A discovery call script is a guide that salespeople use to qualify a lead during a phone call. In addition to helping you prepare for the call, a script provides a list of discovery questions to qualify your leads and verbiage that excites potential buyers about the product or service. A quality general script will work for almost all cases, but you can use a tailored one that fits your specific business type or the discovery question framework you want to use.
Free Discovery Call Script Template
Below is our free general discovery call script template you can customize to fit your business, situation, and lead by filling in the blanks and adjusting the questions. The script follows the standard discovery call script structure and uses the BANT qualification framework by asking questions to reveal information about leads' budget, authority, needs, and timeline. We’ve also crafted other templates that work for specific sales scenarios. Jump to see them below.
Standard Discovery Call Script Structure
A standard discovery call script will begin with a rapport-building opening followed by small talk, introductions, and agenda-setting before listing discovery questions. The script ends with two closing options for two outcomes: qualified or unqualified. This structure works to build a relationship with the potential buyer while achieving its main function of lead qualification.
Your opener consists of a basic greeting like “how’ve you been?” and a more strategic conversational question that will initiate small talk, usually regarding something you learned about the lead during your pre-call research or a past call. It could be their hobby, a recent vacation, or industry news. A rapport-building opener like this shows the lead that you’ve done your homework and also provides you both with an easy avenue for connection.
Opening from free script template
Now that you understand what to include in a discovery call script and in which order, let's get into how to write your own script.
How to Write Your Own Discovery Call Script
Creating your own master discovery call script that you can tailor to fit different leads is a good way to standardize and optimize your lead qualification process. To do so, start by understanding your ideal customer by crafting a customer profile and buyer persona. Next, pick a lead qualification framework and choose 8–10 questions you’ll ask leads during the call. Finally, write the other components of the script and practice until it becomes second nature.
1. Create Your Customer Profile & Buyer Persona
First build your customer profile, which describes your ideal corporate or individual customer using hard data like demographics, psychographics, and firmographics. Use it to create buyer personas: semi-fictitious representations of real people you’d sell to that outline their pain points and motivations. Both are meant to help you assess a lead’s level of fit with your business. They’ll also help you craft verbiage that speaks to the lead’s interests, role, pains, and desires.
2. Pick Your Lead Qualification Framework
Even if a person and their company fit the buyer persona and customer profile, there are still other qualification factors you must take into account on your discovery calls, such as their budget, decision-making power, and timeline. Lead qualification frameworks are the set of criteria that you check off as you qualify a lead. The first criterion (the first letter in the acronym) is what you ask about to start. It takes priority in your qualification process.
Here are some examples of qualification frameworks and who should use them:
- BANT: Assesses leads based on their budget, authority, needs, and timeline of implementation and results. This is what we use in our generic discovery script. It’s for those selling an expensive product who want to make sure buyers can afford it first.
- CHAMP: Judges a lead on their challenges, authority, money, and prioritization of this project. It works well for sellers who want to show leads how dedicated they are to helping them achieve a specific goal and overcome the challenges along the way.
- GPCTBA/C&I: Assesses a lead based on their goals, plans, challenges, timeline, budget, authority, consequences, and implications. It's great for salespeople who sell complex solutions like enterprise software and want to go through a comprehensive checklist.
Choosing your framework will guide you in selecting the questions to ask in the next step, as you’ll know what intel you must uncover from your leads to determine if they’ve passed or failed the framework’s assessment. You can always go back and change your framework later on if it’s yielding too many false qualifications. For now, stick with one and build your list of questions. We’ll give you scripts for CHAMP and GPCTBA/C&I later in the article.
3. Select the Right Qualification Questions to Ask
Now that you know what qualified looks like, form a list of questions to include in your script. If you're in B2B sales, start with two questions about the person’s company and role so you can assess their match with your customer profile and buyer persona. From there, write out 8–10 questions, two for each criterion in your chosen lead qualification framework. If you’re using BANT, you’d write two questions about budget first, then authority, and so on.
Below are some questions covering all the criteria from the three frameworks in the last step:
- Budget: Do you have a budget set aside for solving this problem? Just wanted to tell you that our packages start at this cost; is that price alright with you?
- Authority: Is there anybody else heading up this venture or who plays the role of decision maker? Tell me about your role in this evaluation.
- Needs: Tell me a bit more about the problem you’re trying to solve. What’s the source of the problem? What would ideal results a month after implementation look like to you?
- Timeline: When do you need this implemented? How quickly do you need this problem solved? By when do you want to hit your goals?
- Challenges: What are the main hurdles in achieving this goal? What is the most difficult challenge to overcome at the moment?
- Prioritization: Why is this a priority for you? Compared to other initiatives, where does this rank in priority? Why haven’t you addressed this issue before, or have you tried to no avail?
- Goals: What are your three-month and one-year goals for your team? Where do you want the company to be in five years? What is the ideal outcome?
- Plans: Can you walk me through your current plan to achieve this goal? What past plans haven’t worked and why?
- Consequences/Implications: What’s it costing you per month to let this issue fester? What opportunities are you missing out on because of this challenge? Is this causing you to lose a competitive edge against competitors in any way?
Now take the 8–10 questions and write them down in a document for later. Keep in mind that during a call, you might want to go off-script a little for the sake of conversation. It’s advised to ask an unscripted question to dig into one of their answers every once in a while, as long as you still get a clear answer for each of your chosen criteria.
4. Write Out the Sections of Your Script
With 8–10 questions selected, you can start to write out your script, leaving blanks for parts that change for each lead, like {Lead Name} or {Company Name}. That way reps using it can quickly make a copy of the master document and personalize it before their call with each new lead. The sections of the script include an opener, small talk, introduction, agenda, discovery questions, and a closing statement. The ideal script will be about two pages in length.
Below is a quick reminder of the sections and what to write for each:
- Opening: Write your greetings and a few basic questions you could ask any lead to initiate small talk, such as about their recent promotion or a newsworthy industry event.
- Small Talk: Engage in about 2–5 minutes of small talk to create a warm and comfortable environment. While you can’t script this, you can have topic ideas to touch on like weekend plans, local or community news, or upcoming travel.
- Introduction: In 4–5 sentences give a thousand-foot view of your company in a customer-focused manner. Speak to the pain points you solve, your business's credentials, and the benefits customers receive from purchasing your solution.
- Agenda: Create a 1– to 2-sentence segue into the question-asking portion by setting the agenda for the rest of the call and asking for buy-in from the lead.
- Discovery Questions: Write your list of 8–10 questions in the script. Be sure to write the most important ones at the top so you get through them in the allotted time.
- Closing Statement: Create two closings — one for a good fit, and one for a bad fit. The good fit closing should include why it’s a match, your value to them, and a call-to-action. The bad fit closing should say why it’s a poor match and recommend another company.
Your script should be instructive, but not strict to the point of creative suffocation. Sellers need to have a map but also the ability to go off-script when need be. Also, as you’re writing, especially when crafting your introduction and good-fit closing statement, consult your buyer persona so that you use language that speaks to the desires and frustrations of your leads. That way they’ll be more excited to answer your questions truthfully and commit to next steps if qualified.
5. Rehearse Your Discovery Call Script
Now that you’ve written your script, practice it alone until it becomes locked in your memory. The most important parts to memorize are the introduction, which sells your business, and the questions, which execute your qualification strategy, so you don't sound scripted on the phone. Next, start practicing with peers and colleagues so that you can expose yourself to different responses to your questions.
6 Best Situational Discovery Call Script Template Examples
Below are six unique discovery call scripts for salespeople. Two use CHAMP and GPCTBA/C&I qualification frameworks, and the remaining four are purpose-built for specific types of solutions: B2B products, B2B services, B2C products, and B2C services. Each follows the ideal discovery call structure and comes with blanks for personalization, phrasing to help you sell your solution, and questions that will uncover important information for lead qualification.
Discovery Call Script for CHAMP Framework Users
Who Should Use It: Salespeople that want to understand a lead’s main challenges and how invested they are in overcoming these hurdles before deciding to work with the lead.
Why It Works: This script starts the small talk by asking about a recent event or story in the industry, thereby building you up as an informed expert in the field. Next, it introduces the solution as a means of attaining some goal by overcoming certain challenges. The questions then learn about the challenge and its causes while also exploring the lead’s authority, money, and priorities.
Discovery Call Script for GPCTBA/C&I Framework Users
Who Should Use It: Salespeople who want to use an exhaustive checklist for lead qualification so that only the highest quality leads enter the sales cycle.
Why It Works: This script works well to build interest around the solution with a pain point-focused introduction. It then uses questions that will help you reveal a lead’s main goals, their plan, and the challenges in frustrating its execution, in turn shining light on why they need you. After forming an understanding of their situation, the questions ask about their timeline, budget, authority, the consequences of not buying, and positive implications of purchasing.
Discovery Call Script for B2B Product Salespeople
Who Should Use It: B2B salespeople qualifying a lead for a specific product the lead inquired about or trying to figure out which product will best satisfy their needs.
Why It Works: This script effectively builds hype around the product with the use of a customer-focused story that describes the pains your product solves and the credentials your business holds. After building confidence and excitement around your brand, the script focuses on digging into the problem the company is trying to solve. It also ensures your product has the features and implementation time they’re expecting.
Discovery Call Script for B2C Product Salespeople
Who Should Use It: B2C salespeople trying to figure out which product is best for a potential buyer or qualify them for a specific product. Sellers in brick and mortar stores can also succeed with this.
Why It Works: This script first positions your product line as a standout in the market. It then informs the buyer that you’re interested in finding the perfect match for their specific preferences, thereby building trust. Its questions focus on uncovering things like the lead’s price range, authority, needs, product preferences, and preferred timeline, all of which help the seller qualify the lead for a certain product and pitch it to them in a personalized manner.
Discovery Call Script for B2B Service Salespeople
Who Should Use It: B2B salespeople qualifying a lead for a service and also attempting to figure out which package or tier is best for their needs.
Why It Works: One of the best ways to warm up any B2B sales call is to ask the buyer something about their current role at the company. After building rapport with this tactic, the script asks probing questions to ensure that this partnership will yield positive results for both parties involved. B2B service relationships often require a lot of back and forth, so it’s important to ensure the client won’t be too costly.
Discovery Call Script for B2C Service Salespeople
Who Should Use It: B2C sales professionals trying to see if a potential buyer is a good fit for their service.
Why It Works: This script focuses on telling the lead what pain points you’ll solve for them before you even get into the questions, which will make them more invested in the conversation. It also asks questions that will help you gauge whether your service is a good match with their needs, budget, authority, and timeline, while also influencing the lead to think about how much of a relief having your service would be.
These individual discovery call script examples above can be implemented in their respective situations, or you can use them to draft up your own ideal script. Feel free to include their introductions, framework questions, and calls-to-action while leaving room to personalize it to fit your desired outcome.
Top 4 Expert Tips for Writing a Discovery Call Script
There are best practices sales professionals follow to create the most effective and impactful discovery call script possible. These include using your buyer persona, leaving blank space for customization, ensuring your script sounds right when spoken, and involving team members in the drafting process. Read about each of these from our sales experts below:
Following these tips while writing will ensure that you craft a script that helps you connect with your ideal leads, speak to their needs and situation, and qualify them correctly.
Bottom Line: Discovery Call Script Template
A discovery call script can help salespeople conduct more effective discovery calls by giving them the right things to say and questions to ask, as well as an overall roadmap for the call. Managers can also create and disseminate discovery call scripts to standardize the qualification process and thus make it repeatable and testable. To see how qualification fits into your sales process, check out our guide to the fundamentals of lead generation.
