Discovery routine

How to run an agency discovery call

An agency discovery call is a structured conversation whose only job is to understand the prospect's problem well enough to decide whether a next step makes sense. This Agency Sales Routines guide covers preparation, the questions that qualify a prospect, and how to end with a decision instead of a pitch.

Published by Tim KilroyLast updated: November 2026

What should happen on a discovery call for an agency?

On a discovery call, the agency listens, diagnoses, and agrees on whether to keep talking. It is not a sales call. Tim Kilroy's rule is blunt: you are not there to close, pitch, or run the deck. You are there to understand what is affecting the prospect and whether you can help.

The sales call comes later, once you understand the problem. Most agencies skip straight to it, and the prospect can tell when your solution is your standard service in slightly different language.

Definition: agency discovery

On Agency Sales Routines, agency discovery means the stage between a prospect raising a hand and a proposal being written. Its output is a shared, spoken agreement on three things: there is a real problem, solving it is worth money, and the person in the room decides or can get you to whoever does.

When those three are true, the prospect moves from interested to qualified. When they are not, the most useful outcome is an honest no. Discovery is an investment in understanding, and at the end of it each side should know enough to decide whether another call is worth the time.

Discovery in numbers

Typical agency discovery meeting length: 45 to 60 minutes; Source: Casey Stillman, agency sales process
Length of Tim Kilroy's own strategy calls: 30 minutes
CMOs who fire their agency because it does not understand their business, as cited by Tim Kilroy: 70%

How should I prepare for an agency discovery call?

Most agencies blow discovery before they dial in, because they do not think about the prospect's business beforehand. Looking at the website is not preparation. Preparation means forming a few hypotheses you can test.

Write one sentence on what the company sells and to whom.
Note recent changes: hires, launches, funding, leadership moves, new markets.
Guess the two most likely problems that would make them call an agency like yours.
List what you need to learn to confirm or kill each guess.
Decide in advance what a good next step looks like, and what an honest no looks like.

Questions that qualify the prospect

Qualifying the prospect means confirming problem, cost, and decision. Ask in that order. A prospect only counts as qualified when you can name the problem in their words.

The problem

What prompted this conversation now, rather than last quarter?
What have you already tried, and what happened?
How would you describe the problem to your boss in one sentence?

The cost

What happens if nothing changes this quarter?
How are you measuring this today?
What would a good result be worth to the business?

The decision

Who else weighs in on a decision like this?
How have you hired outside help before?
What would need to be true for this to move forward?

Discovery call or sales call?

Agency Sales Routines: how a discovery call differs from a sales call
Point	Discovery call	Sales call
Goal	Understand the problem and decide on a next step	Present a solution and ask for a decision
Who talks most	The prospect	Shared, with the agency presenting
Your deck	Stays closed	Tailored to what discovery found
Good outcome	A second call both sides want, or an honest no	A proposal review on the calendar

How to end a discovery call

End by summarizing what you heard in their words and asking whether it is accurate. Then name the next step plainly: a recap meeting, a proposal review, or a respectful no. Put the next meeting on the calendar before you hang up, and send the recap the same day using the three-part follow-up.

If you record calls, review your talk-to-listen balance. A founder who talks most of the discovery call is pitching, whatever the calendar invite says. A copy-ready question list and prep sheet are on the templates page.

How we chose what goes in this guide

This guide draws on Tim Kilroy's published agency discovery call playbook and funnel guide. Meeting lengths from other agency processes are quoted and attributed. The question list is Agency Sales Routines guidance and should be adapted to your offer.

Written and published by Tim Kilroy. Read the full methodology.

Questions agency founders ask

Short answers here. All 44 questions live in the full FAQ.

How long should a discovery call be?

Most agency discovery calls run 30 to 60 minutes. Casey Stillman's agency sales process describes a 20 to 30 minute introductory conversation followed by a 45 to 60 minute discovery meeting. Tim Kilroy's own strategy calls are set at 30 minutes. The right length is whatever lets both sides decide whether a second conversation is worth the time.

Open in the FAQ

What questions should I ask on an agency discovery call?

Ask questions that reveal the problem, its cost, and who decides. Useful ones: What prompted this conversation now? What have you already tried? What happens if nothing changes this quarter? How will you measure success? Who else weighs in? The goal, in Tim Kilroy's framing, is to understand the problem well enough to decide whether a next step makes sense, not to pitch.

Open in the FAQ

How do you qualify a prospect?

Qualify a prospect by confirming, out loud and together, that there is a real problem, that solving it is worth money, and that the person you are talking to decides or can get you to whoever does. In Tim Kilroy's five-stage funnel, a prospect only counts as qualified when you can name the problem in their own words.

Open in the FAQ

Why does my discovery call turn into a pitch?

Because talking about your agency feels productive and silence feels risky. Tim Kilroy's rule is that a discovery call is not a sales call: you are there to understand the problem, not to run the deck. Prepare questions in advance, cap your own talking, and end by agreeing whether a second conversation makes sense for both sides.

Open in the FAQ

What are the three major phases of the sales process?

There is no single official list, but most models group selling into three phases: before the conversation, during it, and after it. On this site those map to three routines: discovery, where you understand the problem; follow-up, where you recap and guide the prospect past friction; and closing, where a written proposal becomes a signed agreement.

Open in the FAQ

Read all 44 agency sales process questions

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