Discovery call

A first sales conversation focused on understanding the prospect's situation before proposing anything.

Example

Twenty-five minutes on their current process, its cost, and who decides.

Important

The best discovery calls are mostly the prospect talking. If you spent the call demoing, you ran a pitch, not discovery.

Related terms

• Qualified lead — A lead confirmed to have the problem, the budget and the authority to act.
• Customer interview — A structured conversation about what someone actually does today, designed to produce evidence rather than encouragement.
• Sales pipeline — All your live opportunities, organised by stage, with a value and an expected close date.

Lessons that explain it

• Founder-led sales for people who hate selling — Selling early is not persuasion. It is finding out whether this person has the problem badly enough to pay — and that is a question, not a pitch. (12 min)
• Running a discovery call — A structure for the first real sales conversation, and how to end it with a next step that actually exists. (12 min)

All 176 terms in the Founder glossary