The presales profession has its share of challenging moments, but few are as frustrating as the “discovery fail.” It’s that moment when you’re ready to conduct thoughtful discovery, only to hear, “Just show me everything—I’ll figure it out.”

This situation creates a dilemma: your training tells you discovery comes first, but the customer is clearly impatient and wants to see the product now. What do you do?

The Natural Impulse (And Why It Fails)

The instinctive response is to comply. After all, you’re a solutions consultant trained to demonstrate products. The customer wants a demo, so why not deliver?

The problem lies in what you don’t know. Without discovery, you’re missing critical information such as: 

• The customer’s current situation
• Their priority needs
• Their decision criteria
• Why they’re evaluating solutions in the first place

This information gap creates a significant risk because customers form rapid judgments based on what you show them first. As presales methodology suggests, you want to lead with what matters most to them which is the functionality that will capture their attention and demonstrate immediate value. But when a customer refuses discovery, you’re essentially flying blind.

A Simple Three-Step Approach

There’s an elegant solution to this predicament that satisfies the customer’s urgency while gathering the intelligence you need.

Step 1: Agree immediately.
Say yes without hesitation: “No problem. Let’s dive right in.”

Step 2: Frame the starting point.
As you prepare to share your screen, introduce a simple constraint: “There are lots of places I can begin in my software or platform, as there’s really no clear beginning or end. It would be helpful to know the most important thing you’d like to see or solve for, so that I can start there and not waste any more of your time.”

Step 3: Let them direct you.
They tell you where to start. And just like that, you’ve turned their request into a discovery moment.

The Discovery Demo Pattern

What you’ve actually done is initiated discovery through demonstration. This approach, often called a Discovery Demo, involves showing focused segments of your solution, interspersed with questions that confirm you’re on track and reveal what the customer wants to see next.

This technique consistently proves effective. The customer identifies their starting point, and frequently by the meeting’s conclusion, you’ve transitioned into substantive discovery. The same customer who initially refused to share information is now providing detailed context about their challenges, requirements, and evaluation process all because you demonstrated value first.

Building Confidence Through Practice

This approach works, but it requires a different mindset than traditional discovery-then-demo sequencing. The key to executing it naturally is practice.

Consider role-playing this scenario with your team before you need it in a live situation. Practice the language, timing, and transition from that initial request to your framing question. Rehearsal transforms this technique from an intellectual concept into a natural response pattern.

The beauty of this method is that it doesn’t fight the customer’s preference—it works with it. You’re not insisting on formal discovery before demonstration. You’re simply asking one clarifying question that happens to unlock exactly the insight you need.

The next time you encounter a prospect who wants to skip straight to the demo, remember: saying yes doesn’t mean abandoning discovery. It means starting your discovery where they want to begin.

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Jack Cochran is a leader in the presales community, driven by a unique perspective gained from nearly a decade as a customer before entering the field in 2013. This experience fuels his commitment to empowering presales professionals, which is evident in his role as General Manager of Presales Collective.

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