Customers don’t care about features! They care about figuring out if you can actually help. Decisions are made emotionally first and then justified rationally. Don’t give them the solution before you fully understand their problem.
Dan Smith, Medium
The point of a discovery or needs analysis call is to fully understand the requirements of a client.
I first read this article when I was new to Solutions Consulting, but it is still as relevant today.
Dan writes about five steps for the perfect discovery call:
- Preparation:
- Research who you will be speaking with – do you have anything in common which acts as a conversation starter?
- With the vast amount of information online, there is no excuse to know nothing about your client or their company
- Strong opener to set the tone: ACE
- ACE stands for Appreciate them taking the time to have the call, Check timing, and finally, End Goal: what are we trying to get out of the meeting?
- Confirm the agenda, ask about their goals
- Ask each participant what they are looking to get out of the call
- This makes the client realise it will be a 2-way conversation
- Diagnose before prescribing: SPICE
- SPICE stands for Situation (what is there’s?), Pain (what are their challenges?), Impact (ROI, wanted outcomes), Critical Event (is there something that makes the opportunity time-bound?), Decision process (what are the steps to get there?).
- Prescription and Wrap
- Prescribe a solution and discuss how certain functionalities will generate ROI
There is a great discovery call checklist which covers the main points above in a single page that you can print out or save to your desktop.
