| Dorianne McKenzie

7-step Guide by Dori to Discovery-Driven Selling'

The game has changed in sales. No longer can your team simply push products—they need to solve problems. If your sales reps don’t understand what your buyers truly want or need, it’s time to make a change. But how? How do you shift your team’s mindset from transactional to truly understanding the buyer’s world?

The answer lies in building a buyer-first, problem-solving culture—one grounded in empathy, insight, and real business fluency. Ready to transform your sales team and align them with your buyers? I've learned a lot in my 30+ years of selling and leading sales teams and over time I've mastered how to drive 'discovery-driven selling' with my teams.

Here’s my proven '7-step guide by Dori to discovery-driven selling':

1. Train on Buyer Thinking, Not Just Sales Tactics

Forget the cookie-cutter sales tactics. It’s time to focus on what really matters—your buyer’s world. Instead of only teaching how to sell your product or service, train your team to:

Research before the call: Understand their buyer's business model, check out org charts, and stay updated on recent news.
Plan discovery calls: Use a call planner to capture key insights, questions to ask, and objections to anticipate.
Ask the right questions: Dig deeper by asking questions like “What does success look like?” and “What keeps you up at night?”

Tip: One of the most impactful tips I've used with my sales teams is ASL—Ask, Shut Up, and Listen!

2. Teach Them to Think Like Consultants

Salespeople who act like advisors build deeper relationships with clients. Equip your team to:

Ask strategic, thought-provoking questions.
Offer tailored solutions that show they get the buyer’s pain points.
Link product or service features to benefits for the buyer
Translate product features into business impact—speak their language, not yours (use metrics that matter!)

3. Role Play Real Buyer Scenarios

I am always telling my teams, practice makes perfect. The best way to practice? Use real buyer scenarios to sharpen your team’s core skills:

Plan and practice: Have reps plan their discovery calls, and role-play both the seller and buyer.

Debrief and learn: Review the session and use feedback to improve.

Buyers often don't even know their problems so train your team to guide that discovery.

4. Leverage Voice of the Customer (VoC) Briefings

Hearing directly from your customers is invaluable. Get your sales team familiar with their buyer's voice from:

Call recordings: Review with reps, discussing what they’re hearing from the buyer.
Win/Loss interviews: Analyze feedback to identify what went well and what could’ve been done better.
Quick post-call surveys: Capture immediate reactions to quickly spot trends.

Listening to real concerns builds rapid pattern recognition for your team.

Tip: STOP, START, CONTINUE has been an easy feedback format for my sales teams to effectively debrief and create action plans for the future. Give this a try and watch your teams adopt winning behaviors

5. Make CRM Notes About the Buyer, Not the Product

If your reps are only noting down generic details like “interested in X product,” they’re missing the point. Create a CRM framework that captures insights such as:

Business problems and desired outcomes
Timeline and urgency
Stakeholder roles - who is the D (Decision Maker), O (Owner), I (Influencer), E (Executor). Discerning stakeholder roles is an important exercise, especially if the decision maker is not the owner!

Audit CRM notes regularly and share best-in-class examples to keep your team sharp. I do this during weekly 1:1s and in weekly team meetings.

6. Align Sales and Customer Success Around Outcomes

Sales don’t stop once the deal closes. Align your sales team with customer success to deepen buyer relationships.

Understand post-sale value realization.
Recap and Pinpoint where buyers faced roadblocks and pushed back.

This holistic view sharpens pre-sale conversations and enhances the buyer experience.

7. Make Discovery a Competitive Advantage

Discovery calls should never be skipped. Celebrate reps who:

Unearth deep buyer problems
Reframe priorities
Secure executive-level insights early

Great discovery shortens sales cycles and boosts close rates, leading to business wins for both sides. Celebrating discovery progress not only has boosted the morale of my teams but also driven earlier adoption of the key behaviors and processes I want my team to possess.

In Summary: Problem Solvers Win

"If your sales team doesn’t understand their buyer’s world, they can’t earn their trust."

Trust is the foundation of any successful relationship, and in sales, it’s built through credibility, insight, and reliability. My most successful sales teams have solved problems vs. simply pushing products helping them stand out in today’s competitive market.

Use this 7-step guide by dori to turn your sales team into trusted problem solvers. Watch your sales cycle shorten, close rates rise, and most importantly, see your team win with buyers by aligning with their needs and goals.

Remember: Understand first, drive alignment, and see how your sales team can successfully sell.

Congruence Blog

From Product Pushers to Problem Solvers: Transform Your Sales Team

Subscribe to Email Updates