DISCOVER Questions™ Get You Connected: for Professional Sellers

by Deb Calvert

Make every sales call count and be the ONE seller buyers want to talk to! With DISCOVER Questions , you will be able to differentiate yourself from the pack, create value for your buyers and connect in ways you never knew were possible. The research (20+ years with sellers like you!) and anecdotes from actual sales calls will show you exactly how to become more effective in all stages of your sales process. You will advance the sale more efficiently when you use DISCOVER Questions and the sales approach described in this book.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction

Audible Audio

First published September 15, 2013

About the author

Deb Calvert, author of the DISCOVER Questions book series, has worked as a sales productivity specialist and sales researcher since 2000. She has worked with the newspaper industry for over 25 years as a consultant, a corporate director in Sales and Human Resources for a Fortune 500 company and as an Operations Director, Training Manager, and Sales Manager. Deb’s early career included a variety of inside, outside and major account sales positions. Over the past 10 years, Deb has worked with over 300 media companies to accelerate sales productivity. Deb hosts the CONNECT! online radio show for selling professionals where listeners ignite their selling power in just an hour.

As President and Founder of People First Productivity Solutions, Deb helps companies to boost productivity through people development. This work includes leadership program design and facilitation, strategic planning with executive teams, team effectiveness work, and performance management program design. Deb is certified to facilitate The Leadership Challenge® and also works with executives, managers, sales trainers and sales reps as a Humanistic Performance Coach. She is certified as an Executive Coach by the Center for Executive Coaching.
Deb is certified as a Master Sales Coach and Master Trainer. She is a charter member of The Sales Force Advisory Board and a graduate of the Accelerating Sales Force Performance executive program at Northwestern University. Deb is also a member of the American Society for Training & Development, national and Mount Diablo chapters, the American Management Association, and SF Coaches, a chapter of the International Coach Federation. Additionally, Deb is a Certified Practitioner with the Myers Briggs Type Indicator and other assessment tools.

Reviews

[Tom Carroll · Rating 2 out of 5]

May Be A Helpful Sales Book, But No Data to Back It Up

This book was referred by Jeb Blount as a great (and updated) continuation of the classic SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham. SPIN changed my sales career for the better. The primary difference between these two books is in the verifiable research data that Rackham painstakingly documented (12 years, over 30,000 audited sales calls) and the lack of quantifiable data to support Deb Calvert's claims in support of her DISCOVER questions. The entire book is filled with "buyers say..", with no research metrics to back up her claims. Very thin and unsubstantiated information. Pass.

[Mark Oliver · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great refresher to my theory behind b2b questioning in a structured and relevant way
Some great take aways DISCOVER
Data
Issue
Solution
Consequence
Outcome
Value
Example
Rationale

Questions to also avoid

But even just the takeaway of that we need to stop being self service and have a mindset of helping and serving our clients in a non subservient way will be a major take away for me

There have been a couple of sales decisions that haven’t went my way this month and I think it’s affected me more because I have sold the solution to myself without having a clear clarification that it’s helping my client I am perhaps assuming that the value has been conveyed when in reality I have not probed that clarification

Great book and will form part of my re reading list for reflection and learning

[Scott Wozniak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid discussion of the role that questions play in sales and the 8 categories of questions. Some of it is the same stuff as you'd find in other good sales books. But this book gives you more examples of how to ask each of these questions, which I think is better than trying to pick the "perfect" question to always ask.

NOTE: I read the audiobook for this one, in part because it was narrated by an AI and I wanted to see how good it would be. It was pretty good! It sounded really smooth, just like a pro narrator. Only glitch was that it verbally said the word "section" every time the text had a new row in a table (which was quite a bit during the question lists).

Nothing is better than the author recording it, in my opinion. But this could be a really good way to get audiobook versions of the many books whose authors can't or won't record something.

[Tim Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once in a while you come across a sales book that is actually a breakthrough. So many of them are the same old, same old. If you are in Sales, you ask questions right? Your ability to ask good questions will have a direct relationship to how many deals you win and how successful you are. This book provides a programmatic approach to question asking. If you have been on any sales training you will have been told to ask open questions, such as why, what, where, how etc. To be honest, that's all a bit old school. This book takes you through how to ask data, issue, solution, consequence, outcome, value, example and rationale questions. This book should be read by all salespeople or all sales managers should buy this book for their sales people.

[Avanti Laddha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too wordy for me

I will give this book 2 stars. While it does try to prove the importance of asking questions in the sales process, actual example questions are only few in each step. Author is just dragging on and on about why questions are important and every other nuance about them. What I was hoping to find was how to make each step questions little non abrasive in nature so prospect doesn't feel being interrogated in a 5 min cold call. Readers would be wise to read Questions Based Selling or Asking Questions the Sandler way which has much better examples and the flow.

[Kevin Eikenberry · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are looking at the cover of this book and seeing “for professional sellers” you might be ready to stop reading.

Don’t.

This book is written from the perspective of people in a selling position, but think about this for a second. Do you want to improve your relationships? Asking better questions can help. Do you want to be more influential? Asking better questions can help.

Read more...

[Lee Folger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific book to help salespeople improve their questioning skills.

[JULIO SERRANO · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Better Method to Building Relationships

DISCOVER Questions has given me a different method (a better method) do building relationships in the prospecting and sales cycle.

[Shane Meade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent read on questioning strategies, ends in the middle of nowhere, expected a wrap up or conclusion, hence 4 not 5 stars.

[Elinor Stutz · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was my delight to read Debra Calvert's book, Discover Questions Get You Connected. Debra demonstrates through questioning, a sales representative is able to develop a trustworthy relationship with their potential client. Your added value is the provided knowledge on how to phrase your questions for improved outcomes. These questions dismiss the age old stereo-type questions and instead teach how to gain insight on the client's problems and how to help resolve them. In essence you will read how to best the relationship and develop trust to enjoy a thriving clientele. This book is a must-read for anyone new to sales, and provides excellent reminders for those established in their sales career.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a skeptic when it comes to sales books because I have seen too many that fundamentally flawed - they approach the sale from the perspective of the seller. Deb Calvert's book takes you on a deep dive into understanding your customer like never before. Even if you think your questioning pattern is sound, you should pick up this book. In short order you'll be learning questions that you have never before asked (I found the chapter on "Outcome Questions" particularly tasty!). Don't skip the Skills Practice in Section 3!