SAAS Discovery Questions

Business Pain Questions

Uncovering the real challenges facing their business

1. What are the challenges you're facing that you'd regret not solving six months from now?
2. Why would you regret not solving that six months from now?
3. Help me understand the most nagging challenges you face when it comes to [X]?
4. How satisfied are you with [pain area your product solves]? How top of mind is that?
5. How highly does [problem] rank on your "priority slide"?
6. Just to confirm... Is this "THE" challenge we should be discussing? Or are there others that are more top of mind for you?
7. If you could wave a magic wand and solve anything when it comes to [pain area], what would it be?
8. [For outbound discovery calls] I'm sure you get dozens of cold calls and emails a day. What made you take this call out of all of those?
9. I want to be sure I’m clear about [challenge they’re talking about]. Can you tell me more about it?
10. Can you give me an example?
11. How long has this been happening? How often does this happen?
12. What have you tried in terms of solving it? How did that work out?

Negative Impact Questions

Getting to the real pain you can solve for them

1. Earlier I asked what challenges you were facing that would derail you. Can you help me understand how this would derail you?
2. Can you walk me through the ripple effects [challenge] is having on the rest of the business?
3. How is this challenge impacting the business as a whole?
4. Who else does this challenge impact (function, person), and how?
5. How much would you estimate this challenge has cost you/the business?
6. Mind if I ask an awkward question? What kind of ripple effects is this having on YOU?
7. What’s driving you to solve this issue now rather than later?
8. How is this challenge affecting your [insert specific implication your problem-area creates]?
9. What are the downsides when it comes to…
10. What effect does that have on…
11. How often does that cause…
12. What does that result in?
13. How often does that lead to…

Solution Questions

Understanding expectations and where your solution fits

1. To what extent is it important for you and the business to solve [challenge] How would you prioritize it among your other priorities?
2. What do you think you need to solve this challenge? How do you see that benefiting you?
3. Have you thought about [insert your unique product capability here]? To what extent do you think that would help?
4. What advantages do you see from the desired capabilities you just mentioned you need?
5. What are some of the ways you see [benefit your product delivers] benefiting you?
6. What business outcome would most move the needle? How much would that be worth?
7. Mind if I ask an awkward question? Why is that meaningful to you?

Decision & Closing Questions

Mapping out your mutual path towards close

1. What's changed since last we talked?
2. Can you walk me through the steps you and your company need to take to make a confident "yes/no" decision on this?
3. Who are the people that will be involved in each of those steps? How is each person involved? Can you tell me about each person's decision criteria?
4. How are you thinking about funding this project?
5. What circumstances need to be met for us to execute a commercial agreement by the [date]?
6. What would derail us from getting things done from here?
7. Is there any reason for us to not move forward with this now?