21 Sales Discovery Questions to Ask When Qualifying a Lead

This question is sort of like the interview question “Tell me a bit about yourself.” It’s vague enough to let the lead share the details they find most pertinent, whether that’s the company’s mission statement, current projects, or origin story. By asking this question, you’ll likely get some information that will help you measure their company against your ideal customers, while also gaining general context for the rest of the conversation.

Ideally, you'll have already checked LinkedIn or the company website for the lead’s job title. But this question helps you go beyond the title into what the lead actually does at the company, so you can more accurately check their alignment with your ICP. Digging deeper is especially crucial if you’re selling in an industry where job titles have different meanings. For example, two different VPs of property management may have completely different responsibilities.

It’s important to know what types of customers your lead is concerned with satisfying. Are they small businesses, large businesses, or individuals? That way, you can better compare them to your ICP. Plus, later in the sales conversation, you’ll be able to explain how your solution helps them support their target market and therefore gain revenue.

For example, suppose a fintech company discovered that their lead’s company, a bank, was trying to expand its audience to include Gen Z. During a presentation, the fintech company could bring up how Gen Z individuals tend to love handling their banking through a mobile app with as little interaction with tellers as possible. This shows the seller’s industry acumen and concern for the bank’s specific situation. Remember that discovery is often also research.

This question relates mostly to the “needs” criterion of the BANT lead qualification framework. It helps you discover not only why the lead felt the need to reach out, but also why they decided to reach out to your company specifically. Did they feel your team was especially well-positioned to help them because of your approach or features? Maybe they just heard good things about you. Regardless, this question reveals their needs and helps you assess if you can serve them.

The above question relates to the “goals” criterion in the lead qualification framework known as GPCTBA/C&I, commonly used by companies selling complex solutions. By asking this question, you gain insight into the lead’s north star and their reason for aiming at it. You can then start to think about whether your business is a good fit to get them there. Plus, making them repeat their reasoning can enliven their desire for the goal’s attainment, and your solution’s assistance.

This discovery question relates to the “needs” section of the ANUM lead qualification framework. It focuses on unearthing the problem that the lead wants to solve. This is especially useful for companies that sell point solutions or more transactional products that solve a list of common customer problems. The seller can easily check if the lead’s issue is something they’re able to solve at a reasonable price.

This question serves the purpose of assessing “challenges” in the CHAMP qualification framework. It aims to uncover the hurdles the lead feels your business can help them hop over. Here, you can assess whether their belief in your ability is right or wrong. Do you have the features, attributes, and services to help overcome those challenges, or should the lead look elsewhere?

The above discovery question deals with the “needs” section of the BANT qualification framework by uncovering the lead’s major pain points. These might be wasted time, disorganized documents, brain-numbing administrative tasks, or a whole list of grievances. After hearing the lead’s answer, start to think about if and how your business can fix the issues. If the majority of them seem like things you’re incapable of solving, consider disqualifying them.

This question corresponds to the “plans” section of the GPCTBA/C&I lead qualification framework. It encourages the lead to talk about where their plans have gone wrong or why their current plan isn’t working. They might tell you in which areas they need support for the plan to work. This allows you to spot where your business comes in. Are there specific challenges or issues you can solve for them, or support you can provide to assist their execution?

This question corresponds to the “prioritization” criterion of the CHAMP lead qualification framework, specifically in a way that gauges positive impact. It reveals the lead’s perceived magnitude of the impact of the solution on their personal life. A lead who has a strong vision of their future life and articulates it with passion is more likely to prioritize this solution than a lead who says something lukewarm like “I think it might save me a bit of time.”

This discovery question assesses your solution’s business “implications,” which in the GPCTBA/C&I framework can refer to positive or negative outcomes. When you ask them to explain what they want to see, they may answer with specific targets like revenue numbers or more vague outcomes like “more productive employees.” If the answer is vague, ask them to specify so that you can ensure your solution’s potential value for their business aligns with their expectations.

This question falls under the “consequences” criterion of the GPCTBA/C&I framework. If the lead lists a cascade of problems that will occur if the pain point sticks around, then they’ll likely have a strong need for your solution. If, on the other hand, the lead feels like nothing that bad will happen if they don’t solve their pain point, then you might be in for a long sales cycle.

This question corresponds to “budget,” the first section of the BANT framework. It encourages the lead to speak to whether or not they’ve already set aside money for this purchase. Asking this early allows the seller to deal with price ASAP and disqualify leads who can’t pay quickly. If the lead has put money aside for the purchase, this indicates a high level of prioritization or need.

This discovery question relates to the “money” portion of CHAMP. By asking it, you learn how much money the lead is expecting to pay for your product or service to solve the problem or challenge you’ve already uncovered earlier in the discovery call. The lead’s answer will also give you a sense of their commitment to solving the issue. The more they’re willing to pay, the more they want to solve the problem.

This question about finances fits into the “budget” criterion of GPCTBA/C&I. It directly states the price of the product or service and then asks the lead if they have the budget to afford it. If you’re selling something with little to no room for negotiation, this strategy would work well for you. The same goes for a solopreneur with only a limited amount of time but a high demand for their services. They can use this question to weed out leads who won’t pay top dollar.

Even though the budget is in the middle of GPCTBA/C&I, it still carries a lot of weight because the framework is meant for hyper-qualifying leads for complex products and long sales cycles.

This question falls under the “authority” section of the ANUM framework, which prioritizes authority and is common amongst B2B brands selling to multiple decision-makers. By asking this question, you’ll learn who else you’ll have to present to throughout the process. You’ll also learn the lead’s influence. Are they merely a scout, or perhaps a technical expert? If they're not the decision-maker, this question also helps you get an introduction to that person.

This discovery question assesses the lead’s “authority” in the BANT framework. The lead’s answer will reveal whether they're simply doing a first look at your product before passing the evaluation off to a superior or if they’re in it for the long haul and have a lot of influence over the final purchase. It could turn out that they're a champion but need approval from a manager. All intel is helpful. Going forward, you’ll also know which person to email and schedule meetings with.

This buying process question corresponds mostly to the “authority” section of CHAMP, but it may also uncover the company’s timeline as well. By asking the lead to walk you through their buying process, you’ll learn not only what you’ll have to do (for example, give demos, presentations, etc.,) but also who the big players are in the process. The lead may even reveal the name of the person who will ultimately sign the contract or other intel to help you strategically sell.

This question assesses “timeline” in BANT by asking the lead to tell them the general date they want to finish the purchase and implement or receive the product or service. The revealed information allows you to disqualify leads who want either unrealistically fast delivery or a long buying process that will take your focus away from deals that will close this quarter or next.

This question reveals the lead’s level of “prioritization,” a criterion in the CHAMP framework. When you ask the lead to walk you through their past attempts, you learn how much time and resources they've devoted to solving this issue. As a rule, the more they've invested in resolving it, the more they’re prioritizing finding a product or service that can help them.

The above question deals with the “urgency” criterion in ANUM by influencing the lead to talk about the costs of waiting and letting the issue fester. They’re forced to think about how the problem might grow with each passing day into something nastier and more costly. If, for example, a delay incurs high costs, either financial, personal, or operational, the lead will likely have a sense of urgency to complete this deal and start using your product or service.