A discovery call is the first proper conversation between a seller and a possible customer. Its purpose is to understand, not to sell: what does the buyer do today, what is not working, what would change if it were solved, who decides, and by when? A good discovery call ends with both sides knowing whether it is worth talking again, and if so, when.
In this lesson learners first practise the four skills a discovery call needs (open questions, active listening, notes and summarising back), then run three short calls in groups of three. Every learner plays the seller, the buyer and the observer once.
At a glance
Item | Details |
|---|---|
Time | 90 minutes |
Level | Vocational school, bachelor, adult education |
Group size | Any; the role play runs in groups of three (one group of four or two is fine, see Differentiation) |
Room | Groups of three chairs facing each other, ideally spread out so the groups do not hear each other |
Learners do | Rewrite questions, watch a demonstration, run three role plays, give and receive feedback |
Running the lesson
90 min- 5 min
Warm-up: "Yes or no?" game. One learner thinks of a job, the class may only ask yes/no questions. After one minute, allow open questions. Ask: which questions gave more information?
- 10 min
Input: what a discovery call is for. Open and closed questions, with examples on the board.
- 10 min
Worksheet part A in pairs: turn eight closed questions into open ones. Compare two or three answers in class.
- 10 min
Input and demonstration: active listening, notes, summarising back, agreeing a next step. You play the seller in a 3-minute call with a volunteer reading the demonstration card.
- 5 min
Form groups of three. Hand out seller briefs, buyer cards and observation sheets for round 1. Everyone reads their own sheet only.
- 30 min
Role play: three rounds of 10 minutes (6 minutes call, 4 minutes feedback from the observer and the buyer). Rotate roles after each round and use a new buyer card.
- 15 min
Debrief in class with the questions below. Collect good questions and good next steps on the board.
- 5 min
Exit ticket: each learner writes one open question they will use again and one thing they will do differently. Set the homework.
Materials
The key ideas below, as a handout or on the board.
Worksheet part A (closed to open questions), one per pair.
Seller briefs A, B and C, one set per group.
Buyer cards A, B and C from the reveal below, printed and cut, one set per group. Learners only see the card for the role they play.
The demonstration card (in the same reveal) for your own demonstration call.
The observation sheet, three copies per group (one per round).
A timer everyone can see, or call out the minutes.
Key ideas
Open and closed questions
A closed question can be answered with yes, no or one fact: "Do you use a spreadsheet?" It is useful to confirm something. An open question invites the other person to explain: "How do you plan your staff today?" It is useful to learn something you did not know.
Open questions usually start with how, what, which, why or "tell me about". Use "why" carefully: "Why did you do that?" can sound like an accusation. "What made you choose that?" asks the same thing more gently.
Good discovery calls use mostly open questions and some closed ones to check facts. A call with only closed questions feels like an interrogation; a call with only open questions can drift.
Active listening
Active listening means showing that you have understood, not only that you have heard. In practice:
Let the buyer finish. Count to two in your head before you speak.
Ask a follow-up question on what they just said: "You said Sundays are the worst. What happens on Sundays?"
Use their words, not your product's words. If they say "chaos", do not say "inefficiency".
Do not jump to your solution the moment you hear a problem.
Notes
Write short notes during the call: facts, numbers, names and the buyer's own words for their problem. A colleague should understand your notes without asking you. A simple layout works: situation, problems, effects, decision (who and when), next step.
Summarising back
Before the end of the call, summarise in two or three sentences what you heard and ask whether it is right. "So if I understood you correctly, each café manager spends about three hours every Sunday on the staff plan, and sick calls mean you close early about twice a month. Did I get that right?" The buyer can correct you, and they hear that you listened.
Agreeing a next step
A next step is concrete when it has a what, a who and a when, and the buyer agrees to it. "I'll send you something" is not a next step. "Shall we meet next Tuesday at 2 with your owner to look at a plan for two of your cafés?" is one. If there is no fit, saying so is also a good outcome: "From what you've told me, this isn't a priority for you this year. Shall we leave it there?"
Step by step
Warm-up (5 minutes). Play the yes/no game. Write two lists on the board: what the class learned from yes/no questions, and what it learned from open questions once you allowed them.
Input (10 minutes). Explain what a discovery call is for. Write five question starters on the board: How, What, Which, Tell me about, What happens when. Ask learners to say which of three example questions are open.
Worksheet part A (10 minutes). Pairs rewrite the eight closed questions. Ask two pairs to read out answers to the same question; point out that several answers can be right.
Demonstration (10 minutes). Explain active listening, notes, summarising back and next steps (5 minutes). Then a volunteer reads the demonstration card (Coho Winery) and plays the buyer. You play the seller for about three minutes, then stop and ask the class: which question gave the most useful answer? Where did I summarise? What was the next step? The demonstration card is not used in the role play, so nothing is given away.
Set up (5 minutes). Groups of three. Round 1: learner 1 is seller (brief A), learner 2 is buyer (card A), learner 3 observes. Say clearly that buyers only share hidden facts when the seller asks a good question about that topic.
Role play (30 minutes). For each round: 6 minutes call, then 4 minutes feedback. The observer speaks first, then the buyer says how the call felt, then the seller says what they would change. Rotate: round 2 uses brief and card B, round 3 uses brief and card C.
Debrief (15 minutes). Work through the debrief questions. Collect the best open questions and the best next steps on the board.
Exit ticket (5 minutes). One open question to keep, one thing to change. Set the homework.
Worksheet part A: from closed to open
Rewrite each closed question as an open question about the same topic.
Do you plan your staff in a spreadsheet?
Is planning a lot of work?
Do you have problems when someone calls in sick?
Are your customers happy?
Is the owner involved in decisions like this?
Do you have a budget for this?
Do you want to solve this before summer?
Would an app help?
Seller briefs
All three sellers work for fictional companies. Their goal in the call is the same: understand the buyer's situation, the problems and their effects, who decides and by when, and agree a next step if there is a fit. They should not present the product in detail. Six minutes is short, so a seller who talks about features runs out of time.
Brief | You are | You sell | You called because |
|---|---|---|---|
A | Seller at Litware | Software that plans staff shifts and lets staff swap shifts on their phones | The operations manager of Fourth Coffee filled in a contact form asking for a call |
B | Seller at Contoso | A help desk tool that collects customer emails in one place and tracks every answer | The customer service lead of Wingtip Toys met you at a trade fair and asked you to call |
C | Seller at Proseware | Online booking and payment for courses and rentals | The office manager of Alpine Ski House was recommended to you by a customer and agreed to a call |
Each seller should try to find out:
How the buyer does things today (situation).
What does not work well (problems).
What those problems cost or cause (effects).
Who decides and when a decision is needed.
Whether there is a next step worth taking.
Observation sheet
The observer fills in one sheet per round. Tally marks are enough for counts; write down exact words for the examples.
What to watch | Count or example | Comment |
|---|---|---|
Open questions asked | ||
Closed questions asked | ||
Best question of the call (exact words) | ||
Follow-up question on something the buyer just said | ||
Seller talked about the product before understanding the problem | yes / no | |
Who spoke more, seller or buyer? | ||
Seller took notes | yes / no | |
Summary back to the buyer, and did the buyer agree? | yes / no | |
Next step: what, who, when | ||
Did the buyer agree to the next step? | yes / no | |
One thing the seller did well | ||
One thing to try next time |
Feedback rule for observers: describe what happened, not the person. "You asked three yes/no questions in a row about the budget" helps more than "You were pushy".
Buyer cards A, B and C (for the teacher: print and cut)
Every buyer follows the same rules:
Answer closed questions briefly ("Yes." "No." "About twelve.") and wait.
Share the facts under "Tell this only when asked" only if the seller asks an open question about that topic.
Agree to a next step only if the seller has summarised your situation correctly and suggests something concrete. Otherwise say "Send me something and I'll have a look."
Be friendly and realistic. Do not make it impossible, and do not make it too easy.
Demonstration card: Jana Ludwig, logistics manager, Coho Winery
Who you are. Coho Winery delivers wine to about 60 restaurants and shops in the region. The seller works for Fabrikam, which sells delivery planning software. You agreed to the call after a wine fair.
Tell this only when asked: you plan the three vans' routes every morning on a paper map, which takes about an hour. Restaurants often call to ask when the wine arrives. Last month a van drove to the same town twice in one day by mistake.
Decision and timing. You decide together with the owner, Marc Weber. Nothing is urgent until the busy Christmas season.
Buyer card A: Lena Vogt, operations manager, Fourth Coffee
Who you are. Fourth Coffee runs twelve cafés with about 140 staff, many of them students working part time. You asked Litware for a call through their website.
Tell this only when asked:
Each café manager writes the staff plan in a spreadsheet every Sunday evening. It takes each of them about three hours.
Staff swap shifts in a group chat, and the spreadsheet is often out of date.
When someone calls in sick, managers phone around. About twice a month a café closes early because nobody can come.
Two good café managers left this year. Both said the planning work was one of the reasons.
A new tool must work on staff phones. Most staff never use a computer at work.
Decision and timing. The owner, Paul Fischer, decides on anything over 5,000 euros a year. You want a solution before the summer season starts in May.
Your worry. Older staff may not like an app.
Buyer card B: Omar Haddad, customer service lead, Wingtip Toys
Who you are. Wingtip Toys is an online toy shop with a customer service team of six. You met the Contoso seller at a trade fair and asked them to call.
Tell this only when asked:
All customer emails arrive in one shared inbox. Before Christmas, that is about 400 emails a day.
Sometimes two colleagues answer the same email, sometimes nobody does.
In December customers waited up to three days for an answer. Several wrote bad reviews about it.
You cannot see how many emails are open or how long answers take.
Your team already uses a chat tool and does not want "yet another window".
Decision and timing. The managing director, Sofia Marin, decides together with the IT lead. The busy season starts in October, so anything new must be running by September.
Your worry. Moving old emails into a new tool could be a lot of work.
Buyer card C: Hannah Brandt, office manager, Alpine Ski House
Who you are. Alpine Ski House runs a ski school and a ski rental shop. A friend of yours who uses Proseware recommended them.
Tell this only when asked:
Courses and rentals are booked by phone and email. Two staff answer the phone every morning in the season.
Last winter there were several double bookings for private lessons.
About one in ten course bookings does not turn up and has not paid in advance.
Guests have asked for online booking, especially guests from abroad.
The owners are proud of the personal service and do not want to lose it.
Decision and timing. The two owners decide together. They have already set aside money for "something digital" this year. The season starts in December, so it must be ready by mid November.
Your worry. Guests might stop calling, and you would lose the chance to give advice.
Debrief questions
Which question in your group got the most useful answer? Why did it work?
When did the buyer share a hidden fact? What did the seller do just before that?
How did it feel to be the buyer when the seller talked about the product early?
Which summaries did the buyer agree with straight away? What made them accurate?
Read out a next step from your observation sheet. Is it concrete: what, who, when?
Did any group decide there was no fit? Why can that be a good result?
What did the observer notice that the seller did not notice themselves?
Differentiation
Easier.
Give sellers a card with ten question starters and five prepared open questions they may read out.
Allow 8 minutes per call instead of 6 and run two rounds instead of three.
Groups of four: two observers, one watching questions and one watching the summary and next step.
Harder.
Buyers add one objection of their choice, for example "We tried an app before and it failed."
Sellers may not ask about the budget directly. They must find out who decides and whether money is set aside through other questions.
The observer also notes the time the seller speaks, with a stopwatch, and gives the share of speaking time.
After the call, the seller writes the call notes in five minutes and the buyer checks them for accuracy.
Groups of two. If the numbers do not work out, a pair runs the call and the teacher or a neighbouring group's observer watches for part of it.
Homework
Choose one of the three calls you took part in, as seller or observer. Write:
Call notes in five short sections: situation, problems, effects, decision (who and when), next step.
A short follow-up email (80 to 120 words) to the buyer that summarises what you heard and confirms the next step.
Solutions: worksheet part A
Several answers are right. These are examples.
How do you plan your staff at the moment?
How much time does planning take each week, and who does it?
What happens when someone calls in sick?
What do customers tell you about their experience?
Who else is involved when you decide on something like this?
How do you usually decide whether to spend money on something like this?
When would you need a solution to be in place, and why then?
What would have to change for your team to work more easily?
Question 6 is the hardest. Asking directly about the budget early in a call can feel pushy. Asking how decisions are made usually gives the same information.
Solutions: model summaries and next steps
Card A, Fourth Coffee. "So each of your twelve café managers spends about three hours every Sunday on the plan, swaps happen in a chat and the plan is often out of date, and about twice a month a café closes early because of sick calls. It also played a part when two managers left. Paul decides, and you want something running before May. Did I get that right?" Next step: "Would it make sense to meet for 30 minutes next week with Paul, and look at how a plan for two of your cafés would work on staff phones?"
Card B, Wingtip Toys. "So all emails land in one shared inbox, before Christmas about 400 a day, some get two answers and some none, and in December customers waited up to three days, which led to bad reviews. Sofia and your IT lead decide, and it must run by September. Is that right?" Next step: "Shall I show you and your IT lead in a 30-minute video call on Thursday how old emails are moved over, since that was your main worry?"
Card C, Alpine Ski House. "So bookings come in by phone and email, two people are on the phone every morning, there were double bookings last winter, and about one in ten course bookings does not turn up without having paid. Guests from abroad ask for online booking, but the personal service matters a lot to the owners, and it must be ready by mid November. Did I understand that correctly?" Next step: "Could we meet with both owners next week, and look at how guests could book online and still choose to be called for advice?"
A good summary uses the buyer's numbers and words, mentions the effect of the problem, and names who decides and when.
Solutions: what a strong call looks like (for the debrief)
Two or three situation questions at most, because the seller already knows the basics from the brief.
Most time spent on problems and their effects, with follow-up questions such as "What happens then?"
No product details before the summary. A sentence such as "That is exactly the kind of thing we help with" is enough.
A summary with numbers, checked with the buyer.
A next step with a date, the right people and a purpose, or a clear and friendly "this is not a fit".
The buyer spoke more than the seller.