The Seattle Software Discovery Checklist

Welcome to the Seattle sales playbook for 2024. Our team closes deals by asking the right questions at the right time. Could you tell me what makes a good discovery meeting? It starts long before the call. You need to map the account carefully.

First, identify every stakeholder involved in the purchase. Do you know who the economic buyer is? Never pitch your product until you understand their current situation completely. If you skip this step, you will waste precious time talking to people who cannot sign the contract.

Second, always use open-ended questions instead of simple yes-or-no questions. Could you explain how your team handles invoicing? That is much better than asking 'Do you use invoicing software?' Probing questions help you uncover needs that the client didn't know they had.

Third, practice active listening during every single minute of the call. When the client speaks, don't think about your next pitch. Instead, prepare to paraphrase what they said to show you understand their desired outcome and their biggest pain points.

Fourth, dig into their buying criteria and their internal buying process. Who else needs to approve this budget? What is the real business impact if they don't solve this problem this quarter? Knowing these facts helps you qualify out bad leads early.

Fifth, remember that end users and managers care about different things. Could you tell me what keeps your engineers awake at night? Tailor your answers to the specific person on the other end of the line, whether they are in Boston or Austin.

Finally, the golden rule of our Seattle office: ask what they had for lunch. Sounds crazy, right? Last month, Jason asked a stressed logistics director in Denver about his lunch. The client laughed, forgot his stress, and shared his entire purchasing strategy over a chat about tacos. That single question won us a fifty-thousand-dollar deal.

Read again and choose the right answer

What must you do before pitching your product?

• Understand their current situation
• Ask what they had for lunch
• Send an invoice

What kind of questions should you use instead of yes-or-no questions?

• Closed questions
• Open-ended questions
• Trick questions

Why should you paraphrase the client?

• To waste time
• To show you understand their desired outcome
• To confuse the economic buyer

What won Jason a fifty-thousand-dollar deal in Denver?

• A complex software demo
• Asking about the client's lunch
• An aggressive pricing discount

Sources: photo by Jakub Zerdzicki on Pexels