The Sales Discovery Call. What Exactly Is It?

Sales Discovery calls are necessary in every industry and niche. They allow you – the salesperson or entrepreneur – to forge a meaningful connection with a prospect. Over the course of the sales process, you’ll probably make a lot of phone calls.

Scary I know, but stick with me…

I’d argue that no call is more important than the first one.

Why?

Because that first call is where you’ll lay the groundwork for everything that follows. It’s known as the sales discovery call – and if you can master it, you’ll be well on your way to success.

In this post, I’ll talk about what a sales discovery call is, why it matters, and what makes it preferable to an MLM 3-way call. Here’s what you need to know.

What is a Sales Discovery Call?

Let’s start with the basics. A sales discovery call is the initial sales call you make after getting a lead. It doesn’t matter how the lead comes to you. It could be via your opt-in form, a social media post or message, or as a referral.

The word ‘discovery’ should tell you a lot about what the call is supposed to accomplish. It’s your job, during the sales discovery call, to discover as much as you can about the prospect.

It’s a fact-finding mission disguised as a conversation.

It’s important not to go in with any preconceived notions about what you’re going to hear. Presumably the lead has at least some interest in your product or opportunity. You know that, but don’t make any assumptions about what else you’ll learn.

For that reason, the questions you ask on a sales discovery call should be open questions. Asking yes or no questions is only going to get you so far. (I learned this the hard way) Open-ended questions allow your prospect to talk about the things that are most important to them.

That means you get to listen – and learn.

Why Are Sales Discovery Calls Important?

If you’re not currently making sales discovery calls – or thinking of your initial call as a sales discovery call – you might be wondering why they’re important. Or, you might be wondering whether they’re necessary at all.

The sales discovery call is an essential part of nurturing a lead. Here are some key statistics about the importance of lead nurturing:

• 74% of all companies worldwide say that lead nurturing is a priority for them
• 96% of visitors come to websites without any intention of making a purchase – meaning that they need help to get to the buying stage
• 53% of businesses say it takes longer than they would like to get a lead to convert
• 50% of marketers say their number one priority is to increase the number of leads to conversions

What do these stats tell us?

First, they let us know that you’ll need to work if you want to convert casual visitors to your social media post, blog, or landing page to paying customers. It’s not reasonable to expect them to dive right in and make a purchase.

It also lets us know that lead nurturing matters to consumers. 50% of consumers will ultimately choose the business that responds to them the fastest when there are multiple options available to them.

Personalized, prompt attention shows customers that you care about them and their needs.

What’s more, a personal sales discovery call may allow you to cut down the time it takes to convert a lead into a paying customer. Building a personal connection means that you can bypass the automated hype that most marketers use and speak directly to your lead, who – let’s face it – is the only person whose opinion of you matters.

Sales Discovery Calls vs. MLM 3-Way Calls

If you’ve ever been part of an MLM, you know that the MLM 3-way call is the industry standard. But should it be? I think the answer’s no, although there are a lot of people who would disagree with me.

The argument that MLM 3-way calls are effective is old and, frankly, dusty. It’s an outdated way of doing business. Here’s why I think that sales discovery calls are more effective – by far – than MLM 3-way calls.

1. The MLM 3-way call takes away your authority and puts it into the other person’s hand. It sends the not-so-subtle message that you’re not qualified to tell your prospect about the MLM opportunity because you’re working to convince them that they need to get on the phone with your upline. Why do that when you can simply make the sale yourself?

2. Your prospect will already have started to build a personal connection with you, even if it’s only via email or a few text messages. They’re not going to know the other person on the 3-way call, and they may be reluctant to get on the phone with them when they’ve already made their first connection with you.

3. A 3-way call may erode your ability to do additional lead nurturing because it sets you up as someone who is not an expert about your business. If you’re the one who’s got to keep the lead on the line and ultimately close the deal, it simply doesn’t make sense to bring a third party in at an early stage.

Some introverts like the 3-way call because it takes some of the pressure of interaction away from them.

I totally get that!

 I also understand that when you’re a new distributor you won’t feel confident about talking about the company. However, when you understand that YOU are your business and that is what people are signing up with, you’ll find you won’t need to know everything about your company’s biz plan.

Build your brand and sell that to your prospects and you’ll understand that people join people not businesses and then the sales discovery call will become your new best friend!

Also, your follow-ups may be more difficult and less natural if you have a 3-way call at the beginning of your relationship. You want the prospect to see you as their go-to person. The discovery call ensures that they will think of you as their one and only contact for the deal.

If you’re determined to conduct a 3 way call do it AFTER you’ve completed your discovery call and use the 3 way as a follow up.

Wrap Up

Sales discovery calls are the best way to connect with your prospects on a personal level, giving you the opportunity to get to know them and them to get to know you and your brand. You can then use what they tell you to nurture them properly until they convert to paying customers.

If doing a sales discovery call sounds scary don’t worry! I’ve put all of my experience into my Free Guide that will hand hold you through the sales call process.  Click Here to grab your copy.

P.S  If you're feeling stuck in your business even after you did everything your upline told you to do... Take a minute to Check out my 3 Step Marketing Blueprint to learn how to start marketing your business without feeling like a pushy salesman. CLICK HERE TO WATCH

"As an introvert entrepreneur I don't particularly enjoy chasing strangers online, networking events, talking about myself on social media or anything else you can think of that involves selling! But, because I learned how to market online the right way, I don't have to do those things."

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