[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":102},["ShallowReactive",2],{"lesson-/academy/sdr/discovery-call-questions":3},{"path":4,"data":5,"html":37,"toc":38,"prev":48,"next":55,"track":60},"/academy/sdr/discovery-call-questions",{"title":6,"description":7,"primaryQuery":8,"secondaryQueries":9,"module":14,"order":15,"tier":16,"intent":17,"asset":18,"publishedAt":21,"author":22,"reviewedAt":23,"relatedTool":24,"challenge":25,"exercise":34},"30 Discovery Call Questions (Sorted by Stage, Copy-Paste Ready)","A discovery call is won or lost on the questions you ask. This page gives you a 30-question bank sorted by call stage — opening and context, problem and impact, current solution, budget, decision process and authority, timeline, and close — so you always know what to ask next and why. The rule underneath them all: ask open, non-leading questions and let the prospect describe their own world.","discovery call questions",[10,11,12,13],"sales discovery questions","best questions to ask a prospect","discovery meeting questions","qualification questions sales",6,2,"A","transactional",{"type":19,"title":20},"template","The 30-question discovery bank, sorted by call stage","2026-09-10","closers","2026-09-24",null,{"type":26,"id":27,"brief":28,"lines":29},"spot","m6-l2-discovery-question-spot","Mid-call, the prospect tells you their team is drowning in manual reporting and it eats three days of work a month. Which is the strongest next question?",[30,31,32,33],"\"We can automate that in a week — should I send a proposal?\"","\"How are you doing that today, and what is that three days a month costing the team?\"","\"So you definitely want to fix this, right?\"","\"Can you afford the software?\"",{"prompt":35,"successCriteria":36},"Pick three questions from the bank you would never skip on your own discovery call, and write one line on what each answer unlocks.","Each choice maps a question to a real decision it informs — the problem, the budget, who decides, or the timeline — rather than questions that just fill time.","\u003Cp>Discovery questions exist to get the prospect talking about their own world — and almost every good one is \u003Cstrong>open\u003C/strong> (it can't be answered yes/no) and \u003Cstrong>non-leading\u003C/strong> (it doesn't hand them the answer you want). A closed or leading question earns you nothing but your own echo. This bank is sorted by call stage so you can reach for the right question at the right moment: warm up and set context first, then the problem, then the current solution, then budget, decision process, and timeline — and only then close toward a next step.\u003C/p>\n\u003Ch2 id=\"the-30-question-discovery-bank-here-is-the-asset\">The 30-question discovery bank — here is the asset\u003C/h2>\n\u003Cp>Not every question fits every call. Use the stage as your guide and skip what doesn't apply — the goal is a real picture, not a scripted interrogation.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Opening and context (1–5)\u003C/strong>\u003C/p>\n\u003Col>\n\u003Cli>What's your role, and what are you responsible for day to day?\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>What prompted you to take this call — or to start looking into this now?\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>Walk me through how [their area] actually works at your company today.\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>What's changed recently in your team or business that brought this up?\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>What would a great outcome from this conversation look like for you?\u003C/li>\n\u003C/ol>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Problem and impact (6–11)\u003C/strong>\u003C/p>\n\u003Col start=\"6\">\n\u003Cli>What's the biggest problem in [their area] right now?\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>How long has this been a problem?\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>What does that problem cost you — in time, money, or missed results?\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>What happens if it stays unfixed for another year?\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>Who else in the company feels this pain?\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>Have you tried to fix it before? What happened?\u003C/li>\n\u003C/ol>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Current solution (12–15)\u003C/strong>\u003C/p>\n\u003Col start=\"12\">\n\u003Cli>What are you using or doing to handle this today?\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>What do you actually like about your current approach?\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>What's missing or frustrating about it?\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>What does the current approach cost you all-in, if you had to add it up?\u003C/li>\n\u003C/ol>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Budget (16–19)\u003C/strong>\u003C/p>\n\u003Col start=\"16\">\n\u003Cli>Is there a budget line for this, or would it need to be carved out?\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>Who owns the budget for this area?\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>Roughly what range were you expecting to invest to solve it?\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>How does the cost of not solving it compare to the budget you'd need?\u003C/li>\n\u003C/ol>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Decision process and authority (20–24)\u003C/strong>\u003C/p>\n\u003Col start=\"20\">\n\u003Cli>Besides you, who is involved in deciding this?\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>How did a decision like this get made the last time?\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>Are you the person who would sign off, or do you recommend?\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>Who else will need to be convinced before this moves?\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>Is there someone inside who really wants this to happen?\u003C/li>\n\u003C/ol>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Timeline and urgency (25–28)\u003C/strong>\u003C/p>\n\u003Col start=\"25\">\n\u003Cli>What's driving the timing on this?\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>If we solved it, when would you want it live?\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>Is this planned for this quarter, or further out?\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>What would have to change to move it up the list?\u003C/li>\n\u003C/ol>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Close and next step (29–30)\u003C/strong>\u003C/p>\n\u003Col start=\"29\">\n\u003Cli>Based on everything we've covered, is this worth exploring further now?\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>Who's the right person for us to walk through this with next?\u003C/li>\n\u003C/ol>\n\u003Ch2 id=\"how-to-use-the-bank\">How to use the bank\u003C/h2>\n\u003Cp>Don't try to ask all thirty. Discovery is a conversation with a direction, not a checklist — pick the stage that matters most, ask two or three questions there, and follow the thread. The art is in the \u003Cem>why\u003C/em> underneath each question: you're confirming the problem and its impact, the budget, who decides, and the timing. Those four answers are the raw material you score against a \u003Ca href=\"/academy/sdr/what-is-bant/\">qualification framework\u003C/a> to decide if the deal is real.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>The two questions reps most often skip are the ones that save the most time: \u003Cstrong>who else is involved\u003C/strong> (20–24) and \u003Cstrong>what the problem costs\u003C/strong> (8–9). Skip them and you book a meeting with the wrong person, or you never learn the pain is big enough to justify any budget. Ask them, and you leave with a picture an \u003Ca href=\"/glossary/account-executive/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">account executive\u003C/a> can actually \u003Ca href=\"/glossary/qualified-meeting/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">work from\u003C/a>.\u003C/p>\n\u003Ch2 id=\"before-you-ask-know-what-you-re-listening-for\">Before you ask, know what you're listening for\u003C/h2>\n\u003Cp>A great question is only as good as the listening on the other end of it. Frame what you need to hear — a real problem, a real cost, a real decision-maker, a real timeline — and treat every answer as a qualification signal, not small talk. Great questions land because of the \u003Ca href=\"/academy/sdr/active-listening-in-sales/\">listening that shapes them\u003C/a> — a skill worth training before you take this bank into a real call. Score what you learn against a framework like \u003Ca href=\"/academy/sdr/what-is-bant/\">BANT\u003C/a> or, for larger enterprise deals, \u003Ca href=\"/academy/sdr/sales-qualification-frameworks/\">MEDDIC\u003C/a>, and you'll end every call knowing whether it's an opportunity worth an \u003Ca href=\"/glossary/account-executive/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">AE's\u003C/a> time or a "not yet" to park. The full shape of that call lives in the \u003Ca href=\"/academy/sdr/what-is-a-discovery-call/\">discovery agenda\u003C/a>.\u003C/p>\n",[39,42,45],{"id":40,"text":41},"the-30-question-discovery-bank-here-is-the-asset","The 30-question discovery bank — here is the asset",{"id":43,"text":44},"how-to-use-the-bank","How to use the bank",{"id":46,"text":47},"before-you-ask-know-what-you-re-listening-for","Before you ask, know what you're listening for",{"path":49,"title":50,"description":51,"module":14,"order":52,"kind":53,"practiceCall":24,"core":54},"/academy/sdr/what-is-a-discovery-call","What Is a Discovery Call? Definition, Agenda, and What It's For","A discovery call is a sales conversation that exists to learn, not to pitch. The rep asks about the prospect's problem, its cost, the budget, who's involved in the decision, and the timeline — then decides honestly whether the deal is real. This page defines discovery, contrasts it with a pitch, gives the 7-section agenda, and shows when an SDR runs a light version versus when an account executive runs the full one.",1,"order",true,{"path":56,"title":57,"description":58,"module":14,"order":59,"kind":53,"practiceCall":24,"core":54},"/academy/sdr/what-is-bant","What Is BANT? (And Why Half of Sales Hates It)","BANT is the oldest sales qualification framework — Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline — built to answer four questions on a call: can they pay, can they decide, is there a real problem, and do they want to act soon. It is also widely criticized: modern buying is a group decision, budget is rarely the first thing a buyer knows, and treating BANT as a rigid pass/fail gate books bad deals. This page defines BANT, gives a scorecard worksheet, and explains the fix that keeps it useful.",3,{"slug":61,"title":62,"shortTitle":63,"crumb":64,"path":65,"positioning":66,"totalLessons":67,"modules":68},"sdr","Certified Sales Development Representative (CSDR)","SDR/BDR Certification","SDR Certification","/academy/sdr","The free certification for getting your first sales job — no degree, no experience, no upsell.",58,[69,72,75,79,84,88,91,95,98],{"id":52,"name":70,"lessonCount":14,"description":71},"The Role","What an SDR actually does, whether it’s for you, and the sales career path it opens — 6 core lessons.",{"id":15,"name":73,"lessonCount":59,"description":74},"Getting In With No Experience","Land your first sales job with no experience or degree — a 30-day plan — 3 core lessons.",{"id":59,"name":76,"lessonCount":77,"description":78},"Prospecting and Research",8,"Find the right accounts and contacts to reach — 8 lessons.",{"id":80,"name":81,"lessonCount":82,"description":83},4,"Cold Calling",11,"Make cold calls without freezing up — 11 core lessons.",{"id":85,"name":86,"lessonCount":77,"description":87},5,"Cold Email and LinkedIn","Write cold emails and LinkedIn messages that get replies — 8 core lessons.",{"id":14,"name":89,"lessonCount":85,"description":90},"Conversations: Discovery and Qualification","Run discovery calls and qualify real buyers — 5 core lessons.",{"id":92,"name":93,"lessonCount":59,"description":94},7,"The Tool Stack","The tools that run an SDR’s daily workflow — 3 core lessons.",{"id":77,"name":96,"lessonCount":14,"description":97},"Money: Comp, Commission and Quota","SDR salary, OTE, commission and quotas — 6 lessons.",{"id":99,"name":100,"lessonCount":77,"description":101},9,"Getting Hired","Resume, interview answers, offer negotiation, and the certification assessment — 8 lessons.",1792888518709]