Ever hopped on a discovery call for a product you barely know and felt your brain reaching for the “perfect” question? That’s backwards. The top reps don’t start with questions—they start with the problems they’re trying to uncover.

Today we’re pressure-testing a fresh space (using Checkr as the stand-in) and walking you through a simple 3-step framework to run crisp discovery even when you’re new: define the problems, build a discovery tree, then navigate it top-to-bottom like a pro.

Here’s how the three pieces click, and why this outperforms every single-channel play.

SALES

Ever run a discovery call for a product you’ve never sold before?

I’m taking on that challenge in today’s Noozy.

I’ll be using Checkr as an example — they’re a software company that helps businesses run background checks.

I don’t know a thing about them, but I’ll show you my 3-step discovery framework you can steal to crush your next disco:

Here’s the #1 reason most reps finish discovery calls without uncovering a single meaningful challenge:

They obsess over asking the “perfect discovery question” instead of understanding the problem they’re trying to uncover first.

You can use the “perfect” canned discovery question, but if you point it at the wrong problem it doesn’t matter.

The easiest way to figure out the problem you solve is to invert the feature-benefit on your website:

Checkr’s website references 3 feature-benefits on the left, see how we turned it into problems on the right:

Now we need to figure out how to turn these into bigger problems in discovery.

In order to build a discovery call tree, it’s important to first understand the 3 levels of discovery:

Watch how the “Non-Compliant” background check problem gets even bigger:

You’ll see the fully fleshed out tree below.

Now it’s time to use questions to navigate the tree.

Let’s continue that same example and play this out in a discovery call:

"My guess is you don’t take calls with everyone who reaches out. What prompted you to take this one today?"

(let’s say they give us a fuzzy answer like “our background check process isn’t scalable”)*

“Typically when teams run into issues with background checks, it’s one of three things: 1) The process is way too slow or manual, 2) They’re worried about compliance risk, or 3) The candidate experience is just horrendous. Which of the three is it for you?”

(they cite hiring remote workers where every state has a different background check)

"My guess is you didn’t just wake up yesterday and realize we can’t do background checks in a compliant way. I’m curious, when did you actually realize this was a problem?

Was something missed in a previous background check, was someone non compliant, or is this just something you need to do in order to prevent that stuff?"

9/10 times, they’ll drop into a long story about a non-compliant background check that created some legal risk. That’s your exec problem.

And that’s a wrap, folks!

_{H/T Armand Farrokh from 30MPC for this amazing content}

HEADLINES

→ The execution crisis: Why GTM needs a system that actually works

SOFTWARE

✅ TxLabz: Hire dev team to build your idea into fully-functional MVP in under 90 days and under $30K

That’s all for today.

Until next time,
Team B2B Whales

P.S. If you’re serious about scaling, join our Whales Club - our premium B2B community with weekly expert sessions, deal feedback, and the resources we actually use to close. Membership starts at $100/month only - cancel anytime.