8 Common Discovery Call Mistakes & How to Solve Them

Discovery call mistakes can slip even the most promising sales opportunities before they gain momentum.

Many sellers still stumble over the same pitfalls, like failing to prepare, asking surface-level questions, or losing conversation control. These seemingly small errors can quickly add up, leading to missed opportunities and stalled deals. If you can avoid these mistakes, you can keep the conversation going to meaningful results, and your discovery calls will be better than 95% of sellers.

In this guide, you’ll understand why these mistakes kill your discoveries and deals. We’ll break down the 8 most common sales discovery call mistakes and, more importantly, how to fix them to close deals.

How do Discovery Call Mistakes Cost You?

Discovery call mistakes can quietly harm your sales process, leading to missed opportunities and stalled deals. Here’s how they can cost you:

• Lost Deals: Surface-level questions and lack of depth fail to uncover true buyer needs, leading to missed opportunities and lost deals.
• Weakened Credibility: Poor preparation or letting the buyer control the call diminishes your authority and weakens your position as a trusted advisor.
• Longer Sales Cycles: Failing to set clear next steps or multi-thread effectively results in delays and pushes deals further down the pipeline.
• Lower Conversion Rates: Without a compelling, consultative discovery process, it’s harder to build strong business cases, reducing your chances of closing the deal.

Mistake #1 – Not Preparing Before The Call

When I listen to my team’s calls, I can instantly tell who’s prepared and who isn’t, and so can your buyer. Showing up and just going through the motions won’t win competitive deals. It only takes 15 minutes to show up as a true professional who’s well-prepared, consultative and brings real value to the table.

Otherwise, the result is obvious: a poor, generic experience for your prospect with no possibility of lead qualification.

Doing the following sales discovery questions or actions shows that you’ve not done your homework before the sales call:

• Asking questions that your SDR or you have already asked before.
• Asking questions like “What brought you to ABC Company?”
• Asking questions like “Does that make sense?”
• Providing the same horrible experience as your competitors.
• Losing deals to “no decision,” “price,” or “went with a competitor” due to not providing any value.

How to Solve This Mistake?

You can have a preparatory discovery call checklist and easily take 10-15 minutes before the call to:

• Go through the company news, the person you’re meeting with, key stakeholders, CRM notes, SDR handoff details, their tech stack, and most importantly, why your solution should matter to them.
• Show up with a hypothesis on how you can help, a substantial opening question, targeted discovery questions, and a clear next step you want to define.
• Lead the conversation and set yourself apart by being consultative, well-researched, and thoroughly prepared about the prospects and their needs.

Mistake #2 – Not Having A Point of View

When leading discovery calls, asking generic open-ended questions that don’t reflect your subject matter expertise can hurt your credibility.

Some examples of doing so :

• Can you tell me about your role?
• What are your top challenges?
• What are your top priorities?

These types of questions put all the effort onto the buyer and fail to position you as a trusted advisor. Remember, buyers expect you to bring insights and expertise, not treat the call like an interview. They’re looking for guidance, not someone who needs hand-holding through the process.

A key rule: Never ask a question you could have answered with a quick online search. You should do the call by being informed and using the discovery call to dive deeper, not to cover the basics.

How to Solve This Mistake?

You need to guide your buyer by presenting options that showcase your expertise and establishing your rapport. Lead with a story to create context, and always explain why you’re asking a specific question. This approach can be useful in framing the conversation and building credibility.

For example:
“Hey [name], thank you for sharing.
I speak with [role] in your situation every day. Usually, they’re dealing with a couple of things:

• Challenges 1 & 2.
  Is that what you’re experiencing, or is something else more important at the moment?”

After asking the question, one way or another, you win. No matter what answer the prospects give after you provide options (based on your expertise and research), you are bound to win.

What are the possible answers?

• They’ll agree: If they agree, you instantly establish yourself as an expert who understands their world.
• They’ll disagree: If they disagree, they’ll clarify what’s actually going on and give you deeper insight while still recognizing that you came prepared. Based on this insight, you can later focus the conversation on the buyer’s priorities and challenges.

Mistake #3 – Missing Priorities and Challenges

You are making a grave mistake if you’re spending the entire first call:

• Not doing many discoveries and are talking mostly about themselves and what the company does. (This shows you’re not prepared.)
• Mainly asking qualification questions. i.e., questions that only benefit the seller and not the prospect. For example, how many people do you have? What’s your timeline? What’s your budget? (This will kill your discovery.)

How to Solve This Mistake?

The entire point of discovery calls is to learn the buyers’ #1 priority and the key challenges they’re facing so you can best position your solution and win competitive deals. It’s not about you; it’s about them.

Putting options are a great resource: Again, this is the best way to focus the conversation on their #1 priority and key challenges.

You can follow this talk track:
“I speak with [role] every day in your situation, and usually, they’re focused on the following:

• Priority 1 & 2
  Is that the case for you, or is something else at the top of your mind?”

You can grab quick wins here by following these best practices:

• Write down the key priorities and challenges for each persona you engage with. Knowing what matters to them allows you to tailor your approach of showing your offering a good fit effectively.
• Listen to call recordings and pay attention to the exact words and phrases they use. Mirroring their language creates emotional resonance and shows you truly understand their world.
• Interview closed/won customers or even internal personas to dig deeper into their decision-making process and what ultimately drove them to buy.

Discovery Call Mistakes for Information Illustration

If there’s one area worth investing time and energy into, it’s this. The better you understand your buyer, the more impactful and relevant your conversations will be at every touchpoint with the prospect.

Mistake #4 – Losing Control of The Conversation

One of the biggest mistakes in discovery calls is letting the buyer completely control the conversation. It often looks like this:

The buyer fires off question after question, and the seller simply answers each one, pausing after every response. That pause signals the buyer to keep asking more, turning the call into a rapid-fire Q&A session.

The result? You finish the call without any real understanding of the buyer’s top priorities or core challenges.

You need to remember that you’re in charge of the discovery. It’s your job to guide the conversation with thoughtful, strategic questions that position you as the expert. Lead the dialogue, uncover their pain points, and steer the call toward meaningful insights, not just surface-level answers.

How to Solve This Mistake?

You need to take control of the conversation to solve this issue. To do so, you need to:

• Answer their question (if they ask any).
• Immediately roll into a question about their priorities and challenges.
• Tie their questions to the priority and challenge you mentioned before.

Take Control of Your Discovery Calls. (Made with Dall-E)

For example:
“Hey [name], Great question.
[answer here].
Now, you mentioned earlier that you were looking to X [related to that question].
Can you share more about that?”

Another example:
Buyer: “Hey, how does X work?”
You (Seller): “Great question. Short answer: Yes. I’ll make sure to circle back with more details but first, it’d be helpful to understand a couple of things so I’m only speaking to what’s most relevant to your business. Would it be ok for me to ask a couple of quick questions about [priority/challenge]?”

Mistake #5 – Try to Ask Every Single Question

One common mistake in discovery calls is treating the process as a one-time event, cramming every possible question into a single call. This approach makes the conversation feel more like a 30-minute interrogation than a natural, consultative dialogue. It often leads to asking too many process-related questions that would be better saved for the demo when showcasing specific features.

This overload not only exhausts the buyer but also misses the opportunity to build a compelling case for moving forward. Discovery calls should be an ongoing conversation focused on understanding the buyer’s needs while keeping the interaction engaging and value-driven.

How to Solve This Mistake?

You can discover during the demo as well:

• Save some process-related questions for the demo.
• One of the best demo flows involves asking about how they’re currently doing something, learning about the challenges, and then immediately demonstrating how it would work on your platform.

Qualification can always come in the end.

Look, most sellers will do the following:

• Ask a bunch of qualification questions.
• Don’t spend much time talking about the buyer’s priorities and challenges.

You can flip that around for better results by doing the following:

• Come in having a conversation about what people are typically looking to accomplish and struggling with.
• At the end of the call ask “Would it be ok if I asked a couple of quick questions to set our demo up for success?”

Mistake #6 – Not Digging Deeper

A common pitfall in discovery calls is skimming the surface when a buyer shares something important. Often, buyers will openly mention, “This is our #1 priority” or “This is a key challenge we’re facing,” and instead of digging deeper, the seller responds with a quick, “Ok, great, we can definitely help with that,” before jumping to the next question on their list.

You can see this is simply a missed opportunity. Moments like these are your cue to pause and explore further. You need to understand the context, the impact, and why it matters. Simply moving on keeps you at the surface level, while digging deeper helps you uncover the real drivers behind their needs and positions you as a trustworthy advisor.

How to Solve This Mistake?

To win competitive deals, you have to master the skill of going beyond surface-level details and uncovering the deeper context that drives buying decisions. If you do not dig deeper, the discovery call will take you just to sell what most sellers sell.

Saying vague statements like, “We can help you save time and money,” will leads to a lost deal in 10 out of 10 cases.

The key is to dig deeper and uncover the why behind a buyer’s needs. Options are a great way to do it:

Let’s say your prospect has said, “Ramp-up is important.” 

That’s only a surface-level detail, right? You can then use options to dig deeper:

“Hey [Name], I speak with [role] every day and when they’re focused on speed for their global team ramp-up process. Usually, that means:

• Deeper priority/challenge 1 or Deeper priority/challenge 2
  Is that the case for you, or is something else more important at the moment?”

You can use these questions:

• “Tell me more….”
• “Can you share more about…”
• “What’s a specific example of….”
• “I’m interested in learning more about…”
• “Can you offer more insight into…”
• “I’d love to dive deeper into that; could you share more about…”
• “You mentioned X… mind walking me through that in more detail so I have the full picture…”
• “Mind shedding more light on…”

Mistake #7 – Not Multithreading

When it comes to multi-threading on discovery calls, there are two common mistakes sellers make that can weaken their approach.

• Not using the natural flow of the conversation to identify if other stakeholders should be brought in. By not asking process-driven questions, you can miss easy opportunities to uncover additional contacts.
• Not doing proper research before the call. Without mapping out who the key players might be ahead of time, you go in blind and are left scrambling to figure out who else they should speak with, assuming everything moves forward as planned.

The result? Weak and unconvincing multi-threading attempts like:

“Should we involve another colleague in the process?” 

This type of question feels forced and puts a burden on the prospective buyer.

How to Solve This Mistake?

You can rather follow a process not to fall into the issue of not multithreading:

• When you’re discussing a particular process, don’t assume the person you’re speaking with is the decision-maker. Instead, ask if they own it or if someone else does by –
  “Hey [name] – are you the only person responsible for X process or does someone else on your team have a part as well?”
• When you are talking about the upcoming demo, use it as a natural entry point to involve others.
  “Hey [name] – Since we’ll be walking through X process on the demo should we invite [colleague] and get his/her perspective?”

Do your research and map out who you’ll probably need to speak with if all things go according to plan.

In place of asking, “Who should we involve?” ask something like this:

“Hey [name] – On the demo I’d like to walk through X process as it relates to [#1 priority]. Given that, should we invite [colleague] to the call? Noticed he’s your [specific role] and it’d be great to get his perspective since X process will impact his workflow.”

Mistake #8 – Not Defining the Next Steps

When it comes to setting the next steps in a discovery call, there are 3 critical mistakes sellers often make that can stall momentum and hurt deal progression. These are –

• Skipping setting clear next steps and instead handing over access to the platform with a vague, “Let me know if you have any questions!” This leaves the buyer without direction and puts them responsible for re-engaging.
• Shifting the burden entirely onto the buyer by asking, “What do you think would make sense as a next step here?” While it might seem consultative, it actually signals a lack of leadership in the process.
• Failing to set any next steps at all, usually because the discovery wasn’t strong or compelling enough to warrant moving forward. When this problem happens, the call ends with no clear path, and the deal risks going cold again.

How to Solve This Mistake?

You can follow this framework to overcome the issue.

The 4-step process is:

• Tell a story that highlights why there’s a strong case for a partnership. This helps the prospect see the bigger picture and understand the impact your solution can have.
• Ask if you can make a recommendation on the next steps. It helps you take control of the process while still respecting the prospect’s input.
• Clearly communicate the next steps by not leaving it vague. You should show you have a plan by outlining exactly what will happen, when, and who will be involved.
• Most importantly, share WHY those next steps will be valuable in order to make it compelling.

Write it down:

• Don’t wing it when it comes to the next steps, and always have a plan.
• Write down all the most common next steps you can take with a buyer and the talk tracks you use for them.
• Plan the next step you want to set ahead of the call, assuming everything goes well.
• Reserve at least 5-7 minutes at the end of the call to set the next steps and multi-thread effectively.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, discovery calls are about understanding the buyer and helping them see how you can solve their problems. It’s not rocket science, but it does take thought and preparation. The mistakes are easy traps to fall into, even for seasoned sellers. But they’re also easy to fix with the right approach.

Prepare better, dig deeper, control the flow, and always set clear next steps. It’s all about being thoughtful and making sure every call adds value to the buyer. Do that consistently, and you’ll start seeing actual results in your sales pipeline.