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The discovery plan is a series of questions aimed at obtaining as much information as possible about your customer. It makes it possible to carry out a diagnosis of the needs and expectations of its customer in order to offer him the best possible solution.
What is a discovery plan?
The sales & marketing discovery plan
In marketing, the discovery plan makes it possible to best prepare for a commercial interview. Thanks to this plan, you will be able to successfully complete the latter. The discovery plan represents a business strategy that is widely used in sales and marketing. It is at the heart of Bootcamp from Akimbo or from our commercial coachings for businesses.
From discovering needs to negotiating
The discovery plan makes it possible to identify the needs of potential customers in order to allow negotiations with them later. All your prospects have needs and hope to find solutions to them. To best satisfy and convince your customers, it is therefore imperative that you learn about their topics through a discovery plan. Identifying the customer context makes it possible to understand the origin of their needs. By knowing this, negotiations with your prospects can then begin.
Behind every need is a motivation. One of the main objectives of your sales teams is to identify the primary motivation of your potential customers. Knowing their true motivations will allow you to offer them a real sales pitch while ensuring a much more effective negotiation. It's part of what we teach at Akimbo.
From the prospect to the customer
In order to study the motivations of your customers accurately, carefully create a clear and precise discovery plan. The more information your sales teams collect about customers, the more likely you will be to trigger the act of purchase.
Enriching your discovery plan with notes taken during your meetings with customers is essential. You will seem more professional and more attentive to your prospect. In addition, taking notes will allow you to gather new information about your customers with high added value.
By making a precise discovery plan, your sales teams are turning more prospects into customers. The main idea is to retain them by making them ambassadors of your brand with other prospects.
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Why do you have a discovery plan?
- Structuring your Sales methodology
- Boosting sales
As noted earlier, a discovery plan allows you to turn more prospects into customers. Indeed, by identifying the needs, purchase motivations and priorities of customers, he succeeds in ensuring more effective negotiations with them. To sell better, it is important to have access to all your data. Because it is thanks to this data that a good commercial negotiation can be carried out!
In summary, a good discovery plan allows you to better understand the commercial objections of your prospect, in particular concerning price objections during the closing.
How do you make a good discovery plan?
The unavoidable questions
Some questions are essential during a sales interview. Among them, we mainly find open and closed questions that are used by the salesperson to gather as much information as possible about the prospect. It is thanks to these questions that you will be able to identify the needs as well as the purchase motivations of your prospects!
During the discovery phase, salespeople essentially ask open questions to their customers to give them as much free expression as possible. They are inspired by the QQOQCCP method (Who? What? Where? When? How? How many? Why?). For example, as an open question, we can find: “Who are your main suppliers” or “By whom will the product be used?”
Unlike an open question, a closed question leaves less scope for expression for the customer but provides more precision. The customer provides a clear and precise answer by simply answering yes or no to the salesperson's questions or by giving a precise answer found among a list of several proposals. This succession of closed questions will allow the seller to clearly confirm the needs of his customers in order to be able to reformulate them later. Let's take an example of closed-ended questions so you can really understand this concept: “Did you know about this product?”
In addition to closed and open questions, other questions can be asked during a sales interview such as alternative questions (What are your priorities: a or b?) or factual questions (How many items do you want to buy?).
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The QQOQCP method
The 5W method, also known as the questioning method, is a simple and effective method for accurately describing a problem or situation. It makes it possible to identify the needs of customers in order to have sufficient information about them.
La QQOQCP method presents the seven questions that define a situation. It allows you to accurately cover the problems of your prospects. Indeed, thanks to this method, you will be able to ask the right questions in order to collect the right data on your potential customers.
The 5W method can be used in multiple situations such as during a prospecting call, during a sales meeting or even during a negotiation with a customer.
The QQOQCP method consists of three steps:
- You ask relevant discovery questions to your prospect to gather good information about them;
- You identify the needs of your prospect;
- You offer an adequate and personalized commercial solution/proposal to your customer.
The 5W method applies to the entire sales cycle. Each question plays an essential role in the method so don't overlook them in your discovery plan! For example, the question “who” makes it possible to identify stakeholders and decision makers. The “what” question makes it possible to identify the needs or needs of your prospect. The question “where” makes it possible to determine the place concerned by the customer's problem and the question “when” refers to the moment when the event occurs. That of “how” explains the reasons for the situation and that of “why” explains the reasons for the situation and that of “why” to accurately understand the customer's buying motivations.
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The BEBEDC Method
La BEBEDC method allows you to increase your sales while saving time. It will allow you to move from passive to active listening and will give you the means to influence the buying process in your favor. This method is easy to apply and can be used in any sales situation.
B as required
The first step is to identify the need. To do this, start by asking your prospect how the product could answer their problem. The second step consists in prioritizing the needs of the prospect in order to be able to adapt to them and differentiate yourself from the competition. The information you collect during these two steps will then be essential for you to anticipate and influence the buying process.
E as a challenge
The objective of this stage is to identify the motivations as well as the hidden challenges behind this need. You have to ask yourself what the consequences of the purchase will be on the business. During this phase, you will be able to document the benefits of your product by presenting them to your customer, which will lead them to see your product as the solution to their problem.
B is for budget
You need to ask yourself the right questions in order for the prospect to reveal their financial constraints to you. Try to find out if the price of your product is an advantage or a disadvantage for your customer.
E for deadline
In your sales cycles, deadlines are essential. The challenge at this stage is to identify them well and to succeed in projecting yourself into your calendar. Do not leave too much time between your meeting with the customer and the act of purchase. If your customer says they need 2 months to make a decision, try to find out their reasons. Otherwise, you could end up with no final purchase later.
D for decision makers
This step involves identifying everyone's roles in the sales process. List all the people who are likely to have a role in this case. 5 main roles can be found:
- The technician who has a technical opinion on your product;
- The influencer who has an interest in the company's choices regarding products or services to buy;
- The buyer who leads the negotiations;
- The coach is involved in the case and can be a source of information on the decision-making process;
- The decision maker who will influence the decision-making process.
C for competitors
This final step is to identify the competition. To do this, do not hesitate to ask your client about the services of the companies with which he has been in commercial exchange.
Make your own typical discovery chart
Within a good discovery plan, several key points must be found: one part concerning the current situation of the prospect, another referring to the current solution but also to the future solution of the potential customer and a last part expressing his motivations as well as his expectations.
Table examples
Contact: Hello, I sell cosmetic products for the brand X. Are you Monsieur/ Madame Y?
Points to watch out for when completing the discovery plan
Asking too many questions during the lead discovery phase
The phase of discovering customer potential is first and foremost a phase of listening. To decipher the needs of the prospect, it is essential that you ask them the right questions. But be careful, quantity does not rhyme with quality! Be sure to limit yourself in terms of the number of questions asked to the customer.
Misinterpreting customer needs
Listen carefully to your prospect. Don't just focus on your offer. If you still decide to focus primarily on your offer, you risk misinterpreting the words of your potential customer so that they align with the offers you have to sell to them. This situation can only be disastrous for you later on since you risk missing out on a sales opportunity that you did not know how to listen to.
Underestimate the informal moments during your customer discovery
It is important that you make a good impression on your prospect. Do not disregard your appearance and speak confidently! Create a caring environment. It is a customer appointment but an effective exchange does not take place in coldness but in kindness!
Not preparing for the following phases of commercial prospecting
If the interview with your potential customer went well, then you should immediately move on to the next steps of the commercial relationship. These steps must be carried out beforehand, such as by sending a summary email.
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