Most AEs waste the first 5 minutes on small talk. Use research to skip straight to business and show the buyer you've done your homework.
Your discovery call opener—the first minute—determines whether the buyer thinks you're serious or another spray-and-pray AE who hasn't looked at their website.
Most AEs kill this moment. They open with "How are you doing?" or "Where are you calling in from?" The buyer knows you don't care. They've heard it 20 times this month. You've now spent 60 seconds establishing that you're like everyone else.
Top AEs skip the small talk entirely. They open with something specific—something that says you read their latest earnings call, noticed their job posting, saw they just hired a VP of Sales, or know their current toolstack. Then they connect that research to a hypothesis about what matters to them.
Buyers dread discovery because most AEs don't actually listen; they execute a script. They ask "What brought you to this meeting?" without reading the email or the calendar note from the SDR. So the buyer has to repeat themselves. Worse, they dread it because they know you're about to pitch, not understand.
A discovery call built on research signals that you're genuinely trying to understand their situation, not fill a pipeline number. It shortens the time to trust by removing the need to establish context twice.
Start with what you know, then ask what you don't. Here's the structure:
"Hey [Name], I saw [specific fact], and I speak with a lot of [similar role or company type] in that situation. Usually that means they're focused on [priority 1] or [priority 2]. Is that the case for you or is something else more important?"
That's it. You've now:
The bucketing question is critical. You're not asking "What's your biggest challenge?"—that's too open. You're saying, "Based on what I know about your industry and your role, I think you're probably dealing with one of these three things. Am I close?" That gives the buyer permission to correct you, and it speeds up the call because they're not starting from zero.
When the buyer tells you which bucket they fall into—or corrects your hypothesis—you now have permission to dig. You stop talking and listen. Your next move is not to pitch; it's to understand the weight and urgency of that problem for them.
"Tell me more about how that's showing up for you right now" is better than "How long have you been dealing with that?" The first move assumes they're actually experiencing it. The second one lets them dodge.
Listen for three things:
If they're not doing anything about it, or they're not feeling any real urgency, that's not a discovery problem—that's a qualification problem. You can keep digging, but the call should start shifting toward discovery of whether there's a deal here at all.
Research works when you have good data. If you're going off a LinkedIn profile and a job title, you're close. If you're extrapolating from a press release that's six months old, you're guessing.
If your research is thin, say so. "I did some research on [Company], and I saw [fact], but I want to hear directly from you what's real for you right now" is better than making something up. Buyers can smell a guess.
The bucketing question works with any level of research. You're not saying "I know you're dealing with X." You're saying "Based on what I know about your industry, I think you're probably dealing with one of these things." That's falsifiable. The buyer can correct you in the first 30 seconds, and you move on.
A discovery call that starts on research runs tighter. You're not burning 5 minutes on "how did you hear about us?" You're 2 minutes in and already talking about their real problem. That means you have more time to dig into the details, map the stakeholders, and understand the path to a decision.
It also means fewer derailed calls. A buyer who feels understood is more likely to stay on the call. A buyer who has to explain their own business to you, again, is more likely to cut it short and ask you to send something.
That's the point of the bucketing question. You're not asserting what matters to them; you're proposing it and asking them to correct you. When they do, you've actually learned something in the first minute instead of at minute 15. Use their correction to go deeper on what really matters.
Enough to find one solid fact: a recent hire, a news story, an observable pain in their industry, or a tool they use. One fact is enough to open with research. You don't need to sound like you've audited their entire business—that feels rehearsed and kills trust.
No. The opposite is true. A buyer who feels like you've wasted your time trying to connect instead of listening to them feels pushed. Starting with research says you respect their time. The tone matters: curious, not conclusive. You're asking, not telling.
Use the same fact (the press release, the hire, the toolstack), but tailor the hypothesis to their role. A CFO cares about cost and risk; a VP of Sales cares about velocity and quota. Same company research, different priority buckets for each stakeholder.
Tell the truth. 'Your SDR set up the meeting' or 'I found you through LinkedIn' or 'You came up in my research of companies in your space.' Honesty builds credibility. If you're cagey, you lose it immediately.
Part of our guide to Discovery calls.
Repwing listens to your discovery calls and puts the next question on your phone while you are still in the conversation. Fourteen days free, no card.
Start free trial