Explain how to have a great Discovery Call

Initially, your new team member may be nervous about their first Discovery call.

However, as they gain more confidence in the value of building their network rather than just networking, they will want others they also know to benefit and become part of their team.

A common mistake for new people is becoming excited about the Connect Collaborative and setting up a Zoom to sell the benefits of becoming part of the CC.

Your team member’s objective is to build a team of team building advocates. Although this will be much easier using the CC tools, culture, and systematic approach, your team member’s job is to build their network, not the Connect Collaborative’s network.

The best way to discover like-minded others who also see the value of building a team of team building advocates is to make a list of good potential candidates and set up a Zoom conversation with them.

The purpose of the Discovery call is to connect with their candidate, ask them enough questions to discover what they are looking for and determine if your team member would like to invite them to a CC intro session.

Ensure that your team member understands that ultimately, they are looking to onboard a few great network-building partners into their team. In other words, they are looking for people who see the value of building their team and advocating for others.

As your team member to imagine they are starting a new business – say an accounting practice.

Would they be looking for a partner that they believe are at least as committed and effective as they are?
Or would they be happy to invest a lot of time helping their new partner develop to their level of commitment and expertise?

Your team member is looking for great team-building partners who are also seeking to develop their own teams rapidly.

Your team member needs to understand that they only need a few others committed to expanding their networks.

They are not looking to onboard everyone – just the people excited about what we offer and who they are excited about being part of their team.

In particular, your team member is NOT looking for customers.
They ARE looking for partners.

5 great partners who find 5 great partners means they have a rapidly and exponentially growing network!.

Ensure your team members understand that they should not feel obliged to invite every person they have a Discovery call to an intro session. It’s easy to end the call by letting the other person know that they will keep an eye out for them.

Ask your team member to consider the following during their Discovery call:

1. Do they have a good feeling about the candidate they are speaking with?
2. Has their candidate indicated that they see the value of building a network?
3. Does the candidate seem to be a giver (rather than a taker) by nature?
4. Does it seem like their candidate would be a good fit for the CC culture?
5. Does your team member like them enough to give them the benefit of the doubt?

Let your team member know that they will get better at selecting better candidates and asking better questions as they gain more experience and attend more workshops.

Here are some great tips for your team member:

1. The skills they learn when making Discovery calls will help them in many other ways, so it’s worth deciding to get good at these calls.
2. They need to relax and not worry about - stuffing it up - (because there are plenty more fish in the ocean).
3. Keeping it brief is important! Your team member doesn’t have time for a long conversation, and they’ll be surprised how quickly they can connect with people (especially if they’ve selected well in the first place).

One thing that will help your team member keep their Discovery calls brief and improve their overall efficiency is using a diary booking system such as Calendly. Using a booking system makes setting up an event type such as “A 15-minute chat” easy.

This will inform their invitees that it’s going to be a quick call (even though, in practice, it may extend a bit longer). A booking system like Calendly also saves them from frustrating and time-consuming communication to find a time that works for both parties.

4. Emphasise the importance of the initial connection with a candidate... Remind your team member that many people communicate well. However, few people connect well...

Initially, connecting well is far more effective than communicating well.

The energy and enthusiasm your team member exudes are super important in establishing a strong and rapid connection with their candidates.

Encourage your team member to...

- Smile.
- Ask ice-breaking questions.
- Have a look at their profile for clues as to good questions they can ask their candidate. For example, I notice you are in Melbourne - did you manage to get to the tennis over the weekend?...
- Suggest your team member asks questions that lead the conversation where they want it to go. For example:
Mary, I loved your profile. Especially the part about collaboration and building business relationships. I feel very much the same way, and it is really why I suggested we meet ‘face-to-face’ here on Zoom. Could you explain a bit more about how collaboration with others has helped you?...
- Make sure your team member understands that: Questions are the answers!
The better they get at asking questions, the faster they will achieve their objectives (this also applies to most other things they do in business)...
He or she who asks the questions is in control!

It’s also good to encourage your team member to visualise the flow of their Discovery call.

In the early part of the conversation, they should ask questions to connect and gather valuable information from their candidate about what they are looking for.

Then your team member can give a brief background on themselves and why they are interested in building their network with like-minded others...

It’s worth your team member talking some time to learn some key phrases that work for them.

For example:

For as long as I can remember, people have emphasised the value of networking.

However, I feel we’ve actually reached a point in time where networking is no longer an optional extra – it’s really something we all need to become good at. Would you agree?...

I have found building my network has become far easier since COVID because people are more comfortable with Zoom calls like the one we’re having right now. So, in a way, it’s become the new way of meeting face-to-face, hasn’t it?

When you think about it, the reason networking is so effective in gaining business or other opportunities is simply that:..

“Anyone can sell anyone except themselves”

If we attempt to sell ourselves, it’s usually very ineffective, isn’t it?...

(Watch them nod in agreement)...

On the other hand, if we have many others genuinely advocating for us, we typically solve some of the biggest problems we all have – such as gaining high-quality business with minimal effort and cost.

The real problem is that no one has taught us how to build a relationship-based network of like-minded others.

The networking that has been available to date has often been transactional rather than relationship-based.

However, I’m much more interested in learning how to build an advocating network based on trusted relationships – how about you?

I’m looking for people who believe in building relationships and trust through advocacy. That’s why I reached out to you in the first place. I had a feeling from your profile that we would be like-minded.

I finally found a group of people who want to engage in online, relationship-based network building rather than transactional networking..

Looking at your profile and from our conversation so far, it seems like you also see the value in building your relationship-based network of others who will actually advocate for you as well as you for them.

How important would you say it is for you to build your network?

Suppose their candidate seems to be excited about building a relationship-based network. In that case, your member should suggest that they attend an introduction to the Connect Collaborative to gain some more information.

Your team member does not need to go into a lot more depth about the CC during their Discovery call – that will be handled by the facilitator of the CC Intro meeting...

Your team member also needs to be prepared for questions that may come up during the call.

Fortunately, there are just a few commonly asked questions.

This means it’s easy for them to learn how to handle them!

Here are a few commonly asked questions and potential answers your team member could give...

What sort of time commitment would I be looking at?

Well, that’s actually the great news!

Because all our network-building is done online, you don’t have to travel to meetings. Also, our discussions tend to be shorter and more focused.

Typically that saves somewhere between 1 and 3 hours per week.

Perhaps even more importantly, our online meetings give you national and international reach.

It’s up to you how much time you invest.

In the beginning, we realise most people will need to make some adjustments to fit in.
However, as we all know, you benefit in proportion to how much you invest.

It really comes down to how important you feel it is to build an advocating network.

I there a cost?

Actually, there is also good news regarding cost.

The first month is free. The reason for this is that we want people to verify the value of the system for themselves. After that, there is a subscription of $85 per month that can easily be cancelled at any time. In other words, there is no risk.

Also, there is no upfront commitment – you don’t have to pay a year’s fees in advance – you pay as you go.

(Ensure your team member understands that If the small cost of the CC subscription is a barrier for their candidate, then this is probably a good sign that this candidate may not be who your team member is looking for)...

Another question a candidate may ask is: I already have a great network – why would I want to expand it further?

A good question to ask in response to this question is: How much does your existing network pro-actively advocate for you?

It's wise not to overload your team member with all this information at the same time. However, over time, you may be able to help them gain better results from their calls using this information.