Sales Discovery Call Questions to Keep in View
Updated 2026-11-01 · 2 min read
This rail is for the first real call with a prospect. You're there to find out if there's a problem worth solving, and they're deciding if you're worth more of their time. They can see your face the whole call, so the next question has to be right in front of you.
The rail
Open the call
- Thanks for the time. We have [30] minutes, still good?
- Today I'd like to learn how you handle [problem area] now
- At the end we decide together if a demo makes sense
What we do
- One line: we help [customer type] get [result]
- Proof: [customer] went from [before] to [after]
Why now
- What made this worth a call this month?
- What happens if nothing changes by [quarter]?
How it works today
- Walk me through the last time you did [task]
- Who's involved, and what tools do they use?
- Where does it slow down or break?
Cost of the problem
- How much time does it take each week?
- What does it cost in deals, people or money?
- Have you put a number on it? Write theirs down
What they've tried
- What have you tried so far?
- What worked, and what made you stop?
Who makes the decision
- Who else wants this fixed?
- Who signs off on the decision?
- Is budget set aside, or would you need to find it?
What good looks like
- If this worked, what's different in [90] days?
- How would you measure it?
Next step
- Say their problem back in one sentence. Did I get it right?
- Offer a demo on [date], with [decision maker] on it
- Send the invite before you hang up
How to use this rail
- Copy the rail. Press Copy this rail. It copies every card as text, with a heading on each one.
- Paste it into a new note in GlideRail. GlideRail spots the headings and offers to split the text. Press Split into sections: the rail's name at the top becomes the note's name, and each card heading becomes its own card.
- Fill in the brackets. Swap each [bracket] for your own figure, like the length of the call or the quarter they're planning for.
- Open Cue Mode. Put the window near your camera, then move between cards with ⌘[ and ⌘] (they work from any app while Cue Mode is open) or a two-finger swipe.
- Turn on Live Rail, if you like. On an Apple Silicon Mac it listens to the call and offers the card whose heading matches what was just said, so when the prospect brings up the decision, it can offer that card. One click opens it, and it never changes cards on its own.
If you share your screen, turn on Invisible first (Pro), and the share leaves the cards out. On Zoom, first set Settings, Share Screen, Advanced, Screen capture mode to "Advanced capture with window filtering" (the Zoom guide shows it). Cue Mode and Live Rail are Pro too, and every download comes with 7 days of Pro, free, with no card needed.
Make it yours
Swap in the questions your best calls already run on, and cut any card you never reach. Keep each line short enough to read in a glance. If prospects keep raising the same worry, give it a card of its own, named the way they say it, so Live Rail has the words to match.