TREAD pairs well with BANT to ensure you have the basics you need before moving to deeper discovery like SPIN or BNAPR.

T – Time. Always confirm that your client has time to speak with you on the discovery call. “I have this meeting blocked off for thirty minutes…does this time still work for you? Do you have an hard stops?” This is a simple but important step because you want to ensure that you have your client’s full attention and focus – otherwise you are wasting both of your times. This also shows that you are partner in this process and respect the client’s time. You take ownership of the time and agenda for the call as a partner in discovery and resolution for the client.

R – Role. Always ask about the client(s) role at their company. ‘What is your role at the company?’ ‘What are the day to day responsibilities in this position’ ‘What do you care about in this role…’

E – Expert. Define yourself as an expert because you are! You are the product expert and need to take ownership of that to establish your advice as relevant to the client. You know your product and how it can help. Clients will trust you if you establish your expertise as a consultant who understands their business and how your product can help. Pro tip – take time to learn about various industries related to your product. Research and discovery how your product helps – so you can speak with authority on how you can help.

A- Authority. Make sure they have the authority to make buying decisions, leading to the…

D – Decision Maker. Who is the decision maker? How are decisions made? What metrics does the decision maker care about?

Discovery is a blend of repetitive but crucial questions (like TREAD) and deeper dive that digs deeper in the current state, pain of the status quo, their roadmap to the future state and how your product can help improve their day to day.

Salespeople get a bad rap for being pushy – but a true sales professional is not trying to force a sale or manipulate the client – a true sales professional wants to HELP the client to SOLVE a problem with a SOLUTION…

Which tees up our next focus – Solution Selling ….Solution Selling is where you can take the information you learned in discovery to provide and recommend a solution.

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