Sellers come out of a discovery call and report on the atmosphere. The buyer was engaged. The conversation ran long. They asked good questions. All of that can be true of a call that produced nothing a deal can be built on, and the seller will not find out for another six weeks.
A discovery call has outputs. Six of them. The test is mechanical: open a blank page after the call and write down each one. Whatever cannot be written down was not produced.
The Six Outputs
- A cost the buyer stated, in the buyer's own figures. Hours of rework a month, headcount absorbed by exception handling, a number that already appears on somebody's budget. The source matters as much as the figure, because the buyer repeats this one internally when the seller is not present.
- A consequence attached to a date the buyer set. What happens, and to whom, if the situation is unchanged by the end of their quarter or their fiscal year. The date has to be the buyer's. A date the seller proposes is a forecast; a date the buyer names is a constraint they are already managing.
- The names of the people the problem touches. Actual names, with what each one does about the problem today. A problem that touches one team is a tool purchase. A problem with four names attached to it is an operating problem, and the second name is where the deal stops being a single conversation.
- The approval path above your current contact. Who signs at this size, who signs above it, and what triggers the review threshold. Asked in discovery this is diligence and easy to answer. Asked at proposal time it sounds like a challenge to the contact's authority.
- A next step with a date and an owner, confirmed out loud. "I will send this Thursday and you will have reviewed it with Maria by the following Tuesday" is a next step. "I will follow up" is a hope. The confirmation has to be spoken, because a step the buyer did not say back is a step they have not agreed to.
- The buyer's own words for the problem. Captured as the phrases they used. These go into the written follow up verbatim, because a buyer reading their own language recognizes that they were heard, and a committee reading it recognizes the problem as one their colleague described.
Reading the Gaps
A first call commonly produces four of the six. The approval path and the full list of affected people usually need a second conversation, often with someone the first contact introduces. That is normal and it is not the problem.
The problem is not knowing which four. Each gap reads as a specific instruction for the next call.
- No cost figure. The problem has been described and its size has not been established. That is Pain Amplification, which means discovery that uncovers what the buyer's current situation is costing them in labor, delay, risk, and money already on a budget.
- No deadline. Usually a sign that the consequence of doing nothing has not been established. A buyer carrying a real consequence on a real date names both readily, so when neither arrives it is the cost of inaction that is still missing.
- One name only. The deal is a single relationship and a single point of failure. If that person changes roles, the deal ends. Surround sound, which means reaching every person who can stop the deal, is the work that closes this gap.
- No approval path. The size of the achievable deal is unknown, which means the forecast is a guess. It also means an approval threshold can appear late and send the whole purchase back to the start.
- No confirmed next step. The deal has no scheduled future. Whatever happens next depends on the buyer remembering to act, which is the weakest mechanism available.
Where the Six Outputs Go
They go into a Plan Letter, which means the written follow up that carries the agreed steps between the meeting and the buyer's own deadline. The figures, the date, the names, and the confirmed next step go in as the buyer gave them. Three Power Messages go in alongside, each one a statement linking a capability you have to a problem the buyer carries that costs them money.
A seller who cannot write that letter did not have the call they thought they had. The letter is the test, and it is the reason the six outputs are worth naming.
Discovery: Common Questions
How do you tell whether a discovery call went well?
Check what it produced. A call that felt collaborative and produced no figure, no named deadline, and no second name has produced nothing a deal can be built on. The six outputs are a cost the buyer stated, a consequence with a date, the people the problem touches, the approval path, a confirmed next step, and the buyer's own words for the problem.
What are the six outputs a discovery call has to produce?
A cost the buyer stated in their own figures, a consequence attached to a date the buyer set, the names of the people the problem touches, the approval path above the current contact, a next step with a date and an owner, and the buyer's own words for the problem.
Why does the cost figure have to come from the buyer?
Because the buyer repeats it internally without the seller present. A figure the seller supplied is a vendor claim and gets discounted by everyone who reviews it. A figure the buyer supplied is already accepted inside the organization, so it survives the approval conversation the seller never attends.
What does it mean when a buyer gives no deadline?
It usually means the consequence of doing nothing has not been established. A buyer with a real consequence attached to a real date will name both readily. When neither arrives, the problem has been described and its cost has not, which is the work the next call has to do.
What belongs in the follow up after a discovery call?
A Plan Letter, which means the written follow up that carries the agreed steps between the meeting and the buyer's own deadline. It holds the buyer's figures, the buyer's date, the people named, the confirmed next step, and at least three Power Messages, each one a statement linking a capability you have to a problem the buyer carries that costs them money.
Can a single call produce all six outputs?
A first call commonly produces four. The approval path and the full list of affected people usually need a second conversation, often with someone the first contact introduces. What matters is knowing which outputs are missing when the call ends, because that is the agenda for the next one.
Jeff Aragon, Founder, Jozu Revenue Systems