23. Improve your sales results with deliberate practice and effective discovery

Jonathan Mahon, cofounder of The Practice Lab and I take a deep dive into the value of discovery in the sales process, and the application of “deliberate practice” to improve selling skills. 

While some believe that discovery “belongs” in a discrete stage of the sales process, and is sometimes delegated to a presales engineer, Jonathan and I share a different perspective.

Discovery should start long before the first contact, with the sales person and presales engineer conducting background research on the company, key stakeholders, installed base, etc., to begin the development of business value, financial value and stakeholder hypotheses.

Jonathan shares significant insights on how to conduct effective discovery, approaches to powerful open-ended questions during demos and other engagements

Through this conversation, Jonathan also shares his overall philosophy to effective training, “deliberate practice” designed to improve actual performance while in stressful situations (engaging with prospects and customers) as opposed to making people “book smart”.

If you need to improve your (or your team’s) discovery effectiveness, spend some time listening to this podcast and then reach out to Jonathan and me to continue the conversation.

To follow up with Jonathan, you can reach him on LinkedIn or via his company website

To follow up with me, you can reach me on ⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn ⁠⁠or via the Acelera Group ⁠⁠website⁠⁠.

To provide feedback on this podcast or to suggest additional topics or guests, please visit The Thoughts On Selling™ podcast ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. To follow up with me, you can reach me on ⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn ⁠⁠or via the Acelera Group ⁠⁠website⁠⁠.

I would appreciate your sharing this podcast with one or two coworkers or peers. And I would very much appreciate positive reviews on the Apple podcast site or wherever you get your podcasts. Positive reviews help others to find this podcast!

Thank you!

Lee Levitt