Simulator: the discovery call
The cold call paid off: you have fifteen minutes. Now the prospect has to do the talking. Your job is to choose the questions, restate what you hear, and keep the demo in your pocket.
What changes compared with the cold call
On the cold call you had thirty seconds to earn a conversation. In discovery the conversation is yours: the risk is no longer being cut off, it is wasting it. You waste it in two ways. By running down a list of questions without ever building on the answers, which turns into an interrogation. Or by jumping on the first pain expressed to show the product, which turns discovery into a demo nobody asked for.
The simulator puts you in front of a Head of Sales in a hurry with a team meeting right after. She says a lot in few words. On every turn you choose: an open or a closed question, a restatement or a jump to the next item, a proposal tied to her constraint or a demo. Her patience is measured live.
How you are scored
The scoring changes: framing is worth 15 points (announcing the time, the order and the final decision in the first minute), questions 30 (open, impact-driven, in the order the prospect sets), listening 40 (restating in their words, digging into the consequence, checking before proposing) and the next step 15 (a concrete, dated step aligned with their constraint). Listening weighs the most because it is what is missing most often.
Three possible endings: prospect qualified with a dated next step, needs requalifying (polite but nothing dated), meeting lost. The debrief shows you, criterion by criterion, the reply you chose and the best one.
Key takeaways
- Frame the first minute: the time, the order, and who decides what comes next.
- One open question about their day is worth more than three closed questions about their tools.
- Restate in their words and dig into the consequence before proposing anything.
- The next step aligns with their constraint, not with your sales process.
Your discovery call
Fifteen minutes earned after a cold call. Here the prospect does the talking: choose your questions and how you listen.
Framing 15, questions 30, listening 40, next step 15. Listening weighs the most.
Go further
A term you are not sure about? The cold calling glossary
