38 — Discovery Guide
Status: CANONICAL · Commercial OS
Owner: Founder (sales)
Last verified: 2026-07-21
Evolves: docs/product/SALES_AND_MARKETING.md §7.1 question bank — restructured into a run-order with required outputs.
Purpose
The 30-minute first-call structure that produces the four assets every deal needs: the pain story in their words, the ROI inputs, the why-now signal, and the demo invitation. Discovery is not interrogation — it's the first demonstration of how we work: prepared, evidence-seeking, respectful of their time.
Target audience: Founder-seller, AE #1.
0. Before the Call (10 minutes, non-negotiable)
Recon: their product/customers (site) · CS team size + titles (LinkedIn) · stack hints (job posts, tech-stack tools) · recent trigger events (funding, layoffs, exec change, churn-adjacent posts). Arrive knowing enough that question 1 can be specific. Prepared is the brand.
1. Opening (3 min) — frame and permission
"Thanks for the time. Here's how I'd like to use 30 minutes: I want to understand how your team actually works across their tools — the unglamorous daily mechanics — and whether what we've built maps to it. If it does, I'll show you exactly how, next call, with your tool names. If it doesn't, I'll say so. Fair?"
(States an agenda, promises honesty both ways, sets up the demo close. No pitch.)
2. The Pain Cycle (12 min) — make them tell the story
Track A — the morning (fragmentation):
- "Walk me through a CSM's morning to prepare for one customer meeting." (Let them narrate. Count the tools out loud with them.)
- "How many tools touch a single account, all-in?" → capture: tool count + names (the demo map)
- "How much of the day goes to gathering versus actually advising customers?" → capture: H (hours/day)
- "When did a churn or renewal surprise you last? What did you find afterward that you wish you'd seen?" (The wound story — they always have one. Let it breathe.)
- "What happens to an account's story when a CSM leaves?"
Track B — the AI disappointment (the demotion):
- "What's your team actually using AI for today — honestly?"
- "What did they stop using it for?" (The demotion surfaces here. Nod; it's universal.)
- "If AI could only add to your knowledge base with your approval — would that change what you'd trust it with?" (Plants TruthLayer before the demo.)
Reflect back (verbatim capture moment):
"So: [N] CSMs, [tool names], about [H] hours a day reconstructing context, a surprise like [their story] last quarter, and AI that's been demoted to [their words]. Did I get that right?"
That sentence — their words, confirmed — opens the demo call, the proposal, and the close. Write it down exactly.
3. Quantify (5 min) — the ROI inputs, gently
- "Roughly what's a loaded hour for a CSM here — $60, $80?" → C
- "How many people live this daily?" → N
- (If P2:) "What's the NRR number you're carrying this year, and what's in the way?"
Napkin math, out loud: "That's [H × C × N × 22] a month in reconstruction. Even capturing 40% is [×0.4]. Keep that number — you'll grade us against it." (29 ROI)
4. Why-Now + Process (5 min)
- "Why did you take this call now?" → capture: why-now signal (33 §1)
- "If the demo lands, what's your evaluation path — who else looks, security, budget cycle?" → capture: MEDDICC D-process seeds
- "Who on the team would be most skeptical? Invite them to the demo." (Skeptics convert hardest and champion loudest.)
5. Close (3 min) — the demo contract
"Here's what I heard [pain sentence]. Next step: I show you the morning where none of that reconstruction happens — your tool names, a real account pattern, and the part nobody else shows: what the AI is not allowed to do. 30 minutes, [date option A/B]. Bring [P1 names + the skeptic]."
Book it on the call. A discovery that ends with "I'll send times" is a discovery that half-failed.
Required Outputs (CRM fields — no output, no stage exit 36 §2)
| Field | Content |
|---|---|
| Pain sentence | Their words, confirmed |
| Tool map | Count + names (demo prep input) |
| H / C / N | ROI inputs |
| Wound story | The surprise-churn narrative |
| AI status | What they use / what they demoted |
| Why-now | Signal from the ICP list |
| Eval path | People, security, budget timing |
| Demo | Booked date + invited personas |
Anti-Patterns
Pitching during discovery (the demo has a home; this isn't it) · accepting "3 hours-ish" without writing it down · single-threading (no P1 invited = repeat discovery) · skipping the AI-demotion track (it's our sharpest differentiation setup) · interrogating past the story (when they're telling the wound story, stop asking and listen).
KPIs: all-8-outputs completion rate (target 100%); discovery → demo conversion ≥ 60%; demo attended by ≥ 2 personas ≥ 70% (74).
Related: 36 Methodology · 37 Playbook · 40 Demo Script · 34 Personas