Discovery Call Agenda: Benefits & Free Template

Great discovery calls rely on two things: your preparation and that your prospects shows up. We covered ensuring prospect attendance in our demo agenda article. Here, we'll focus on internal discovery call agendas.

These agendas are your roadmap for the call, ensuring you gather valuable information, qualify leads effectively, and set the stage for a successful sales cycle.

Benefits of a Discovery Call Agenda

A well-defined discovery call agenda offers a multitude of advantages for both you and your prospects:

1. Structure and Focus

An agenda ensures you cover all essential points during the call, preventing any unnecessary information and keeping the conversation on track. This focused approach makes the most of your and the prospect's valuable time.

2. Gather Valuable Information

Rather than have a single set of questions for clients, ensure having a structured discussion, to ask the right questions and uncover the prospect's challenges, goals, and current processes. This in-depth understanding allows you to tailor your sales pitch and showcase the specific value your product or service brings to their unique situation.

3. Qualify Leads Effectively

The discovery call acts as a vital screening tool. Through the agenda's framework, you can efficiently identify prospects who are a good fit for your offerings. This allows you to prioritize your resources and focus on leads with a higher conversion potential.

4. Improved Communication

A clear agenda builds the foundation for active listening and ensures clear communication throughout the call. This creates a more engaging experience for the prospect and leads to a productive exchange of information.

How to Create a Discovery Call Agenda

Building a discovery call agenda that sets you up for success involves several key steps:

1. Research the Prospect

Before the call, invest time researching the prospect's company, industry, and potential challenges. Utilize online resources like the company website, industry publications, and social media profiles to gather insights. Tools like Leadfeeder or ZoomInfo can also help identify key decision-makers within the organization. 

Related read: 2024's Best Sales Prospecting Tools

2. Leverage Interactive Demos

Consider sending a short interactive demo around 2-3 business days before the call. This pre-call engagement gives the prospect enough time to check it, and jot down any questions and specific areas of focus. 

Keep the demos concise and engaging, and personalize the key topics based on previous interactions, website, and phone calls, which mention their pain points and requirements. 

Related read: How to Create An Awesome Interactive Product Demo

3. Set SMART Objectives

Define clear and achievable goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound) for the call. Your objectives could be to understand the prospect's biggest pain point and match the relevancy to how your product can fill the gap, identify decision-makers within the company, or gauge their budget and timeline for implementing a solution to gauge their conversion potential.

4. Customize Questions and Talking Points

While a pre-determined agenda is crucial, leave room for additional questions during the sales discovery call based on the insights from your research as well as their response to the interactive demo. 

Remember, while it’s alright to go for specific sales discovery questions, your goal should be to keep the conversation natural and your prospect relaxed.

This allows you to adapt to the conversation's flow and delve deeper into areas of interest that arise organically. 

Related read: 51 Questions to ask during your sales discovery call

5. Finalize the Meeting Flow

Finalize your agenda on paper to maintain a clear path throughout the call. Here's a suggested structure:

• Introduction & Icebreaker (5 minutes): Briefly introduce yourself, your company, and find common ground to build rapport.
• Understanding the Prospect's Needs (15-20 minutes): Ask open-ended questions to uncover their challenges, goals, current processes, and decision-making process.
• Showcasing Value Proposition (10-15 minutes): Explain how your product or service addresses their specific needs and highlight the benefits they can expect. Use data, success stories, and case studies to support your claims.
• Next Steps (5-10 minutes): Summarize key points and outline clear next steps based on the prospect's interest level.
• Notes: Take detailed notes throughout the call to capture important insights and action items.

Discovery Call Agenda Template

A well-designed template streamlines your agenda creation process. Consider using our free discovery call agenda template, which offers dedicated sections for key elements, space for notes, and tips on how to craft one.

Here’s a quick overview of what’s included in the template: 

1. Structured Call Flow:  Guides you through introductions, understanding prospect needs, showcasing your value, outlining next steps, and taking notes.
2. Engaging Conversation Starters:  Provides sample icebreaker questions and open-ended questions to uncover prospect needs.
3. Tailored Value Proposition:  Helps you craft a message that addresses the prospect's specific challenges and goals.
4. Clear Next Steps: Offers guidance on outlining follow-up actions based on the call's outcome.
5. Actionable Tips:  Includes best practices for customizing the agenda, adapting to the conversation, and ensuring a smooth call flow.

Tips for Executing the Discovery Meeting Agenda

Now that you have a well-crafted meeting agenda, here are some practical tips to ensure a smooth and successful discovery call:

• Be Flexible: While the agenda provides a framework, maintain the ability to adapt to the conversation's flow. Be prepared to explore valuable new information that arises as a part of the conversation.
• Time Management: Be mindful of the allocated time for each agenda point. Be mindful to address new information but also cover all essential elements.
• Active Listening: Actively listen to the prospect's responses and identify opportunities for relevant follow-up questions. This showcases genuine interest and keeps the conversation focused on their needs.
• Enthusiasm is Key: Convey your confidence in your product or service and how it can help their brand or goal. A positive outlook from your end can mirror a similar impression on the prospect.
• Focus on Outcomes: Highlight the positive outcomes achievable with your solution. Data such as case studies and testimonials help back this up and showcase the impact your product or service has had on similar businesses.
• Maintain Momentum: Don't let the positive momentum fade after the call. Within 24 hours, send a follow-up email summarizing key points, outlining the next steps as defined in the agenda, and consider including a personalized leave-behind demo using Storylane. This is particularly effective for stakeholders who may have not attended the initial meeting.

How Storylane Can Help Make Your Discovery Process More Effective? 

When you share Storylane interactive demos with your prospects before the discovery call, you not only educate prospects beforehand but also get valuable insights into their demo engagement. This intel lets you tailor your call to their specific interests, ditch generic feature explanations, and dive right into tackling their complex problems and crafting customized solutions. To know more about how Storylane can help, book a demo or start your free trial today!

Frequently asked questions 

1. How do you structure a discovery meeting?

Your pre-defined discovery call agenda serves as the blueprint for the meeting's structure. This agenda ensures a focused conversation that covers all essential points, maximizes your time and the prospects’, and keeps the discussion on track.

2. What makes discovery meetings successful?

Three key ingredients contribute to successful discovery meetings. One is having a clear, well-defined goal, such as understanding the prospect’s pain points, the second is effective communication and follow-up questions, and the third is identifying how your product can bridge the gaps and challenges they face.

3. What is the sales discovery process?

The sales discovery process is designed to gather information about potential customers, qualify leads to identify those with a high conversion potential, and build rapport to set the stage for future engagement.

4. What are some key outcomes of discovery meetings?

Effective discovery calls deliver several key outcomes, such as an understanding of your prospect's challenges, goals, and current processes, prospects who are a good fit for your product or service, allowing you to prioritize chances of higher conversion and fostering trust between you and the prospect. This helps you establish a strong rapport with the prospect. 

5. What is the purpose of a discovery session?

The primary purpose of a discovery session, also known as a discovery call, is to uncover the prospect's unique needs and demonstrate how your product or service can address them directly. Through open-ended questions and active listening, you gain valuable insights that allow you to tailor your value proposition and showcase a clear path to achieving their desired outcomes.