Answers · Selling, from our call data
Which discovery call question do sellers skip?
The cost question: what is this problem costing you? Sellers in our data mostly skipped it on discovery calls.
What the calls show
On first conversations, sellers set a next meeting on 67% of calls.
On discovery and offer calls, they asked the cost question on 20%.
So the meeting gets set. The problem rarely gets a price.
323 calls · 13 sellers · Jun 2026 186 calls · 13 sellers · Jun 2026
Why it matters
Without a cost, the problem stays a nice-to-have.
Your price then arrives with nothing to weigh it against.
That is how a good call ends in no decision.
Questions to ask, in this order
- What made you take this call now?
- What happens if nothing changes this quarter?
- What is that costing you, in money or in time?
- Who else in the business feels that cost?
- What would you need to see to act on it?
Do this
- On your next discovery call, ask the cost question before any price.
- Write their answer down, in their words.
- When price comes up, set it beside that cost.
If you manage sellers: review a few discovery calls per rep. Count one thing: was the cost asked before the price?
How we measured it
- The calls come from our podcast coaching cohort. The label gives the window.
- A model coded each call for a next meeting and for the cost question.
- First conversations are podcast and chemistry calls. Discovery and offer calls are where money comes up.
- The two numbers have different calls behind them. Read each with its own label.
- The questions to ask are Shannon's coaching doctrine. They are not findings from these calls.
- This is one group of sellers, not an industry rate.
323 calls · 13 sellers · Jun 2026 186 calls · 13 sellers · Jun 2026