Listen First, Sell Second: The Power of Discovery in B2B Tech Sales
Too many B2B SaaS companies rely on demos hoping prospects instantly recognise the benefits. By shifting from basic qualification to genuine discovery, you can transform your sales approach and make your demos more engaging, insightful, and successful.
Ever feel like your sales team only wins deals when luck aligns just right? Too many B2B SaaS companies rely on demos, hoping that prospects instantly recognise the benefits and connect the dots themselves. Your win rates fluctuate, growth stalls, and you're left puzzled. Why does your team only win with prospects already primed to buy?
Why does your team only win with prospects already primed to buy?
Here's the harsh reality: you're not the only game in town. There's a competitor offering a similar product. There always is. Unfortunately, they are gaining ground rapidly. Every head-to-head opportunity seems to slip through your fingers. To make matters worse, they've just secured significant additional funding, allowing them to amplify their momentum. If nothing changes, they'll quickly overshadow your product, leaving you behind in the race.
Demo Fatigue and Missed Opportunities
Imagine this scenario: You're a startup CEO and founder, baffled by inconsistent sales results. Frustrated, you join some sales demos to understand what's going wrong. You quickly spot the issue. Your team rigorously ticks off budget, authority, need, and timeline (BANT qualification), then launches into a generic demo. Identical every single time.
Your team rigorously ticks off budget, authority, need, and timeline, then launches into a generic demo. Identical every single time.
Prospects disengage, visibly multitasking and disconnecting. So many times. It's clear why your wins are mostly luck-based; you're treating every customer identically, without truly understanding or even caring about their unique situations or challenges.
From Ignorance to Understanding
As the founder who convinced the first customers to give you a chance, you realise something critical. Your team is asking the wrong questions. They only care if the prospect can buy. Instead of qualifying deals superficially, you need more profound insights into your prospects' real situations. Your company needs a shift from self-focused qualification to genuine customer-centric discovery. You need to learn more about your prospects.
With sales leadership in tow, you shift gears. By adopting CHAMP, your team begins to qualify prospects' problems and pains first and foremost. CHAMP discusses prospects' challenges before qualifying for authority, money and priority.
Your sales team needs a shift from self-focused qualification to genuine customer-centric discovery.
Additionally, you want to double down on the challenges part with your to-be customers. You want to explore, learn, and understand your prospects’ real pains. As CHAMP is still primarily for qualification, you and your sales team agree that you will start asking the "5 Whys" from your prospects and won't move forward to the demo before you have the answers. You ask questions like "Why does this happen?" "Why is it important to solve?" "Why now?"
Discovery Drives Sales
Your decision to change the sales approach fundamentally pays off. Now, your team starts every sales conversation with curiosity and discovery. You focus less on ticking qualification boxes and more on genuinely understanding your prospects' businesses and their pain points, context, and motivations.
You focus on genuinely understanding what is going on in your prospects' businesses.
Through curiosity-driven conversations, your sales reps uncover insights that reshape the customer dialogue. But that is not all, they also apply what they hear in what they show in sales demos. Their demos become personalised presentations that connect directly to concerns and needs prospects have just expressed. Prospects now see and understand clearly how your solution solves their specific problems.
The result? Your sales demos are now engaging and insightful. Prospects feel heard and understood, fostering trust and making you stand out as a true partner rather than just another vendor. Win rates climb dramatically, and your growth trajectory shifts. Even your average deal size ticks up.
Prospects feel heard and understood, making you stand out as a true partner.
Your company doesn't just catch up with the competition; you speed ahead. If you're ready to move beyond luck-based sales and start winning intentionally, it's time to embrace discovery fully!
