Something weird happened on a client call last week.
I was listening in on a recording from one of my consulting clients, purely for a bit of "how's it going" feedback. Within four minutes, my skin was crawling. The salesperson wasn't talking to the prospect; he was waterboarding him with data points.
"What's your current MRR? How many seats do you need? Who is the ultimate decision maker? What is your budget for this quarter?"
The prospect sounded like he was about to plead the Fifth. It was clinical, cold, and honestly, a bit soul-destroying. We’ve all been on those calls, where we feel less like a human with a problem and more like a line item on a spreadsheet.
I’ve been there too. I remember early in my career, I had a literal checklist of 20 questions I thought I had to get through to be "professional." I was so busy checking boxes that I completely missed the fact that the person on the other end was practically screaming for help.
The honest truth? If your discovery call feels like a job interview or a police interrogation, you’ve already lost the sale. People don't buy from spreadsheets with voices. They buy from people who actually hear them.
Why Your Current Sales Call Script Is Killing the Vibe
Most sales scripts are designed to extract information, not to build a relationship. We get so caught up in "qualifying" people that we forget they are trying to qualify us as someone they can actually stand working with.
I've noticed a recurring theme in my recent ai implementation support sessions: business owners are terrified of looking unprofessional, so they over-rehearse. They try to sound like a "serious" corporation, and in doing so, they strip away everything that makes them worth hiring.
When you fire off a rapid-fire list of questions, you aren't showing expertise. You're showing that you have a process you value more than the person in front of you. This is why business execution speed often stalls at the first hurdle. If you can't get the relationship right in the first twenty minutes, the project is doomed to be a slog of missed expectations and "per my last email" nudges.
Setting the Upfront Contract Without Being Weird
The first two minutes of your call dictate the next forty. If you start with a ten-minute monologue about your "best-in-class" solutions, you’ve lost.
I’ve found that the most disarming thing you can do is give the prospect an "out." It’s a bit counterintuitive, but telling someone they don't have to buy from you makes them much more likely to listen to what you have to say.
Try something like this: "Look, the way these calls usually go is I’ll ask you a few questions about what’s going on in your world. If I think I can genuinely help, I’ll tell you. If not, I’ll point you toward someone who can. Either way, we’ll part as friends. Does that sound fair?"
This does three things:
- It lowers their defensive walls.
- It establishes you as a consultant, not a beggar.
- It sets a clear agenda for the call.
It’s about being a human being. It’s the difference between a scripted beta testing strategy and actually asking, "What happens to your weekend if this software breaks on a Friday night?"
The Art of the Diagnostic Question
Once people feel safe, they’ll tell you the truth. But you have to ask questions that invite a story, not a "yes" or "no."
I used to ask, "Is your current website working for you?" They’d say "Yeah, it’s fine," and the conversation would hit a brick wall. Now, I might ask about website feedback they’ve received from actual customers. "When a lead lands on your page, what’s the one thing they usually get confused about?"
That’s a diagnostic question. It forces them to think about the friction in their business. You’re looking for the emotional "oops" moments. Listen for keywords like:
- "It's a nightmare when..."
- "I'm sick of explaining..."
- "We're constantly losing time on..."
If you are searching for more articles on AI, you’ll see that the tech is great at processing data, but it sucks at empathy. That’s your competitive advantage. Don't let your discovery call be something an LLM could do better.
When to Walk Away (The Brave Part of Sales)
Vulnerability in business isn't just about sharing your mistakes; it's about being honest when the fit isn't right.
I’ve had calls where the prospect was clearly just "tyre kicking"—gathering info to take to a cheaper competitor or trying to fix a problem they didn't actually have the authority to change. In the past, I would have chased them for weeks. Now? I just call it out.
"It sounds like you're still in the research phase, which is totally fine. To save us both some time, why don't I send you the free book and we can chat again when you're closer to making a move?"
Red flags to look out for:
- Hostility or Dismissiveness: If they're rude now, they'll be a nightmare as a client.
- Vagueness: If they can't define what success looks like, you can't deliver it.
- Information Hoarding: If they won't tell you the "why" behind the "what," they don't trust you yet.
- Budget Ghosting: If they won't even give a ballpark, they probably haven't allocated one.
Turning the Bridge into an Invitation
Once you’ve listened—truly listened—you don't just dump a proposal on them. You build a bridge.
Summarise their pain in their own words. "So, if I’ve got this right, the main issue isn't just that the leads are slow, it's that you're spending four hours every Monday morning manually porting data because the systems don't talk to each other. Is that about the size of it?"
When they nod (and usually sigh with relief that someone finally gets it), you don't sell. You invite.
"I’ve seen this before. I’ve actually helped a few other agencies solve this exact thing using tools like SalesM8. Would you be open to a separate 15-minute demo later this week to see how that might work for you?"
No pressure. No "limited time offer." Just an invitation to solve a problem they just admitted was a headache.
Discovery isn't about finding out if they have enough money. It's about finding out if you actually want to spend the next six months of your life helping them. If the answer is yes, and you’ve treated them like a human, the "sale" part becomes remarkably easy. It’s just two people agreeing to fix a problem together.
Which, when you think about it, is a much nicer way to spend a Tuesday morning than an interrogation.
This post is inspired by a chapter from my book "You're Selling AI Wrong." You can grab a free copy here — it covers the biggest mistakes people make when selling AI services and what to do instead.
About the Author
Steven Tann is an AI consultant, author of "You're Selling AI Wrong", and founder of SalesM8. He writes about AI, sales, and running a business from a narrowboat on the English canals. Connect with him at steventann.com.
