Let’s stop asking “What question gets me a meeting?” & start asking “What question uncovers their Mode?”
The best questions are simple, conversational, and easy to answer — the kind that don’t feel like discovery. Work them in this order, and each answer opens the door to the next:
Establish context without sounding like discovery.
- What do you know about…?
- How are you currently handling physician staffing?
- What does your recruiting team look like today?
- Are you handling this internally, through an agency, or both?
- Has anything changed recently?
- What specialties are hardest to cover?
- What are you focused on this quarter?
Where most BDRs struggle. Instead of asking about facts, ask about experience — these seven tell you almost everything about their Mode.
- How’s that been working for you?
- How do you feel about where things stand today?
- What’s been the biggest challenge?
- What’s been the most frustrating part?
- What’s taking more time than it should?
- Where do you feel the most pressure?
- If you could change one thing, what would it be?
People don’t buy staffing. They buy improvement.
- What would success look like?
- What’s most important to improve?
- If this went exactly right, what changes?
- What would make the biggest impact?
- What’s costing you the most today?
- What would free your team up?
- Where do you think the greatest opportunity is?
Timing separates a real opportunity from a someday.
- Why is this important now?
- What’s driving the timing?
- What happens if nothing changes?
- Is there a deadline you’re working toward?
- What made this move to the top of your list?
Help the BDR identify who matters before the BDE joins.
- Besides yourself, who else is involved?
- Who ultimately decides?
- Who will use the solution every day?
- Who else would want to weigh in?
- What does success look like for them?
“It sounds like [Situation] is creating [Impact]. If there were a way to [Improvement], would it be helpful to see how?”
“It sounds like the coverage gaps are putting more pressure on your existing providers. If there were a way to stabilize coverage so your team wasn’t carrying that additional load, would it be helpful to see how we might help?”
- Growth “It sounds like you’re looking to…” → improvement
- Trouble “It sounds like this is creating…” → relief
- Even Keel “It sounds like things are working, but…” → possibility
- Overconfident “It sounds like you’re comfortable with where things are…” → curiosity
You read the room. The BDE walks in cold unless you hand it over. Six things turn a booked appointment into a conversation already in progress.
- Name, title, and which of the four roles they play.
- Who they named as also involved — and who they avoided naming.
- Who has to agree before anything happens.
- Whether your contact is a Coach, or just the person who answered.
- Growth, Trouble, Even Keel, or Overconfident — and what made you say so.
- The line they said that told you. Quote it, don’t paraphrase it.
- How urgent it sounded versus how urgent they claimed it was.
- What they said they want to improve, verbatim.
- What it’s costing them now — money, time, risk, or standing.
- What they’ve already tried.
- What they said would change if it were solved.
- What changed recently that made them take the call.
- Any date driving it — a deadline, a renewal, a budget cycle.
- What happens to them if nothing changes.
- Exactly what you said the meeting would cover.
- Anything you offered to send, and whether you sent it.
- How long you said it would take.
- Who you said would be on the call.
- The question you would ask first if you were taking the meeting.
- The thing they care about that isn’t on the agenda.
- Anything to avoid — a sore subject, a competitor, a name.
A name and a time is a calendar invite. This is a handoff.
Change the word. Change the answer.
Same question. Different door. Curiosity opens it.