CSE Pre-Sales Discovery & Requirements 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In SPIN Selling, what type of question is 'How many hours per week does your team spend reconciling data manually?'
- Situation question (Correct answer)
- Problem question
- Implication question
- Need-payoff question
Correct answer: Situation question
Situation questions gather factual context about the prospect's current state, such as existing processes and resource usage.
Question 2: A Sales Engineer discovers that a prospect's stated requirement conflicts with a regulatory constraint the prospect is unaware of. The best response is to:
- Document the requirement as stated and move on
- Proactively inform the prospect of the regulatory issue and adjust the requirement collaboratively (Correct answer)
- Remove the requirement from the response entirely
- Escalate the issue to legal without notifying the prospect
Correct answer: Proactively inform the prospect of the regulatory issue and adjust the requirement collaboratively
Trusted advisors surface risks prospects haven't considered, which builds credibility and prevents failed implementations.
Question 3: Which stakeholder typically owns the technical evaluation criteria in an enterprise software deal?
- CFO
- IT architect or technical lead (Correct answer)
- Marketing director
- Legal counsel
Correct answer: IT architect or technical lead
Technical evaluation criteria are usually owned by the IT architect, technical lead, or engineering manager responsible for integration and feasibility.
Question 4: What is 'multi-threading' in the context of enterprise sales discovery?
- Running multiple demos simultaneously
- Engaging multiple stakeholders across different departments within the prospect (Correct answer)
- Using multiple CRM tools to track leads
- Sending follow-up emails at multiple intervals
Correct answer: Engaging multiple stakeholders across different departments within the prospect
Multi-threading mitigates deal risk by building relationships with multiple stakeholders so the deal doesn't stall if a single champion leaves.
Question 5: During discovery, a prospect shares that their current vendor contract expires in 18 months. How should this information be used?
- Ignore it since 18 months is too far away
- Use it to align your sales cycle and set appropriate urgency milestones (Correct answer)
- Immediately pressure the prospect to switch now
- Request a copy of the current contract
Correct answer: Use it to align your sales cycle and set appropriate urgency milestones
Contract expiration timelines help Sales Engineers and AEs map their sales cycle, pilot timelines, and decision milestones to the prospect's natural buying window.
Question 6: What is the main risk of conducting a proof of concept (POC) before completing thorough discovery?
- The POC will run over budget
- The POC may demonstrate capabilities that don't address the prospect's actual pain (Correct answer)
- The prospect will share POC results with competitors
- Legal cannot support an early POC
Correct answer: The POC may demonstrate capabilities that don't address the prospect's actual pain
Without thorough discovery, a POC may showcase the wrong use cases and fail to resonate with what actually matters to the decision-makers.
Question 7: Which of the following best describes a 'negative consequence' question in the discovery process?
- Asking about the prospect's budget constraints
- Asking what happens if the current problem remains unsolved (Correct answer)
- Asking the prospect about a competitor's weaknesses
- Asking what features the prospect dislikes about your product
Correct answer: Asking what happens if the current problem remains unsolved
Negative consequence questions surface the business impact of inaction, increasing urgency and helping the prospect self-justify investment.
CSE Pre-Sales Discovery & Requirements 3
In SPIN Selling, what type of question is 'How many hours per week does your team spend reconciling data manually?'