When selling SaaS products, uncovering pain points and creating urgency is crucial. But what if you barely know anything about your buyer? How do you get to the core of their needs quickly? I’ll break down the seven discovery questions I’d ask to achieve that—questions that work even when you’re starting from scratch. Whether you’re selling a CRM, project management tool, or analytics software, these questions are designed to surface pain, urgency, and value.
Every business has challenges, but not every challenge feels urgent. By asking about challenges they’d regret not solving within a defined timeframe (12 months), you naturally filter out problems that are just 'nice to solve.' This timeframe focuses on the key issues that, if ignored, could severely impact their business.
For SaaS founders: This is especially useful if your solution targets high-priority areas like customer retention, scalability, or revenue growth. In the SaaS world, 6-12 months could be the difference between achieving a critical funding round or falling behind the competition.
By asking this, you’re guiding the buyer to reflect on their most pressing challenges—the ones that keep them up at night. This is where urgency lives, and that’s what you want to tap into.
Imagine you’re pitching a SaaS project management platform like Monday.com. You ask this question, and the client shares that their current system is chaotic. They’re losing hours each week to inefficient communication. If they don’t fix this within a year, it could derail important product launches. Suddenly, your solution moves from "nice to have" to "must have."
Often, buyers start with surface-level pain points. Maybe they mention slow growth or a high churn rate. But what’s causing those issues? This question helps you dig deeper. It uncovers the ‘need behind the need.’ Is it that their product doesn’t scale well? Are they experiencing difficulties with customer engagement? By asking what's driving the problem, you can address the core issue, not just the symptoms.
Let’s say you’re selling an advanced CRM like HubSpot. The client mentions that their sales pipeline is stagnating. By asking what’s driving this, you learn that they’re overwhelmed with disorganized customer data and lack real-time insights. Now, you can focus your pitch on how your CRM solves these deeper challenges, like unifying data streams or improving lead scoring accuracy.
In today’s economic climate, SaaS buyers are cautious. Every purchase needs to be justified. This question forces them to quantify the pain. Whether it’s boosting revenue, cutting costs, improving customer satisfaction, or speeding up delivery times, numbers are key to justifying a purchase.
If you’re pitching a data analytics tool like Google Analytics, the client might say that improving their site speed could reduce bounce rates and increase conversions. Now you’ve got measurable metrics to tie your solution to: faster site load times and a higher conversion rate.
SaaS products don’t just solve problems—they address the root causes of problems. If you don’t understand the root cause, how can you propose the right solution? By asking for the buyer’s opinion, you’re engaging them in problem-solving mode. Plus, it gives you more context on how they view the situation, and whether or not they have a clear understanding of what’s broken.
Say you’re offering a customer support SaaS. A startup tells you their customer churn rate is increasing. When you ask why, they say it’s because customers don’t feel heard. Now, you can tailor your pitch to focus on features like automated support, ticket management, and AI-driven responses—anything that improves customer interactions.
This question helps you understand the buyer’s decision criteria. If their ideal solution aligns with your product’s capabilities, that’s great. If it doesn’t, it’s better to know now so you can either adjust their expectations or exit early if the fit isn’t right. This also allows you to co-create the solution with them, ensuring your product feels tailored to their needs.
Imagine you’re selling marketing automation software to a SaaS company. They mention they need a solution that integrates seamlessly with their existing CRM, offers advanced reporting features, and is easy for their small team to manage. If your product checks those boxes, you can tailor your demo to showcase those specific features.
These seven discovery questions aren’t just about learning the buyer’s pain points—they’re about creating urgency and value, so your SaaS product becomes the obvious solution. By asking these questions, you’ll dig deeper into their challenges, identify ripple effects, and uncover the metrics they care about most. This makes your pitch stronger and more targeted.
The next time you’re in a discovery call, remember: it’s not just about identifying problems. It’s about showing why those problems need to be solved now—and why your solution is the best fit.