Part 4: Discovery in sales: improve the sales experience significantly

Part 4: Discovery in sales: improve the sales experience significantly

Are salespeople sleazy and dishonest?

The quality of your discovery in b2b sales determines the quality of your pipeline.

In To Sell Is Human, Daniel Pink highlights how buyers associate salespeople with negative traits such as dishonest, pushy, sleazy and difficult. 

These perceptions help explain why a Gartner b2b sales study found that 67% of buyers prefer a sales-rep-free experience, while 53% still say the sales experience is a key differentiator.

This creates a clear sales opportunity. If you can avoid these stereotypes and create a valuable, human conversation, you increase your chances of conversion significantly.

So the question becomes:

How do you create an amazing sales experience and win over the competition? 

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The three characters you must avoid

Three common behaviours continue to reinforce negative perceptions in sales:

• Premature Pitcher: solves the problem too early
• Insensitive Prober: asks personal or high-impact questions before trust is established
• Boring Interrogator: overwhelms the buyer with too many questions

Each of these reduces trust and limits insight. A structured approach like The 5 Block Guide can help you avoid these pitfalls and creates a more natural sales flow.

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The 5 Block Guide framework for discovery in sales

The 5 Block Guide provides a practical structure for running sales discovery conversations.

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1. Easy openers

Start with low-friction questions that explore context and intent.

Examples:

• “Did one of our customers refer you to us or what made you reach out?”
• “Out of curiosity, which tools do you have in place for this?”
• “You must have a lot of things going on, what brought this to the top of the pile?”

These questions help the buyer ease into the conversation. However, staying too long at this level creates fatigue and shifts you towards the “Boring Interrogator” pattern.

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2. Emotional nudges

Antonio Damasio famously stated “We are not thinking machines. We are feeling machines that think”. This insight is critical for discovery in sales and leads to the second step: Emotional Nudges.

Emotional Nudges explore the Cause and Effect Triangle from Part 2 of this article series by losing questions around their Identity, Business and Process Pains and Outcomes with emotionality. The point is to contrast Pains and Outcomes while determining the Trigger Event.

Examples:

• “When you step back and look at what you are doing today, which areas give you the biggest headache / are stressful?”
• “Where do you currently feel things are weighing you down?”
• “When you cast your mind back, at what moment did you feel the problem was becoming too big to ignore?”
• “If you fast forward six months, where would you love to see things running more smoothly?”
• “If you fast forward six months, which of your KPIs would you like to see improve?”

Language matters. Words such as feel, imagine, desire headache, fast forward and love paints more vivid pictures around current and future states.

Future-oriented questions are particularly effective because they naturally create contrast between the current state and the desired state. This contrast strengthens motivation. Research from The Influential Mind by Tali Sharot shows that rewards activate the brain’s “go” system, making action more likely.

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3. Frame their feelings

“Being heard and understood is one of the greatest desires of the human heart,” as Richard Carlson describes in his book Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff.

This is the role of framing feelings. After asking questions, you must listen actively and reflect on both the content and emotions:

• “It sounds a bit soul-destroying.”
• “That sounds exhausting.”
• “I am guessing that is really frustrating.”
• “That seems like it would be quite stressful.”

This is empathy in practice. When buyers feel understood, they are more willing to share deeper insights. Trust builds and the conversation becomes more meaningful.

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4. Follow the breadcrumbs

A lot of salespeople forget to listen intently and follow the breadcrumbs that the prospect is sprinkling out in front of you. Every answer contains signals. Strong discovery means staying curious and expanding on what the buyer shares. This is where you connect back to the Cause and Effect Triangle from Part 2 by quantifying and clarifying:

• “When you say it takes forever, what does that look like in time?”
• “Do you mind expanding on that?”
• “Could you help me unpack that a little?”

This step transforms vague statements into something more measurable and strengthens urgency.

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5. Bracing for impact

If you ask probing questions around Identity or Business Impact too early in a sales conversation, you will come off as insensitive and lose the trust of the prospect, ruining the sale. A way to brace for impact is to use a Humble Disclaimer. The Humbler Disclaimer is a questioning technique that has two parts:

Emotional anchor

First you make it seem like you’re going to ask a big question, so when you actually ask a smaller question, they get relief and like you more:

• “This might be a sensitive question…”
• “Do you mind if I ask something slightly uncomfortable?”

Easy out

Next you give them an idea of control:

• “I understand if you would rather not share.”
• “Feel free to tell me if this is too sensitive.”

This combination creates psychological safety. It gives the buyer control, which increases willingness to engage. Research shows that people are significantly more likely to comply when they feel they have a choice. 

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Putting it into practice

These elements come together in questions such as:

• “Do you mind if I ask a sensitive question… feel free to tell me if I am crossing the line: who else is feeling the ripple effects across the business?”
• “If you do not address this now, which metrics are you most concerned about?”
• “If you fast forward six months and nothing changes, what would worry you most?”
• “When you compare this to other priorities, where does it sit?”

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Summary: a better approach to discovery in sales

In summarhy, use The 5 Block Guide to win more b2b sales deals:

1. Easy openers: establish context with low-sensitivity questions
2. Emotional nudges: engage both pain and ambition
3. Frame their feelings: build trust through empathy
4. Follow the breadcrumbs: deepen and quantify insight‍
5. Bracing for impact: ask difficult questions with care and permission

If you want to talk B2B sales in the nordics, book a meeting and lets have a chat.