You will be able to close a discovery meeting with a next step that brings the buyer closer to a decision.
A discovery meeting can go well and still end with nothing booked. You found the problem, the buyer put a number on it, and you learned which other people are involved. With three minutes left, you offer to send something over and take it from there, and the buyer agrees. Two weeks later you have sent a summary, a follow-up and another follow-up, and you still have no date in the calendar.
Lesson 5.3, "Ask for a next step every time", made the case for always asking for a next step, and this builds on it. "Take it from there" does not count as a next step. Before you leave the room, you need to choose the next step, decide who should attend, agree what each side will bring, and book the date.
After discovery, the usual next step is a meeting to present options, attended by every decision maker. Of those two parts, getting every decision maker there matters most. If the economic buyer is absent when you present, your contact ends up presenting on your behalf. (The economic buyer is the person who approves the spend, a term from lesson 5.2, "MEDDIC for bigger and slower deals".) Your contact will present less well than you would, with less detail, and won't be able to answer the questions that come up.
Your decision map from lesson 5.4, "Map who decides and how", tells you who should attend. Ask your contact directly to bring those people, so they hear the options first-hand and can ask their own questions. It also helps to offer specific time slots, so your contact has something concrete to take to their boss.
Hafiz sells to businesses and has been working with Rachel. He asks her to have her director, Kelvin, and probably someone from finance attend the options meeting, so they hear it first-hand and can ask questions. Rachel agrees to ask Kelvin. Hafiz offers two time slots that suit him, and Rachel takes them to the director.
The same applies when you sell to individuals and families. Wei Ling's clients are Marcus and Jia Hui. Before they decide, she asks whether anyone else should hear the plan, and they invite Jia Hui's mother to the next meeting.
Each next step has two halves, what you bring and what the buyer brings, and both of you should leave knowing your half.
Your half is usually the options or a proposal, plus anything specific the buyer asked to see. The buyer's half is often information you still need, such as a copy of their current contract, payroll figures for the last three months, a list of staff on shifts, or details of their existing insurance policies. Ask for it while the meeting is still going, and agree a date they will send it by.
Asking the buyer for something gives you a useful check. A buyer who sends it on time is still engaged. A buyer who doesn't has given you a signal before you put hours into a proposal.
If the buyer can't agree to a next step, ask what is in the way. Ask plainly and without pressure, then stay silent and wait for the answer. Lesson 6.2, "Use silence instead of filling it", covers how to hold that silence.
Some blockers are practical, such as needing to check a colleague's calendar. For these, agree when they will check and when you will hear back from them. Other blockers are bigger, such as not being sure they are ready to change. You want to hear that now, rather than in two weeks after three unanswered follow-ups. Their answer may send you back into discovery, and that is acceptable. It may also show that the deal is not ready, in which case lesson 7.2, "Disqualify early and say so kindly", explains what to do.
Book the next meeting in the calendar during the meeting itself. Arranging it by email afterwards usually stalls: each reply takes a day or two, calendars change in the meantime, and a week can pass before anyone sets a date. While you are together, you both have your calendars to hand and the conversation is fresh in both your minds.
Offer two specific options, for example Thursday the 14th at three, or the following Monday. Send the invitation while you are still together or immediately after, and include everyone who should attend. If a required attendee was not at the meeting, send the invitation to your contact to forward, or ask your contact for that person's email address.
You can plan the end of a discovery meeting almost word for word. The last two minutes use four moves:
Give a short summary of what you heard, covering the problem and its cost. Propose the next step and who should be there. Confirm what each side will bring, and by when. Send the calendar invitation, booking it now and offering two specific options.
Hafiz plans the close of his next meeting with Rachel along these lines. He starts with a quick summary of the problem and what it is costing her company. Then he says something like: "I'd like to come back with two options and go through them with you, Kelvin and someone from finance. I'll have them ready before next Thursday. Could you send me last month's overtime summary by Monday so I can include it? Shall we find a time now, while we both have our calendars open?"
Think of the next discovery meeting in your calendar, and who would need to attend a meeting to present options. Then write out the last two minutes of that meeting using the four moves: your summary of the problem and its cost, the next step and who should be there, what each side will bring and by when, and the two specific times you will offer.
Write out the last two minutes of your next discovery meeting: how you will ask for the next step and who needs to be at it.
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