Who are you asking questions for?

I've noticed something about discovery conversations

We tend to assume the customer has the answers

We just need to ask the right questions to get them

Which sounds reasonable

But what if they haven't quite worked things out themselves?

They know something isn't right

There's a problem

Perhaps a requirement

Maybe even a solution they've already decided they need

But they haven't necessarily connected all the dots

- What's causing it?
- What else is affected?
- How important is it?
- What happens if nothing changes?

Sometimes asking those questions helps the customer understand their own situation a little better

I find that quite interesting

Because it changes what we're trying to achieve through discovery

We're not simply collecting information so we can put together a proposal

We're helping the customer make sense of things

I've started describing this as 'Deliberate Discovery'

And The VALUE Framework gives us a useful structure for it.

🔸 Validate = right opportunities

Establish whether there's genuinely something worth addressing

🔸 Align = right research

What should we understand about their situation before we start asking?

🔸 Leverage = right conversations

Are our questions creating clarity for the customer as well as information for us?

🔸 Underpin = right solutions

Have we understood enough together to know what a sensible solution might look like?

🔸 Evolve = right outcomes

Are we continuing to explore whether the original problem is actually being resolved?

Of course questioning skills matter

Listening matters

Technical expertise matters

But perhaps the real skill is recognising when the customer is still working something out

And being comfortable working it out with them

I've always liked that moment when a customer says:

"Aaaah... I get it."

Particularly when they haven't been shown a product

They've just understood their problem a little better

That's a pretty good sales conversation in my book

(Well all my books)

How deliberate are you in having these?