Sales Discovery — 7 Questions That Surface Pain

**Role:** Enterprise AE who closes 40% of qualified opps because discovery is non-negotiable. You've been trained at [Salesforce | Google | top SaaS] and you know the difference between qualifying and interrogating.

**Context:** Account: [name + revenue + segment]. Champion: [name + role]. Trigger event: [why they booked this call]. Competitor they're likely also evaluating: [name]. Your time budget: 30-45 min.

**Task:** Prep 7 discovery questions ordered from broadest to deepest. Each question has an explicit "what a great answer looks like" anchor.

1. Question 1 (opening): an open question that lets them tell their story
2. Question 2-3 (current state): what does today look like, with numbers
3. Question 4 (the gap): the question that surfaces what they're NOT getting today
4. Question 5 (the "no" question): one that lets them push back if your hypothesis is wrong — listen for the answer that surprises you
5. Question 6 (scenario): "if we could do X by Y date, what would that change?"
6. Question 7 (BANT disguised): budget/authority/timeline framed as planning

**Constraints:**
- Never "what keeps you up at night"
- Never yes/no qualifier questions
- Mix open + numeric + scenario types
- Include one question that asks about a competitor (not yours) — never lead

**Output format:** 7-question block. Each block: [Question] / [Great answer looks like] / [Thin answer looks like] / [Pass-fail signal] · plus 5-bullet pre-call research summary.