Stop Selling During Discovery. Here’s What to Do Instead.

The best trial lawyers don't make their case during the cross-examination. They ask questions, they pull information, they'll, they will sit on a goldmine of, of insight and wait, right? Like, and that is consultative sales, and most sellers do it completely backwards. I was coaching an MSP seller recently. She sells IT services, and we got into this whole conversation about discovery. And anybody who's followed my sales content knows I believe and I frequently say all roads lead to discovery. Because every objection, every stalled deal, every, you know, obstacle, every lost opportunity, like you can trace it back far enough to something in that got missed in discovery, and that doesn't mean if you conduct a really good discovery you're going to close every single deal, but you will have a, a more accurate picture of what's actually happening in the deal. We're talking through it, and she keeps coming back to the same question. Like, when I hear a problem, why would I not just address it then? You know, like if the client says their current provider is really slow on tickets and we have documented response times, why would I not say, yeah, sorry to hear that, here's how we're better. Like here's how we do it and show them the numbers? Like why not show them how you're better when you're finding out? I get why that feels right. I, I hear you. You hear a pain point, and you've got the solution, and it's just sitting there. Why would you hold it? Well, here's why. I asked her, have you ever watched a really good trial lawyer build a case? Like a great one. Not just like TV drama, but an actual skilled attorney, lawyer. Think about how cross-examination works. You know, they're, they're asking questions, they're pulling information out, they're being really strategic about what they surface. And even when they're sitting on the perfect rebuttal, even when they know the answer before they ask the question, they don't make the argument then. Like they don't mix cross-examination with the closing argument. Those are two completely separate things and the quality of the close depends entirely on the patience that that attorney had during the discovery. That is the whole thing, right there. If you're pitching solutions mid-discovery, you're making a closing argument before you have all the facts, and you're leaving information on the table and you're telling them, you're signaling that you're just there to sell. Like you're not there to understand, and that kills trust really quickly. And when I, when I run discovery, it's a pull exercise. Like think doctor, not sales rep. You know, you, as a doctor, you sit down with a patient, you're asking about their symptoms, you know, when does this happen, how intense is the pain, what's, you know, what are the patterns? How long has this been going on? And, and you're curious, right? You're collecting information. You're not writing the prescription while they're still talking. You know, like, and you wouldn't trust that prescription anyway, you know, if you only gave one of eight symptoms then, and they said, oh here's your fix, you'd go, huh, that doesn't have as much credibility to me. The same thing happens in sales. Like get the information. Be really strategic about the questions that, that you're going to surface and, and get the right facts that you need and be patient. Right? Like, or at least enough to collect all of the information that you need before you assemble your closing argument, which is the presentation and the close. When she heard it framed that way, like the, the lawyer metaphor, she, she got it. It clicked. Because you can picture it. You can picture that lawyer going, alright, I know exactly what I'm going to say, and I'm going to sit on it until the right moment. And that restraint is an actual skill. The, that patience is what separates a consultative seller from somebody who's just pitching shit. And it will, it will dramatically increase the credibility and the effectiveness of your closing argument. Like discovery is where you build the case. Closing is where you present it. And if you do it in that order every time you, you, like you stop selling and you start making decisions easier for people. And it clicked for her on the call, so I hope it clicks for you. Adios