Actors rely on scripts to perform in their role. Attorneys spend many hours preparing witnesses and developing their questions before they take the floor.
Countless professional roles require preparation for success.
So why don’t most plan for their meetings and just “wing it?”
We’re all very busy, but the reality is preparing for a call isn’t a big production.
What you need is a consistent plan that works.
Using a call plan and a call script is a simple way to reduce stress and get results.
In this guide, we’ll outline the steps to prepare for every call that goes beyond “checking boxes.”
This is not your “standard” discovery call guide.
We specialize in building Winning Relationships®, so we’ll focus on simple tips you can use to open up your calls and communicate in a way that builds trust for a successful partnership.
If you want to make a great first impression, improve “meeting anxiety,” or simply have more effective meetings, this guide is for you!
Our students are always surprised by the significant shift in their meetings just from using these 2 templates. Many have been in their role for decades, yet never learned how to prepare.
Little wonder why they didn’t have effective meetings—they show up rushed like everyone else.
It’s very common! Many business development and sales professionals rush from meeting to meeting, never truly connecting or going beyond surface-level conversations.
Worse, many sales reps and sales teams will launch into a sales pitch of their current solutions, before they understand their challenges or even decision criteria!
The problem: The prospect can tell, and it feels like you’re wasting their time.
In fact, while 42% of sales and business development professionals feel unprepared before calls¹, a whopping 82% of decision-makers feel that salespeople are not prepared for their calls²!
Those statistics are very telling.
Even if you spend just a few more minutes preparing for your call, you’ll see a significant change because you’ll immediately stand out from everyone else.
Being prepared for your call immediately lets the potential client know you’re not going to waste their time and you’re there to provide value.
Would you want to dive deep into your challenges with someone who clearly didn’t prepare to speak with you? Or would you quickly try to get back to your daily tasks?
When you’re prepared, you’ll find customers and prospects to be much more engaged.
For every sales and business development call, you’ll want to use 2 templates:
- 1. Call Plan
- The goal of your call
- The purpose of your call
- Customer personnel & key relationships
- Questions they might ask
- 2. Call Script
- Purpose statement
- Permission to ask questions
- 5-7 Discovery questions to ask
It may seem like a lot to prepare, but this shouldn’t take more than 10-15 minutes.
Watch this video to learn how to use these scripts in your meeting:
Now, let’s cover how to do this well and show a few examples you can use in your current process.
Let’s walk through the first template you’ll want to add to your sales process—your call plan.
In your call plan, you’ll address 4 main areas:
- Goal(s) of the Call
- Purpose of the Call
- Customer Personnel & Key Relationships
- Questions They Might Ask
Watch the video below to learn more about the call plan:
Let’s walk through the 4 sections:
Up first: the goal(s) of the call.
You should have already identified and prioritized the customer intelligence you need to gather for this call. For each of those missing “pieces,” you’ll want to include those here in the goals of your call and include a question to gather it so you can gain valuable insights into their business challenges.
Next, your purpose. Here is where you place your purpose statement.
As this becomes second nature to you, you’ll only reference your purpose statement here.
Next, you’ll outline customer personnel and key relationships.
This is where you place associated stakeholders or decision makers, their anticipated needs and intelligence you’ll want to gather for an effective discovery.
Doing this will help you understand the landscape and adjust your assumptions as necessary.
Finally, you’ll want to include questions they might ask.
This helps you anticipate topics that might rise in the conversation.
For each call, you’ll want to prepare 5-10 meaningful questions.
That’s not so hard, right?
Now that we’ve covered the call plan template, let’s move on to the next!
Have you ever felt anxious meeting a new prospect or customer?
Whether it’s a video call or a simply a coffee break, meeting anyone for the first time and stepping outside of your comfort zone can be exciting.
But sometimes, that excitement can shift into a feeling as uneasiness as you wait for them to join—even if you’re a seasoned professional.
But two simple statements at the beginning of your call can quickly put everyone at ease.
And it only takes seconds to do this right.
It’s a very simple way to create a great first impression and build trust, letting them know you’re not going to waste time like everyone else.
We call it “purpose and permission” and you use it at the beginning of every call.
And it’s the first 2 items you’ll outline in your call script.
Here’s an example of what this sounds like:
Watch this video to understand WHY this is best practice:
Let’s break down why this works to immediately build trust and put them at ease.
First, it’s focused on them.
When we’re communicating the goal for the call, we’re telling them what we’ll focus on. We’re sharing we’ll discuss their needs and only then decide if it makes sense to keep talking.
Next, we don’t assume they have any problems.
We’re there to discover if they have problems and until we find a problem, they don’t require a solution. Until you know what they are trying to solve, you have no idea if your solution can help. Forcing solution discussions at the beginning of a call will cause them to feel you don’t have their best interests at heart.
Finally, it ends with a question.
This stops the dead air situation where neither one knows who should talk next and is an easy way to gently move the conversation to your discovery questions you’ve prepared for the call.
Asking for permission is simply the polite thing to do, and manners are in short supply these days because people are more busy and self-focused than ever.
A graduate sent us this comment about their experience using this simple method:
“They smile, like I guess a feeling of a ‘nice’ surprise. (like if it was the 1st time they heard the question).”
Use this method today and see how your meetings shift!
In the next part of your call script, you’ll want to list questions to ask.
Have you ever struggled with what to say next or how to direct the call?
It can happen to all of us, especially when we’re not prepared.
Having a list of questions prepared ahead of time makes all the difference!
These questions could be connecting, discovery or solution questions.
When thinking through your questions, it’s important to understand the problems you solve.
Here’s a few examples of questions you can prepare:
When you ask discovery questions, it’s important to:
- Use open-ended questions. You’ll gain more insights and game-changing intel this way.
- Actively listen. Resist the temptation to think about what you’ll say next, or you’re likely to miss an important piece of intelligence. For some, it can help by repeating what they say in your own head as they say it, which can prevent internal chatter. Active listening is a skill that takes practice.
- Don’t launch into a barrage of questions. You don’t like to be interrogated, do you? Keep the conversation natural and light, not rushed. If your relevant questions are open-ended, you can allow the potential buyer to drive the flow of the conversation.
- Avoid leading questions. Don’t state your questions in such a way that it suggests a specific direction or answer. You want to use open-ended questions and your active listening skills.
- Ask follow-up questions, but “read the room.” If you find a thread that needs to be explored, ask further questions to dig deeper. If they are engaged, don’t take them off course just to “get all your questions in.” Watch their body language and tone for cues you’re on the right track. This is a two-way conversation, but remember: they should always be talking more than you.
And that’s it!
It’s really a quick exercise. The first time you fill this out, it may take a bit longer.
But as you become comfortable using the call plan and call script templates, you’ll find it will take you less and less time to prepare, and you’ll get better at anticipating questions and driving action.
And who knows, you might actually start to look forward to your meetings!
To recap, how you prepare for a sales opportunity and your sales process is critical to how potential customers will feel in your discovery call.
Most prospects are dealing with cold calls and sales conversations where it’s clear the sales rep didn’t conduct any pre-call research. Launching into a product demo with potential customers before you understand their business goals or potential pains creates an unsuccessful sales discovery process, and simply frustrates them.
When you show up prepared, you’ll be a breath of fresh air.
