Client Discovery

Qualify leads faster and identify high-value automation opportunities.

Quick Actions

Need Action

Discovery call prep → Questions Below

Pain point mapping → references/pain-points.md

ROI estimation → references/roi-formulas.md

Full questionnaire → references/questions.md

Intake form → assets/templates/discovery-form.md

Discovery Process

Phase 1: Pre-Call Research (5 min)

Before the call, gather:

• Company: Size, industry, tech stack (LinkedIn, Crunchbase)

• Contact: Role, tenure, decision authority

• Signals: Recent funding, hiring, complaints on G2/social

• Competition: Who else they might be talking to

Phase 2: Discovery Call Structure (30 min)

[5 min] Rapport & Agenda [15 min] Pain Discovery [5 min] Impact Quantification [5 min] Next Steps

Phase 3: Core Discovery Questions

Business Context

• "Walk me through your typical [process] from start to finish."

• "Who's involved at each step?"

• "What tools do you use today?"

Pain Identification

• "What breaks most often?"

• "What takes longer than it should?"

• "What would happen if this didn't get done?"

Quantification

• "How many hours per week does this take?"

• "How many people are involved?"

• "What's the cost of an error here?"

Decision Process

• "Who else needs to approve this?"

• "What's your timeline for solving this?"

• "Have you tried to fix this before?"

Qualification Framework: BANT+

Criteria Question Green Yellow Red

Budget "What would you pay to solve this?" Has budget Can find budget No budget

Authority "Who approves this?" Decision maker Influencer User only

Need "How urgent is this?" Immediate pain Nice to have Exploring

Timeline "When do you need it?" This month This quarter Someday

Pain Score Hours × Cost × Frequency

$2k/mo waste $500-2k/mo <$500/mo

Scoring

Score each BANT+ criteria: Green=3, Yellow=2, Red=1

Total Score:

• 13-15: HOT - Prioritize, fast proposal
• 9-12: WARM - Nurture, build case
• 5-8: COLD - Qualify out or long-term

Pain Point Discovery

Universal Pain Signals

Signal What They Say Real Pain

Time waste "We spend hours on..." Manual data entry

Errors "Things fall through cracks" No system of record

Delays "It takes too long to..." Sequential bottleneck

Frustration "I hate doing..." Repetitive task

Risk "We worry about..." Compliance/quality

Probing Questions

When they mention a pain:

• "How often does this happen?"

• "What do you do when it happens?"

• "Who gets affected?"

• "What does it cost you?"

• "How long has this been going on?"

Pain Severity Matrix

       Low Frequency    High Frequency

High Cost [AUTOMATE] [URGENT] Low Cost [IGNORE] [AUTOMATE]

ROI Quick Calculator

Input Variables

Hours/week on task: [H] People involved: [P] Hourly cost (fully loaded): [C] Error rate: [E]% Cost per error: [EC]

Formulas

Monthly Labor Cost = H × P × C × 4.33 Monthly Error Cost = (H × P × 4.33) × E × EC / 100 Total Monthly Waste = Labor + Error Cost

Automation Savings = Total × 80% (conservative) Your Price Target = Savings × 15-25% Payback Period = Setup Cost ÷ Monthly Savings

Example

Task: Manual invoice processing Hours: 10/week People: 2 Rate: $35/hr Error: 5% Error cost: $200

Labor: 10 × 2 × $35 × 4.33 = $3,031/mo Errors: (10 × 2 × 4.33) × 5% × $200 / 100 = $87/mo Total: $3,118/mo

Automation saves: $2,494/mo (80%) Your price: $374-$624/mo (15-25%)

Vertical-Specific Discovery

E-commerce

• "How do you handle out-of-stock notifications?"

• "Walk me through an order from purchase to delivery."

• "What happens when a customer disputes a charge?"

Professional Services

• "How do you track billable hours?"

• "What's your invoicing process?"

• "How do new clients get onboarded?"

Logistics

• "How do you notify customers of delays?"

• "What happens when a delivery fails?"

• "How do you optimize routes?"

Legal/Finance

• "How do you track document versions?"

• "What's your approval process?"

• "How do you ensure compliance?"

See references/pain-points.md for complete vertical-specific questions.

Discovery Output

After call, document:

Discovery Summary: [Company]

Contact

• Name: [X]
• Role: [X]
• Authority: [Decision Maker / Influencer / User]

BANT+ Score: [X/15]

• Budget: [G/Y/R] - Notes
• Authority: [G/Y/R] - Notes
• Need: [G/Y/R] - Notes
• Timeline: [G/Y/R] - Notes
• Pain: [G/Y/R] - $X/mo waste

Top 3 Pain Points

1. [Pain] - [Impact] - [Urgency]
2. [Pain] - [Impact] - [Urgency]
3. [Pain] - [Impact] - [Urgency]

Recommended Solution

[1-2 sentences on automation]

ROI Estimate

• Current cost: $X/mo
• Automation saves: $Y/mo
• Price range: $Z/mo
• Payback: N days

Next Steps

• Send proposal by [date]
• Follow-up call [date]
• [Other action]

Notes

[Anything else important]

Red Flags (Disqualify)

• No clear problem (just "exploring AI")

• No budget and won't discuss

• No authority and won't intro decision maker

• Bad-mouthed previous vendors

• Wants custom enterprise for SMB price

• Endless "one more question"

References

Topic File

Pain Points by Vertical references/pain-points.md

ROI Calculation Details references/roi-formulas.md

Full Question Bank references/questions.md

Templates

Template File

Client Intake Form assets/templates/discovery-form.md