Discovery
Reach for Discovery when the customer is still an opinion.
- The persona was brainstormed in a meeting and no buyer has confirmed it.
- You are moving upmarket or into an adjacent segment and the old motion may not transfer.
- Sales and marketing describe the ideal customer differently when asked separately.
- Nobody can say which beliefs about the customer are evidence and which are guesses.
It runs first. Positioning reads what it writes, and won't build on anything still assumed.
A persona someone brainstormed is fiction until a buyer confirms it. Discovery makes that confirmation part of the run, so it happens every time and not only when someone remembers.
The Seven Stages
| Stage | What It Produces |
|---|---|
| Write Down What We Believe | Every belief in a claims ledger, marked assumed, with what would change our mind |
| Diagnose the Archetype | A candidate archetype, which one leads if it's a hybrid, and a ten-deal test to confirm it |
| Grade What We Already Know | Beliefs moved up the ladder from deals, calls and the profile, before any new conversation |
| Go Get What's Missing | The cheapest evidence plan for the bets that matter most, asking about past behavior only |
| Name the Real Alternatives | What buyers do instead, doing nothing included, each with its count and source |
| Choose Where to Start | One starting segment, scored on evidence strength, with a switch trigger |
| Write It Back | Nodes in the knowledge base, an updated client profile, and a two-page brief |
The Market Decides the Motion
The archetype comes before anything else because it changes everything after it. An enterprise buyer on a twelve-month committee cycle and an owner who decides in two weeks need different evidence, different proof and a different starting segment, so the grading and the evidence plan both branch on the answer. If the diagnosis contradicts itself, the skill says so, and that contradiction is usually the most useful thing it finds.
The Evidence Ladder
Every claim sits on one rung, and the rung shows up wherever the claim does.
- Assumed. Somebody believes it.
- Heard. A buyer said it.
- Seen. It shows up in deals or data.
- Confirmed. It held across at least five cases, recently, with nothing against it.
The Rules It Won't Bend
- A count beside every rate. "57% (4 of 7)", never "57%".
- Five before a pattern. Fewer cases is an observation, and it's labelled as one.
- Silence isn't a no. A record that doesn't mention something is left out of that count.
- "No difference" is a finding. It's reported, not sliced until something shows up.
- The next skill refuses assumed claims. They're listed as open bets, so nobody builds positioning on a guess.
It Keeps Running
Confirmed claims are re-checked every 90 days, and heard and seen ones every 30. Weekly Review lists what's overdue, Dream archives what newer evidence contradicts, and Graph Health counts how much of the customer picture is still a guess.