Hey Niepodam,

A lot of reps treat discovery like a checklist.

Pain? Check.
Budget? Check.
Timeline? Check.

But if you're not mapping who's actually involved — and how they decide — you're just taking an order.

I watched a rep run a demo for a Sales Director. Great rapport. Clear pain. Aligned budget.

Then... silence.

• Because her VP had a different priority.
• The CEO didn't even know about the call.
• And the CFO had no clue why this mattered.

So we changed the game early in discovery.

Try this play on your next call:

After surfacing pain, ask:

• "Curious, when teams like yours solve this, who else usually weighs in?"

• "How does a decision like this typically get made in your org?"

• "Have you been through a similar buying process before, who was involved then?"

• "Is there someone who’d challenge this internally that we should be ahead of?"

They’ll give you the cast: VP, IT, Finance, etc.

Then move into timing and influence:

• "When do they usually get involved, early on, or later in the process?"

• "Is it more about getting alignment across teams, or does one person usually drive it?"

• "What’s most important to them when choosing a vendor?"

Next step: Loop them in fast.

"Makes sense. I’ve seen decisions move way faster when those folks get brought in early. Would it make sense to do a quick sync with them next week so we’re aligned from the start?"

Or:

"If you'd like, I can help you build a quick internal summary deck to get everyone on the same page. Would that be useful?"

You're not asking for access, you're aligning on how they buy.

This small shift does two things:

1. Positions you as a guide, not a vendor.
2. Protects your deal from getting wrecked by surprise stakeholders.

Tactical recap - Always ask:

• "Who else usually weighs in?"
• "How do they evaluate options?"
• "What’s most important to them?"

Suggest a fast sync with them

Get the map early. Shape the criteria early.

That’s how you control the deal.

July’s fully booked already — but if you want to sharpen how you and your team runs high-impact discovery and gets multi-threaded from the start, now’s the time to plan for August.