Sales Call Prep

You make sure nobody walks into a sales call cold. The prep sheet fits on one page, can be read in three minutes, and is built around the one commitment the call should win. The standard: every fact is current and sourced, the questions are ones the research could not answer, and the sheet names the next step to ask for and the fallback if the answer is no.

When to use

• "Prep me for my 3pm with Northgate."
• "I'm cold calling these 15 people tomorrow; give me a script."
• "We're demoing to their CFO on Thursday."
• "Brief the team before the renewal call with Acme."
• A calendar event with an external attendee appears and the owner has asked for automatic prep (set with cronjob).

What you need

• The meeting: who, when, how it was booked, the invite text. From the owner's connected calendar (Google Calendar or Outlook), or ask.
• History: CRM record, email threads (connected mailbox), notes from earlier calls, session_search and memory.
• The account brief if one exists; otherwise do a Light account research pass first (company basics, one trigger, the attendees).
• The owner's offer, pricing guardrails and approved proof points (case studies, references) from memory or the owner.
• Call type: cold call, discovery, demo, follow-up or negotiation, executive meeting, renewal or QBR.

Method

1. Set one objective as a buyer commitment. "Have a good chat" is not an objective. Write what the buyer will have agreed to by the end, for example:
   • "Priya agrees to a technical review with her IT lead next week."
   • "The CFO confirms the budget range and the decision date." Then write a fallback commitment in case the main one is not possible.
2. Research attendees (about 5 minutes each):
   • current title and time in role, and what they own;
   • anything public and professional they have said recently;
   • their likely part in the deal: champion, economic buyer, evaluator, user or blocker. Mark anyone you could not confirm.
3. Summarise the context in five bullets: how we got here; what they told us before (their words); what we promised; open questions; what changed since the last contact (news, hiring, a support ticket if they are a customer).
4. Form a call hypothesis. One or two sentences on the problem you think matters most to them and why now, to test early in the call, not to pitch.
5. Draft the opening and an agenda the buyer agrees to (an upfront agreement on time, purpose, agenda and outcome):
   • Time: "We have 30 minutes; does that still work?"
   • Purpose and agenda: what you would like to cover, then ask what they want to add.
   • Outcome: "At the end, if it looks useful, we can agree a next step; if not, it's fine to say so." For a meeting that came from cold outreach, be open about that and ask what made them take the call.
6. Write the questions (8 to 12, ranked). Only ask what research could not tell you.
   • Order: situation (brief), problem, impact (cost, time, risk, in their numbers), what they have tried, desired outcome, how they would decide and who else is involved, timing and what drives it.
   • Use open wording ("Tell me about...", "How do you...", "What happens if...").
   • A bank by call type is in references/call-prep-sheet.md.
7. Plan the middle of the call by type.
   • Discovery: mostly questions. Ask permission before any pitch: "Based on what you've said, can I show you how we'd approach that?"
   • Demo: show only the 2 or 3 things tied to pains they named, in their workflow, with their terms. Plan the "what would you do with this?" moments in advance.
   • Executive: lead with their business outcome and a short, numbers-based case; 3 slides at most; ask for their view early.
   • Negotiation or renewal: see negotiation-prep or renewal-and-expansion; bring the approved limits only.
8. Prepare for the top 3 likely objections, each with a question to explore it and an honest answer with proof. Never prepare an answer that promises a feature, date or discount the owner has not approved.
9. Choose proof. One or two relevant, true, approved examples (same industry, size or problem). If none exist, prepare to say so honestly and offer a pilot or a reference call later.
10. Write the close.
    • The exact ask for the next step, with two proposed times from the owner's calendar, and the fallback.
    • "The hard question" before closing: "Does this sound like it solves the problem you described?" Then wait for the answer.
11. Cold calls get a separate short script (see the reference): a permission-based opener, the reason for calling tied to a trigger, one problem question, the meeting ask, a polite exit, and a 20-second voicemail.
    • Check calling rules first: UK numbers must be screened against TPS and CTPS unless you hold consent.
    • Check national do-not-call rules elsewhere with web_search.
12. Recording. If the owner records calls, remind them to tell participants and get consent where required. Rules differ by country and, in the US, by state; check before the call.
13. Deliver. Send the sheet to the owner (a show_card for a quick read, plus a saved doc), at least an hour before the call when possible. After the call, offer to write the recap and update the CRM.

When there are only 10 minutes

For back-to-back calls, cut to five lines and say that you did:

1. Objective and fallback.
2. Who is on the call and their role.
3. The last thing they told us, in their words.
4. The three best questions.
5. The exact next-step ask.

Output

A one-page prep sheet (template in references/call-prep-sheet.md):

• Objective and fallback commitment.
• Attendees with their role in the deal.
• Context in five bullets; the call hypothesis.
• Opening and agenda.
• Ranked questions.
• Top 3 objections with exploring question and answer.
• Proof points.
• The close: exact ask, proposed times, fallback.

For cold calls: the opener, voicemail and confirmation that numbers were screened.

Checks before you finish

• The objective is a buyer action, not a seller activity.
• No question asks for something the research already answers.
• Every proof point is real and approved; every claim is sourced.
• Names, titles and spellings are checked.
• Call-screening and recording rules are noted where relevant.
• It fits on one page.

Pitfalls

• The feature tour. A demo of everything shows nothing. Tie each thing you show to a pain they named.
• Interrogation. Twenty questions in a row feels like a form. Keep it a conversation: listen, reflect back, follow the thread.
• No ask. Calls that end with "I'll send some info" stall. Always ask for a dated next step.
• Pitching without permission. Earn the right with questions first, then ask before presenting.
• Old research. People change roles. Re-check attendees on the day.
• Faking an answer. If you do not know, say so and follow up with the answer. Credibility is the asset.

See also: account-research, discovery-qualification, sales-follow-up.