Discovery Questions That Uncover Real Business Problems

This session breaks down the 22 minutes at the heart of a B2B discovery call—the time between your opening agenda and your closing next steps. Drawing on the Situation-Problem-Impact (SPI) framework, you will learn how to move a conversation from surface-level process details down to the business outcomes that actually drive buying decisions. The session covers three core philosophies for effective discovery, practical question types for each layer of the SPI framework, techniques to keep the call feeling like a dialogue rather than an interrogation, and a structured recap pitch that earns the right to a next step. Real-world examples from compensation software sales illustrate every concept, making the techniques immediately transferable to your own deals.

Learning objectives

• Apply the Situation-Problem-Impact framework to guide discovery conversations from context to business pain to measurable impact
• Use vertical questioning techniques—including why-you-took-the-call, current-state-to-future-state, and typically-language questions—to uncover problems without interrogating prospects
• Employ playbacks, pylons, and parallel stories to create give-and-take throughout the call and position yourself as a trusted adviser
• Craft a grand recap pitch that ties discovered problems to your solution and creates momentum toward a next step

Key takeaways

• Business problems—not process inefficiencies—are what justify a purchase; always push below surface-level symptoms to find bottom-line impact
• Vertical questioning (going deeper on one thread) is more effective than horizontal questioning (asking many unrelated situational questions in sequence)
• Asking 'when was the moment you realized this was a problem?' reliably generates emotional, story-driven impact that strengthens deal urgency
• Humbling disclaimers ('I recognize this might be an awkward question…') reduce prospect defensiveness when probing sensitive metrics or missed goals
• Pylons—adding related pain points you know from experience—help prospects feel understood and surface additional problems they might not have volunteered
• A brief harbour-tour demo at the end of a strong first call can accelerate the sales cycle by making your solution tangible before the formal demo call