Part 2: Discovery

Discovery as a Craft: How SEs Shape the Entire Deal

In Sales Engineering, everything begins and ends with discovery.

It's tempting to think of discovery as a "checklist" moment. Ask a few questions, check the boxes, move on to the demo. I used to think that way too. Early in my career, I believed that discovery was just about gathering enough information to tailor a presentation.

But the more experience I gained, the more I realized: discovery isn't a phase—it's the foundation for the deal. It's the moment where you win or lose your opportunity to become a trusted advisor instead of just another vendor. This is where it is vital to 'excite' the client about the solution to the problems they might not have realized they had or didn't think they could solve.

True Discovery is a Mindset

The right mindset toward discovery is simple: genuine curiosity.

You aren't just fishing for technical requirements. You're listening for the business problems underneath. You're tuning into the frustrations they don't say out loud. You're asking yourself, "What would I care about if I were in their shoes?"

The best discoveries I've been part of felt less like an interview and more like a real conversation—where the customer actually forgot they were being "discovered." During this process, the SE & AE can't forget to be thinking of how to direct the conversation and tie the pains they are discovering back to the solution being offered. If this can't be done, then the deal can't move forward and it is a disqualified opportunity.

Best Practices for Sales Engineering Discovery

The following can be seen as phases within the overall Discovery step in the sales cycle.

1. Prepare Like a Consultant, Not a Salesperson
Before every discovery call, research the company, the person, and the industry challenges. Go beyond just reading the website. Look at job postings, earnings reports, LinkedIn posts—anything that gives you clues about what's happening behind the scenes. If you have a great partnership with your AE, they might share there research as well to compare notes. Those familiar might recognize this as the beginning of the Challenger approach.

2. Start Broad, Then Go Narrow
Open with wide questions like "What's top of mind for you right now?" or "What's driving this initiative?" Then gently narrow to specifics. Think of it like starting with a map and zooming into the neighborhood – but in this analogy you are zooming into the problem(s) they need solved.

3. Layer Your Questions
Don't settle after the first answer. Great discovery comes from layering questions:

• "Can you tell me more about that?"
• "How is that impacting your day-to-day?"
• "What happens if this problem isn't solved?"

Each follow-up peels back another layer.

4. Listen for Emotional Words
When a customer uses words like "frustrated," "concerned," "excited," or "pressured," pause. These are gold. They're giving you insight into what really matters.

5. Confirm, Don't Assume
Repeat back what you hear: "Just so I'm understanding correctly, it sounds like X is causing Y, and it's impacting Z. Did I get that right?" Confirming not only shows you're listening—it builds trust instantly.

6. Connect Technical Pain to Business Pain
Every technical problem exists because it causes business pain. Downtime means lost revenue. Security gaps mean risk exposure. Bridge the gap explicitly in your conversations. The deal will only move forward if you provide business value ... not just cool tech.

7. Keep Discovery Alive Throughout the Sales Cycle
Discovery isn't a one-and-done exercise. Things change. New stakeholders emerge. Needs evolve. Keep discovering at every interaction—even if it's just a quick "Hey, has anything changed since we last spoke?"

Discovery as Qualification

One of the most critical realizations in my journey was understanding that discovery is not just about gathering information—it's about qualifying the opportunity.

Effective discovery helps ensure that both you and the prospect are aligned on what success looks like. If you can't define clear, mutual success criteria during discovery, that's a major red flag.

Without proper qualification, it's easy to fall into the trap of endless demos, meetings, and proposals that ultimately go nowhere. Time is our most valuable resource—for us and for our prospects. Discovery is where we can respectfully determine:

• Is there a real problem worth solving?
• Is there budget, urgency, and executive support?
• Are we the right solution for them?

And sometimes, the answer is "no." That's not a failure—that's a success. Disqualifying early protects your time, your energy, and your credibility. It also gives the customer confidence that you're not just "selling" but helping them make the right decision.

Being able to recognize when a deal isn't going anywhere, and having the courage to step away, is one of the most underrated skills in sales engineering.

Good discovery helps you win deals. Great discovery helps you walk away from the wrong ones, too.

Personal Lessons Learned

Through my own journey, there were key areas in discovery where I struggled early on—and each one taught me something important:

• Discovery Depth: I learned not to rush. Asking questions like, “Before we dive into the demo, can you walk me through your top 2-3 priorities you’re hoping we could help with?” created space for deeper, more honest conversations.
• Qualification Sharpness: Early on, I avoided talking about buying processes because it felt "too forward." But getting comfortable with questions like, “If you find what you like here, what does your buying process look like internally?” made me a sharper partner for both the customer and my sales team.
• Summarization and Bridging: Summarizing what I heard and bridging to next steps became critical. It wasn't enough to nod along—I had to synthesize.
• Managing Over-Talkers: Sometimes conversations would wander. I learned to gently bring focus back by saying, “That's a great topic—we can dive into that after we make sure we cover your core objectives today. Would that work?” It's amazing how much customers appreciate structure.
• Proactive Use of Social Proof: Instead of waiting for customers to ask if others were using our platform, I started weaving it in proactively: “Other banks using us have found X and Y particularly useful. Curious if that’s an area you’re focusing on too?” It made discovery feel like a shared journey, not a sales pitch.
• Quantitative Results Sell Better Internally: As the sales engineer, I would get over-excited about how amazing our product & features were and would focus on qualitative aspects instead of foot-stomping quantitative results as social proof. Hard numbers like "What would saving 300hrs a year on detection engineering mean to you and your team?" are easy for prospects to remember and discuss internally.

These lessons weren't learned overnight. They were shaped by dozens of conversations, countless mistakes, and gradual refinement.

Discovery: Your Launchpad to Impact

Mastering discovery isn't about memorizing a script or being the "smartest" person in the room. It's about showing up with genuine curiosity, empathy, and a desire to solve real problems. This accomplished a stage I call "excite' (will cover in another article), where the prospect sees a light at the end of the tunnel that provides them a great business value with the provided tech.

When you discover well, you position yourself differently. You stop being seen as "the engineer" or "the demo guy" — and start being seen as a strategic partner.

That shift doesn't just help you close deals. It builds the foundation for your future leadership as a VP. Because great leaders listen first, understand deeply, and act thoughtfully.

Discovery isn't a step. It's the launchpad for everything that follows.

And it all starts with the courage to truly listen.

Next up in the Fundamentals series: Solution Mapping or Alignment — translating discovery into a clear path forward.