Monday, January 26, 2026

Uncovering Critical Business Issues: A True Story

One day, a head of sales called me, out of the blue, and opened the conversation with, “Our demos suck…!” 

 

This was one of the most fascinating openings I had ever heard coming from a prospect. We moved into a very productive discovery conversation that ran for about an hour.

 

We had largely completed our conversation and were in the wrap-up phase. However, while I had terrific insights into his team’s demos and related factors, his organization’s culture, products, sales process steps and more, I hadn’t actually heard him articulate a Critical Business Issue.

 

Even though I was confident I already knew his CBI, I wanted to hear it from his lips.

 

I asked, “So tell me, what caused you to pick up your phone and call me today?”

 

He answered, “Well, I’ve been given a sales quota for next year that is 20% higher than this year’s – and I know we won’t make those numbers with our current demos…!”

 

Fabulous! In that one sentence he communicated both his CBI and a Delta – what a delight!

 

Learn more about Critical Business Issues, Deltas, and more in Doing Discovery here:

https://www.amazon.com/Doing-Discovery-Important-Enablement-Processes/dp/B0B8RJK4C2/

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