The Secret to A Successful Discovery Call
+ how to make your LinkedIn profile POP!
Hey peps,
Every week, I’ll share three short, actionable insights, tools, and tactics that help me sell in the Construction and Property Services space.
Enjoy!
In today’s email:
LinkedIn Profile Optimisation
The DCF
Strategic Quitting
👇🏾 Listen: Who is your ideal client?
LinkedIn Profile Optimisation
Check out this LinkedIn profile guide I created for the commercial team at LITTA.
It shows you how to turn your LinkedIn profile into a high-converting landing page. Precise positioning, proof, and a strong CTA are the key.
Perfect for B2B founders, sales leaders, and consultants looking to attract clients, not just connections.
The DCF
Whether I’m prospecting procurement, contract managers, or housing officers, my outreach aims to schedule a meeting.
This is the 7-step discovery call framework (DCF) I use for every meeting:
Schedule the meeting
It’s easier to have a conversation during the allotted time.
Cold calls are an interruption, while discovery calls are pre-set. After a successful cold call, I send a summary email and calendar invite.
The invite includes a basic agenda in the description
Introduction
Discovery
Next Step
Send a day-before reminder email confirming the call:
Hi Dave
Confirming our call tomorrow at 12pm. Here’s the Google Meet/Teams/Zoom link to join [insert lin].
Look forward to speaking then.
Matt
2. Pre-call planning
I research the prospect before the call by looking at three things:
LinkedIn
Company website
ChatGPT
Here’s a research prompt (tailor accordingly):
You're a professional data analyst who's an expert at performing internet research to understand a company's strategic initiatives. Summarize recent news for [COMPANY DOMAIN]. Include any interviews from their executive team, press releases, product launches, or funding announcements. The goal is identifying where they're placing bets for growth, where they're experiencing momentum, and where they may be challenged.
Take 15 minutes to get context about the business and who you’re talking to.
3. Framing the call.
During the first 15-20 seconds, I try sussing out who I’m talking to. Some prospects want to get straight into the call, while others prefer to chat first. Read your audience and respond accordingly.
I frame the call by outlining my intentions and mentioning that they will do most of the talking.
I also asked what they wanted to get out of the call.
4. Limit the call to 30 minutes.
I tell prospects upfront that the call will take no more than 30 minutes. It doesn’t need to be longer; respect your prospect’s time.
You can learn a lot in 30 minutes from a well-run discovery call.
5. Ask → Listen → Pitch
This rule is simple. Listen more than you talk.
I spend 20% of the call asking questions and 80% listening.
Find out about your prospect’s biggest problem. Go deep - asking probing questions.
When I’ve asked all my questions, I summarise their problem(s) and tailor my pitch.
Handle Objections
There’s always push-back. Be ready for objections.
I’ve listed my most common objections and asked ChatGPT how to respond.
“How do I respond to the objection: ‘We work with an existing supplier’? Provide three options that position LITTA as an additional option and the additional benefits this would bring to the prospect.”
7. Next Steps
Always set a next step.
Always.
Outline follow-up actions and schedule the next call.
I send an email within 24 hours of the call to:
Summarise key takeaways
Outline the next steps
Confirm the next call date
Strategic Quitting
Quitting a prospecting campaign that’s going nowhere is essential to sticking with the right ones.
“Quitting for the long term is an excellent idea because it frees you up to excel at something else.”
The first cold email campaign I ran at LITTA targeted fit-out and refurb contractors. It produced limited results, so I quit. I focused on cold calls instead, and results improved significantly.
The lesson? This market prefers a call-first approach.
Contrast that with housing associations. I spent four months cold-calling housing associations as my first touch. The overwhelming feedback? Send an email. I quit my approach and ran email-heavy campaigns instead.
Quitting doesn’t mean giving up on your long-term goal; it means giving up on a tactic or approach that isn’t working.
If your prospecting approach has reached a dead end, it's wise to quit. Pivot and try a new approach.
Thanks for reading!
Matt @ The Growth Lab
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