Doing Discovery

The Single Most Important Element of Software Sales and Buyer Enablement Processes

By: Peter Cohan

Narrated by: Rich Miller

Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

A head of sales commented, “80 percent of my team believes they do a good job with discovery, but sadly they do not—they don’t know what they don’t know!”

Where do you stand with your discovery skills?

• Level one: Uncovers statements of pain
• Level two: Uncovers pain and explores more deeply
• Level three: Uncovers pain, explores deeply, broadens the pain and investigates the impact
• Level four: Uncovers pain, explores and broadens, investigates impact and quantifies
• Level five: Uncovers pain, explores and broadens, investigates impact, quantifies and reengineers vision
• Level six: Applies these skills to the broad range of prospects represented across the Technology Adoption Curve, “burn victims”, disruptive and new product categories, transactional sales cycles, and other scenarios
• Level seven: Integrates and aligns the skills above into a cohesive discovery methodology

Most sales, presales, and customer-facing teams are operating at level two or three, with a few at level four—this leaves a lot of room for improvement!

And, as Cohan notes, “the vendor who is perceived by the prospect as doing a superior job in discovery is in a competitively advantageous position.”

Listening and following the exercises in Doing Discovery can transform individuals, teams, and organizations from undifferentiated sellers into high-performing practitioners who achieve their sales objectives while truly enabling buyers, resulting in mutually successful outcomes that endure.

©2022 Peter E. Cohan (P)2022 Peter E. Cohan

Easily top 3 for discovery!

I'm a Director of Sales Enablement and I think Peter does a great job outlining the core principles of discovery that are actionable today. I listened to it twice on Audible in 1 week. He really packed a lot of useful information in those (digital) pages. I love the seven levels of discovery. I think it helps people take an accurate assessment of their skill level. We are not as good as we think we are. Great work Peter!

So great to a book focused on discovery

I’ve worked in technical sales for years, and I think good discovery is one of the most underutilized, poorly practiced aspects of many sales processes. Meanwhile it is one of the biggest drivers of a successful sales org.

Peter does a great job breaking down what discovery is, what it isn’t, and providing detailed examples and frameworks of what good discovery looks like and how it can be implemented.

One of my favorite parts is when he says that qualification is not discovery. MEDD(P)IC and BANT is qualification, yet most people treat it as discovery and don’t go any further.

This book is well worth the read for anyone in technical sales, or any aspect of sales.