities or possibilities, and explores these with the prospect:
Vendor notes, “It looks like you have a good basic view of the what’s working and what’s not in these reports, but they are static, if I understand correctly… Would it be useful or interesting to be able to drill down to find the root causes, right from the report?”
Prospect responds, “Wow, yes that would be terrific – that would save a lot of time…!” [How mucho time savings might also be explored here…]
Nuestro proveedor ha propuesto ahora una versión mejorada del informe y el cliente potencial está de acuerdo en que sería mejor. Este es un ejemplo de reingeniería de la visión: En más allá de your prospect’s initial vision of a solution.
La capacidad de ejecutar este tipo de Reingeniería de Visión es una habilidad de Nivel 5.
Level 5 – With a Differentiating Twist
La reingeniería de la visión es también an opportunity to outflank competition.
In our example conversation, our vendor realizes that they have a relevant capability that is not matched by the competition and introduces it using a Biased Question:
El vendedor señala: "Muchos de nuestros clientes, en situaciones similares a la que usted ha descrito hasta ahora, consideran muy útil que estos informes se envíen automáticamente a los consumidores a través de un enlace de correo electrónico - pero sólo when there was a problem to be addressed. Our customers report that they didn’t waste time accessing reports where there were no issues – in some cases, they reported saving several hours every week. Is this a capability you’d también te gustaría tener?"
El cliente potencial responde: "¡Vaya, sí, eso también sería muy útil para nosotros...!".
El vendedor ofrece: "Genial, planeemos incluirlo en la demo...".
Here, our vendor rep has introduced the alert-based capability – a key differentiator – and turned it into a Specific Capability that the prospect wants and expects in their solution.
Folks operating at Level 5 not only reengineer vision but also outflank their competition.
Breve digresión
Hemos esbozado una subconjunto of discovery skills to enable an easy assessment of discovery skill levels. There are many other skills not addressed in this simple ranking system, including managing timing and flow, probing methods, workflow analysis, going beyond the workflow, starting discovery, individuals vs. groups, “Why” questions, culture and uniqueness, and more.
The take-away is simple: There’s much more to be learned than what is represented in the 5 skills levels defined so far! Which takes us to…
Nivel 6
The skills and levels outlined above are terrific for “standard” prospects, but sadly there is no such thing as a “standard” prospect! While many prospects fit within a reasonable range of situations and experiences, there are numerous types that extend well beyond the norm.
These include “burn victims”, prospects on different portions of the Technology Adoption Curve, prospects for disruptive and new product categories, repeat vs first-time buyers, working with the C-Suite, transactional sales cycles, and other scenarios.
Las víctimas de quemaduras ofrecen un buen ejemplo para explorar...
Víctimas de quemaduras: miedo al riesgo sin recompensa
"¿Ha intentado arreglar esto antes?". Las respuestas a esta pregunta pueden arrojar información interesante y a veces sorprendente.
Customers who tried to address problems previously and failed are known as “burn victims” and they tend to be very careful about subsequent solution proposals!
A “Yes” response requires careful follow-up questions. “What happened?” is a good starting point. You want to understand what actions were taken, what tools were purchased, what was implemented, when this all took place, and what were the outcomes for the individual, as well as the organization and others who were impacted.
There is great risk in change, often accompanied by fear and loathing. And for good reason!
Have you ever seen an implementation effort fail? Have you ever met a customer who was unable to gain the desired value from an offering? Have you ever encountered someone who had to roll back to a previous solution?
En las conversaciones de descubrimiento, debe determinar si su cliente potencial fue una víctima de quemaduras y luego explorar exactamente what happened. Only by hearing and understanding your prospect’s sad story can you convince them that the same thing won’t happen with you as the vendor!
Nivel 6 revisado
Otro ejemplo es el inherente al abanico de personalidades asociadas a las diferentes posiciones en el Curva de adopción de la tecnología. Innovators tend to require very little discovery: They often synthesize use cases on their own! Early Adopters are similar, but typically desea a reasonable level of discovery to confirm their own opinions.
Early Majority prospects differ, sometimes greatly, from Late Majority players in the level of proof required and the amount of corresponding discovery they need. Whereas Early Majority individuals may be satisfied with a Technical Proof Demo, as you move to the right on the curve they’ll start to require POCs.
Late Majority players are much more likely to pursue an RFP process (and even further to the right expect an RFI seguido by an RFP and a high probability that the entire effort will end in a “No Decision” outcome!).
Los rezagados pueden nunca make a change and no amount of discovery will satisfy!
For another Level 6 example, consider transactional sales processes, where opportunity size is small and interactions with prospects are brief. These scenarios require yet another version of discovery (and demo) skills.
Los profesionales de nivel 6 dominan los dos métodos de interrogación/probación y aplicación de estas competencias a las circunstancias especiales de la población "no estándar".
¿Y ahora qué?
Nivel 7
The skills discussed so far are just that – a set of individual skills – which leads to, “when and how should these various skills be applied?”
Should a discovery conversation comience with an exploration of “pain” or address prospect pain and solution vision later on? Are there best practices for timing and flow? How do you change topics; when do you employ Preguntas sobre la ampliación para profundizar; cuáles son las buenas contrapartidas que se pueden ofrecer por el camino; cómo saber si se ha cubierto lo suficiente...
¿Y cómo puede usted, como organización, ensure that the output of your discovery conversations is consistent within your team? How do you avoid CRM “Discovery” notes from untrained reps that consist of, “It’s a enorme oportunidad"?
The answer is that discovery must be perceived as an integrated, cohesive metodología - donde las competencias individuales se aplican en un proceso estructurado y repetible.
Una analogía - ¡Construyamos una casa!
Contemplate a range of construction skills: The ability to hammer nails, drill holes, saw wood, pour cement, connect wiring, plumb sinks and drains, install drywall, paint, etc. Each of these skills takes time to learn and master.
Building a complete house requires these skills y tiempos y flujos coordinados.
In order to know what to build, an architect generates plans and a full set may include separate pages for the foundation, framing, plumbing plan, electrical and lighting, heating and cooling, roof and exterior, interior finish, cabinetry and fittings, and more.
The contractor takes the plans and coordinates the timing and flow of each step: That’s the metodología of construction! You can’t install light fixtures and electric wiring until the framing is in place, but you also need to do the electrical antes de tabiquería seca interior y acabado.
And imagine the disaster if a concrete foundation is poured and entonces ¡el contratista se da cuenta de que primero deberían haberse instalado los conductos de fontanería y electricidad...!
La metodología es lo que coordina las habilidades individuales con el ritmo y el flujo correctos.
Volver al Nivel 7 - El descubrimiento como metodología
Our construction contractor works from a set of architect plans to know what needs to be built. Over a period of years, they have acquired the knowledge to lay out the timing, assemble the appropriate skilled workers as needed and direct them. (And there are numerous books that lay out the process – a quick search on Amazon shows dozens.)
Similarly, seasoned sales and presales practitioners with many years of experience may have synthesized their own, personal discovery methodologies, but each will have strengths, weaknesses, gaps and additions based on their personal experiences. What is needed is an organización discovery methodology: that’s Level 7!
At the simplest, this means that vendor teams need discovery outlines or templates predefined with recommended flow and timing. A completed discovery document for a prospect is the output of the process and such completed discovery documents should look similar from sales rep to rep, presales practitioner to practitioner, and customer success manager to manager.
A successful discovery methodology works comfortably for both prospect and vendor. At the end of the conversation(s), the prospect feels fully “heard” and the vendor feels fully enabled to propose a precise solution.
La evaluación del Nivel 7 incluye dos "cifras de mérito":
- Su organización ejecuta competencias de Nivel 5 como mínimo (y de Nivel 6 para la gama típica de prospectos que encuentra).
- 2. You have consistent capture and documentation of the discovery information defined as the complete set necessary to propose precise solutions, and to implement and enable your customers to achieve the agreed-upon value.
(Hint: If your customer success team is confused or unclear about your new customers’ goals, use cases, and success criteria, based on your internal documentation, you definitely aren’t at Level 7!)
Siete niveles de destreza para hacer descubrimientos
Recapitulando:
- Nivel 1: Uncovers statements of pain.
- Nivel 2: Uncovers pain and explores more deeply.
- Nivel 3: Uncovers pain, explores deeply, broadens the pain, and investigates the impact.
- Level 4: Uncovers pain, explores and broadens, investigates impact, and quantifies.
- Nivel 5: Uncovers pain, explores and broadens, investigates impact, quantifies, and reengineers vision.
- Level 6: Applies these skills across the Technology Adoption Curve, including burn victims, disruptive and new product categories, transactional sales cycles, and other scenarios.
- Nivel 7: Integrates and aligns the skills above into a cohesive discovery methodology.
These seven levels represent a simple method of assessing the state of your discovery skills.
Reassess
Now, that you’ve consumed these definitions and examples, reassess where you (or your team) are. How does your new assessment compare with what you thought at the beginning of this article? Most people, when they are honest with themselves, are operating at Level 2 or 3!
And in the spirit of “Never Stop Learning,” where can you (or your team) improve?
(Póngase en contacto con nosotros si desea explorar la posibilidad de aplicar las competencias y la metodología de Doing Discovery en su organización...)
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To learn the methods introduced above, consider enrolling in a Great Demo! Descubrimiento o GREAT DEMO! Workshop. For more demo and discovery tips, best practices, tools and techniques, explore our librosblog y artículos en las páginas de Recursos de nuestro sitio web en https://GreatDemo.com y únete al Gran demostración y grupo de LinkedIn "Doing Discovery para aprender de los demás y compartir sus experiencias.