I believe another reason for the dearth of discovery is that many sin-
cere sales professionals do not know what to ask. They lack a model for
emotionally intelligent inquiry. For this reason I have developed the q1 and
q2 models of discovery (see Figures 21.2 and 21.3). The questions clients
typically get asked by sales professionals are quantitative in nature. “What
are the features of what you currently have?” “How much are you paying
now?” “What features and benefits are you looking for?” “What is the budget
you are working with?” Occasionally the seller makes a foray into the qual-
itative by inquiring into the goals of the client or the client’s current satis-
faction level, but the qualitative aspects typically get short shrift. In the end,
what we don’t know about our clients comes back to haunt us.
“It takes reason to answer a question well;
it takes imagination to ask it well.”
—ANONYMOUSGOING TO QSCHOOL
In the q1 (quantitative) side of discovery, the factual landscape is cov-
ered by an inquiry into price/costs/budgets (numbers), necessary features
and benefits (needs), people involved in the sales cycle (names), and set-
tling on a solution and on a price (negotiation).
Remember that, although these inquiries are quantitative in nature,
emotional land mines are attached if you do not tread with empathy (emo-
tional radar) in your approach. Following are some examples of how sales-
people offend clients in the quantitative discovery process (in the words of
some clients).
Numbers (price/costs/budgets).“Some salespeople ask far too much in-
formation, and it feels like an invasion of privacy.”
Needs (necessary features and benefits).“There have been times when
I was describing a product I had purchased, and the salesperson got this
condescending look on her face, like, ‘You bought that?’—not realizing
that I was the person who made that purchasing decision and they were in-
sulting me. It made me feel stupid!”
Names (people involved in the sales cycle).“I do a lot of due diligence
for purchases the company makes, yet I can tell some sales reps are just try-
ing to use me to get to the boss. They want to deal with the decision maker
Emotional Archeology / Mastering the Art of the Irresistible Question 189