SalesMentor Discovery call coaching Discovery Call Coach · USD 39
You talk for 71 percent of a discovery call
Five calls reviewed. One habit is costing you more than every objection you have asked about.
You asked for help with objection handling. Across five calls you received four objections and handled three of them well. The problem is earlier: you are answering questions nobody asked, for two thirds of the call, and the objections you get are the ones your own explaining creates.
Seventy one percent talk time against a healthy range of about 40 to 45 for discovery. In all five calls you moved into demonstrating the product within the first six minutes, before you knew what the buyer was trying to fix.
The pattern
What happens in the first ten minutes
| Minute | What you did | What was available |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 2 | Rapport, fine | |
| 2 to 4 | Asked what problem they were solving | Good. This is the right question |
| 4 to 5 | They gave a two sentence answer | Follow up. Ask why that matters now |
| 5 to 6 | You started explaining the product | Too early. You know almost nothing yet |
| 6 to 19 | Demo and feature explanation | Demonstrating against a guess |
| 19 to 24 | They raised two objections | Both created by features they did not need |
| 24 to 26 | You handled the objections well | Genuinely well |
| 26 to 28 | Call ended, no next step | Ask for one. Every time |
This is Call 4, and the shape is the same in four of five. The two objections at minute 19 were about features you had spent eight minutes on and they had never asked about. You handled them skilfully. They should not have existed.
Drills
Three things to practise
- Drill 1
The three follow-ups rule
Every time a buyer answers a question, ask three more before you say anything about your product. Why now, what have they tried, and what happens if they do nothing. The third one is the most useful question in sales and you have never asked it in five calls.
- Drill 2
No demo before minute fifteen
Artificial, and that is the point. You currently demo at minute six. Forcing fifteen means the nine minutes in between have to be filled with questions, which is the behaviour you are trying to build.
- Drill 3
Say the next step out loud, every call
Two of five calls ended with no agreed next step. The sentence is: based on what you have said, the useful next step is X, does that work? You do not have to be smooth. You have to say it.
| Instead of saying | Try |
|---|---|
| Let me show you how it works | Before I show you anything, what would need to be true for this to be worth changing? |
| We also do X and Y | Which of those matters to you, if either? |
| Does that make sense? | What is your reaction to that? |
| I will send you some information | What would you want to see to decide? |
| Let me know if you have questions | Shall we put 20 minutes in for Thursday? |
| Sorry, I know I have talked a lot | Nothing. Just stop talking |
The last row appears because you said a version of it in three of five calls. Apologising for talking too much and then continuing is worse than either talking or stopping.
Next call
Three objectives, measurable
- Ask at least eight questions before minute fifteen
- Do not demonstrate anything before minute fifteen
- Ask what happens if they do nothing
- Talk time under 55 percent, measured not estimated
- Agree a next step out loud before the call ends
- Record it and send it to me
Over to you
Two questions
- When the buyer went quiet at minute five, what did the silence feel like? Most founders fill it because silence feels like the call is dying. It is usually the buyer thinking.
- Call 3 was your best call by every measure. What was different about it? If the honest answer is that you liked them, that is worth knowing, because it means the behaviour is available to you and is currently triggered by chemistry rather than by choice.
You are selling the way people sell when they are worried the call will end without them having said the important thing. The important thing is what the buyer says, and you cannot get to it while you are talking.
Coach note