Module 0: Discovery Methodology

Read this first. The five module-specific trainings only make sense in the context of the overall methodology. Time to complete: 8 minutes

The job of a CHS discovery

A discovery has one job: leave the conversation with enough information to write a proposal the prospect can't easily say no to. Not "enough information to send a quote." Not "enough rapport to follow up." Enough information to write a proposal that names their specific situation, their specific pain, the specific outcome they care about, and the specific price that earns it.

If you finish a discovery and you can't write that proposal, the discovery wasn't complete — regardless of how long the call ran or how friendly it was.

The wizard exists to make that level of discovery the default behavior, not a senior-rep behavior. Every field captured is a sentence in the eventual proposal. Every signal flagged is a service line opportunity that gets quoted or consciously declined. The AI summary at the end is the proposal draft.

The shape of a good discovery call

A good 35–45 minute discovery looks like this:

Minutes 0–5: Intake and rapport. Capture the practice basics — names, contact info, location, specialty. Brief context on CHS. Confirm the prospect's understanding of why you're talking and what they hope to walk away with.

Minutes 5–12: Credentialing IQA. Always the first discovery section because it's the most time-sensitive and the most clarifying. The credentialing answer reveals the practice's situation — new, existing, growing, in trouble — faster than any other line of questioning.

Minutes 12–18: Consulting IQA. Open-ended, looking for the strategic problems that keep the owner up at night. Where the highest-revenue opportunities live.

Minutes 18–26: RCM IQA. The largest recurring revenue line. Take the time it needs.

Minutes 26–31: Marketing IQA. Quick if not relevant, deeper if growth is on their mind.

Minutes 31–37: Technology IQA. Surface signals, route referrals, identify infrastructure risks.

Minutes 37–45: Notes, next steps, expectations. What you'll send, when, and what you need from them.

If you're consistently running over 45 minutes, you're either over-explaining the offering or under-controlling the conversation. Discovery isn't a presentation.

The four discovery commandments

1. Don't quote until you've qualified

The wizard's pricing engine will give you numbers the moment you have providers and payers entered. Resist reading those numbers out loud during discovery. Once a price is on the table, the conversation becomes a price conversation. Hold pricing until the proposal — even when the prospect pushes for a "ballpark."

If they push hard:

Rep: "I understand wanting a number to anchor on. I'd rather give you a number that's accurate than one I have to revise. Let me finish the questions, run the math, and you'll have a real number with a real scope tomorrow morning. That fair?"

Most prospects say yes. The few who don't were always going to be price-shoppers anyway.

2. Capture the story, not just the data

The wizard's notes field is the most important field in the entire tool. Not because it's required, but because it's where the prospect's actual situation lives. A discovery where every field is filled but the notes are empty is a worthless discovery — you have data without context.

Things that should always end up in notes:

The trigger event (what made them reach out now, not six months ago or six months from now)
The relationship dynamics (who's the decision maker, what's the influence map)
Prior vendor history (who they've worked with, what went well, what went badly)
Specific dollar numbers they mentioned (current biller cost, contract values, lost revenue estimates)
Anything they said off-script that surprised you

The AI executive summary draws heavily from the notes. Empty notes = generic summary.

3. Listen for the trigger event

Practices don't engage CHS spontaneously. Something happened. A credentialing vendor disappeared. A biller is leaving. A payer cut a fee schedule. A partner is buying out. A competitor opened nearby. A regulator showed up.

Find the trigger. The trigger is the closing lever. A prospect with no trigger is just shopping; a prospect with a trigger has a deadline, even if they haven't named it yet.

The trigger question is direct:

"What made this top of mind right now? Is there something happening in the practice that's pushed this up the priority list?"

You can ask it in any of the five sections. Sometimes it surfaces in credentialing, sometimes in consulting, sometimes in technology. Wherever it surfaces, write it down.

4. Bundle with intention

CHS deals close better and retain longer when they include multiple service lines. That's not a sales-pressure thing — it's a relationship-economics thing. A credentialing-only customer evaluates you on credentialing, churns when credentialing is "done," and views you as a vendor. A credentialing + RCM + maintenance customer evaluates you on outcomes, stays for years, and views you as a partner.

That said, bundling for the sake of bundling damages trust. The bundle should match the actual situation:

Always bundle: Credentialing + Maintenance + RCM for new practices. Each one is necessary; selling them separately is a disservice.
Often bundle: Credentialing + RCM for existing practices that haven't renegotiated payer contracts in 3+ years. The consulting fits naturally.
Sometimes bundle: Marketing for growing practices, technology referrals for practices with infrastructure issues.
Don't bundle: Marketing for at-capacity practices, RCM for sub-$30K monthly collections, technology services the prospect has already solved.

The wizard pricing engine calculates bundle discounts automatically. Honor them in the proposal — if the prospect signs up for credentialing + RCM + maintenance, the proposal should show the bundled price, not three separate line items at full retail.

When to walk away

Some discoveries should end with "we're not the right fit." This is hard for new reps to do, but doing it well is what separates trusted advisors from quote-machines.

Walk away when:

The prospect's expectations are fundamentally misaligned with our pricing or service model
They've worked with 3+ similar vendors and blamed all of them
They want guaranteed outcomes (lead counts, denial rates, etc.) that no honest vendor would commit to
The technology, compliance, or operational situation is so broken that we can't help without months of foundation work they haven't budgeted for
The contact has no decision authority and won't introduce you to who does

Walking away well sounds like:

Rep: "I'm going to be straight with you — based on what we've talked about, I don't think we're going to be the right fit for what you're trying to do. [Specific reason]. I'd rather tell you that now than send you a proposal you're going to be frustrated with. If [specific situation changes], I'd love to revisit. Here's a recommendation for what I'd actually do in your shoes."

Prospects remember this. Many come back six months later. Some refer others. None do that for the rep who tried to force a bad-fit deal.

The handoff to proposal

A completed discovery in the wizard produces:

A structured D data object with every captured field
A pricing calculation across all relevant service lines
An AI-generated executive summary in proposal-ready prose
A captured set of signals (technology flags, billing issues, consulting needs)

That output goes to the CRM as a discoveries record linked to a contact and organization. From there, the proposal is largely a matter of confirming the AI summary, attaching the formal pricing exhibit, and sending. Reps who run good discoveries spend 15–20 minutes turning a wizard output into a sent proposal. Reps who run sloppy discoveries spend hours rewriting summaries, reverse-engineering pricing, and following up on missing information.

The wizard pays you back in proportion to how seriously you take the questions.