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Welcome to the Barry Farah Show, serving you to sell more. Follow at Barry Farah. Hello, I hope you're doing well. Today's single skill is open discovery. This is the moment when we give the customer an opportunity to say what they might not have thought of earlier. Now, in the last episode, we talked about methodical discovery. That's where we ask organized questions in a clear sequence so the customer feels guided, not examined. That structure matters, but structure alone is not always sufficient. At some point, you may need to open it up. Open discovery provides the customer with an avenue to say what doesn't fit neatly into some category. Sometimes it's small, sometimes it reveals the real issue. This principle applies in almost every serious sales conversation. Now, before we recommend anything, we need to understand the outcome that person is hoping for. Not just the technical problem, not just the immediate complaint, but what's their big picture goal? What would actually be better? In home services, a classic way to ask a question could sound like this. If you could wave a magic wand and get whatever you want as it relates to indoor air comfort and quality, what would that be? You're not going to ask this question every time, use common sense, but more often than not, it can help when the customer has more to say and hasn't quite found the words yet. The power is what it allows. It lets the customer step outside the mechanical problem and describe the outcome they actually want. Better sleep, cleaner air, quieter equipment, fewer hot rooms, less dust, or lower utility bills. Regardless of what they say, we acknowledge it and we close the bookend. Thank you. That's helpful. Now we use this on the front end of methodical discovery. And here you are using it again, closing out discovery with the exact same words. Why? Gratitude does something. It's not an interrogation. You're not presuming that they owe you an answer. You're thanking them for sharing something useful. You're saying what you said matters. So then we set the expectations for the diagnostic. I'd like to perform a complete diagnostic on your home based on what you're saying this may take, and you kind of fill in the blank with some time. May I proceed? Now notice the location of this. If you announce the time commitment too early before the customer feels oriented, it can sound like a burden. It can even feel manipulative. What's this guy doing? Is he gonna take up my whole afternoon just to wear me down? If the customer is still on defense at that stage, it's gonna be really hard to recover. But if you've built rapport and you've respectfully discovered issues, the customer has usually relaxed. Now the sequence makes a lot of sense, and that diagnostic is much easier to accept. Now I learned this the hard way. When I was selling computers for IBM, I moved way too fast. I thought I was being efficient, but to the executive, it could feel like I was trying to assert control. I finally learned to ask permission. Now in home services, it's really simple. May I proceed? That one question changes the whole tone. It says, I heard you and I want to continue with your permission, not just my agenda. It's a question that honors that customer's dignity. You're not just managing the customer. In fact, you shouldn't be doing that. You're keeping the customer engaged. They're staying involved. Then be transparent. So after they grant permission, invite them into the diagnostic process. Hey, feel free to follow me around if you wish. Most customers aren't going to follow you. A few will, and most of those will close. But either way, the invitation says, I'm willing to let you see the process. I'm not intimidated by you asking questions as we go through it. This is where advocacy begins to form. Now, advocacy is not just recommending equipment. It starts when the customer believes you're working from their stated outcome, not your preferred sale process. So open discovery gives you the words the customer uses. The diagnostic gives you the evidence, and then you're the advocate. And advocacy connects those two. So here's how it might sound in a real call. You're the technician or the comfort consultant. One last question. If you could wave a magic wand and get whatever you want as it relates to indoor air comfort and quality, what would that be? The customer says, honestly, I just want those back bedrooms to feel normal. And I wish the house didn't feel so dusty all the time. So then you would say, thank you. That's helpful. I'd like to perform a complete diagnostic on your home. Based on what you're saying, this is going to take about 45 minutes. May I proceed? Then the customer says, sure, go ahead. And then you say, Great. Feel free to follow me around if you wish. That's it. So you ask the magic wand question when it's useful, you listen to the response, you acknowledge it explicitly, and then you close the bookend with gratitude. You set the expectation for the diagnostic in terms of how long it's going to take, then you ask permission and you invite transparency. Follow me around. Brain science actually supports this whole process. People are more receptive to logic after they feel heard. When customers feel uncertain, then they kind of scan the whole situation for risk. But when they describe the outcome in their own words, they connect that diagnostic process that you're doing to their own goal. And when they say yes to your question, may I proceed? The process becomes collaborative, not a burden. And that's what Discover Issues is all about. We learn the problem before we present the solution. Before the diagnostic, we ask the open discovery question. And selling with integrity really means that we don't rush past the person to get to the pitch. We discover openly, we diagnose carefully, and then we advocate responsibly. So open discovery is not a trick question, it's an invitation. And it only works when we respect the answer. So next time we're going to talk about the transition into solutions after the diagnostic, connecting what the customer said, what the diagnostic revealed, and what we recommend. Until then, please know that we're not pushing customers through a process. We're guiding them with clarity and honor. Respect the person, complete the process, and elevate the standard. I hope this equips you to make a difference today. Thank you for listening. Follow Barry Farah on your favorite podcast platform at Barry Farah.