Today’s buyers are more informed and often further along in their evaluation, before they ever speak with a sales rep. They expect faster access to product information, more relevant conversations, and SaaS demo experiences that address the priorities they have already identified.
This shift is forcing sales and presales teams to rethink a familiar part of the sales process: the discovery call.
In a recent panel discussion about the changing SaaS demo experience, Paul Pearce of Great Demo challenged not just how teams conduct discovery, but what they call it.
His argument: buyers still need discovery, but they should not feel like they are being forced to start the buying process over again.
Why Traditional Sales Discovery Calls Are Breaking Down
The problem with the traditional discovery call isn’t necessarily the questions. It’s the experience those questions create.
By the time a prospect reaches a Sales Engineer, they may have already explained their challenges, goals, and requirements to an SDR and an Account Executive. Asking them to repeat the same information can signal that the seller either didn’t prepare or wasn’t listening.
Pearce put it plainly:
For modern SaaS sales teams, the goal should be to build on what the organization already knows about the buyer and validate what still needs to be learned.
Offer a Point of View Before Asking More Questions
Buyers increasingly arrive at a sales conversation wanting to see the product. That creates tension when sellers want to conduct discovery first.
One way to resolve it is to stop treating discovery as an interview and instead enter the conversation with a point of view.
Review what you already know from previous interactions, account research, CRM notes, intent signals, and conversations with the buying team. Then give the buyer a short list of priorities you believe are most relevant.
Pearce recommends presenting a “menu”:
Instead of asking a prospect to explain everything from the beginning, the seller gives them something concrete to react to.
That accomplishes two things at once:
- It demonstrates that the sales team has prepared.
- It helps uncover and prioritize the buyer’s real needs.
Discovery still happens. It simply feels more useful to the buyer.
Replace “Discovery” With Demo Prep
Pearce suggested reframing the traditional discovery call as demo prep.
The positioning is straightforward: if you want to give the prospect a relevant, personalized product demo, you need a short conversation beforehand to understand what the demo should cover.
That conversation doesn’t need to become another hour-long sales meeting.
Instead, use demo prep to clarify questions such as:
- Who will attend the demo?
- What are their roles and priorities?
- Which problems matter most?
- What does the buying team already know about your product?
- What have they learned through their own research?
- What would make the demo valuable to them?
The distinction matters.
Instead of saying, “We need to conduct discovery before we can show you the product,” you’re saying, “We want to make the demo relevant to you, so we need a little context first.”
The questions may overlap. The buyer experience is completely different.
AI Makes Validation More Important, Not Less
AI is also changing how sales teams prepare for discovery and product demos.
Teams can now assemble account research, company information, competitive context, persona insights, and potential pain points before a seller ever joins the call.
But more information does not automatically mean better discovery.
Morgan Ballevre of impact.com emphasized that modern discovery should include both learning and validation:
That distinction becomes increasingly important when AI is involved.
AI-generated research can help sellers arrive with stronger hypotheses, but those hypotheses still need to be tested with the buyer. The objective of discovery therefore shifts from “Tell me everything about your situation” toward “Here’s what we understand about your situation. What did we get right, and what are we missing?”
That creates a fundamentally different conversation.
Should Websites Still Use “Book a Demo”?
Pearce also challenged one of the most common calls to action on SaaS websites: Book a Demo.
His argument is simple. If your website promises a demo, prospects will reasonably expect to see the product when they respond.
Pearce suggested that organizations that aren’t prepared to immediately show the product should consider language such as “Let’s Have a Conversation” instead.
Ballevre offered the counterpoint: there’s nothing inherently wrong with “Book a Demo” as long as the buyer actually gets a demo.
Both perspectives point to the same underlying principle:
Your CTA should accurately set expectations for what happens next.
If buyers click “Book a Demo,” the experience that follows should deliver on that promise.
What a Modern SaaS Demo Process Looks Like
The takeaway isn’t that sales discovery is dead.
It’s that the way companies conduct it needs to reflect how modern B2B buyers research and evaluate software.
A stronger SaaS demo process looks more like this:
- Use existing buyer context first. Review what the SDR, AE, account research, and previous interactions have already told you.
- Arrive with hypotheses. Don’t ask buyers to build the agenda from scratch.
- Let buyers prioritize. Give them a menu of relevant topics and let them tell you where to focus.
- Position discovery as demo prep. Explain that the purpose of the questions is to create a more relevant product experience.
- Validate AI-generated research. Treat AI insights as hypotheses, not established facts.
- Match the CTA to the experience. If you promise a demo, show the product.
The fundamental principle is simple:
Don’t make buyers repeat what your organization should already know.
Use discovery to validate, prioritize, and fill gaps. Then use those insights to deliver a product demo that reflects what the buyer actually needs to see.
The result is discovery without making the prospect feel like they’re being interviewed—and a demo that starts from the buyer’s context rather than the seller’s standard script.
The panel went deeper into these topics, including the specific AI prompts they use before calls and how they structure the first buyer conversation.
Watch the full webinar on demand to hear the complete discussion.
