Identify, connect, explore, advise. We use a variation on Hubspot’s inbound sales method, but the main points are the same: by educational and consultative in your sales process. The idea (and, in practice, the reality) is that prospects have already done a majority of their research about you and your products before they are ready to talk to a salesperson. As a result, salespeople must adapt to today's buyers. 

In the first phase, which we call the Discovery Stage, a salesperson is learning more about the prospective client, already qualified, to learn more about whether or not the person or business is an excellent fit - and vice versa.

In today’s digital society, a prospect can just as easily learn everything they need to know about a company, solution, or problem through online research. So what sets a salesperson apart? Why should a prospect discuss their issues or pain points with a rep from your company? Set your sales team up for success. Enable them with the ability to actively listen. HubSpot’s guide on active listening is a great place to start.

The key to inbound sales is to build trust; these exploratory questions will help build the relationship and reveal the pain points which you might help with:

1. Tell me about your business.
   

2. Who are your favorite customers, and why?

3. What are some of your recent successes?

4. What makes them successful?

5. What is the journey these new clients made when they made the decision to go with your business?

6. Some of our clients have faced [these difficulties]. Are you experiencing [these common industry issues] at all?

7. I hear you telling me that you’ve faced [this problem] and you’re feeling [this way] about it. Have you tried solving the issue with any solutions yet?

8. What are you considering doing next year?

9. What’s holding you back from trying [a solution like the one we offer]?

10. What do you lose if you don’t solve the issue?

Follow up with the prospect. Be sure to repeat back the pain points you’ve identified and communicate your understanding of the problems they’re facing. Utilizing the principles you’ve learned from the inbound sales methodology and the active listening guide, your sales team can start more conversations, uncover challenges and goals, handle objections, and close more effectively.