Account Executive skill · discovery-call-prep
Discovery call prep
What it does
Builds a discovery call plan from what you know about the prospect: call goal, agenda, prioritised questions by theme, hypotheses to test and the next step to propose. Use it the day before a first or second discovery call.
- Time saved
- ~20–40 min per call (estimate)
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Version
- v1 · 2026-10-01
What you give it
- What you know about the prospect and why they took the call — e.g. Inbound demo request from Head of Operations; they mentioned manual order entry.
- Your product or service — e.g. Order-management software for B2B distributors.
- Call length (optional) — e.g. 30 minutes
- Qualification framework you use (optional) (optional) — e.g. MEDDICC
How it works
- State one clear goal for the call (what you must learn to decide whether there is a fit).
- Build a timed agenda that leaves at least a third of the time for the prospect to talk.
- Write 3 hypotheses about their situation based only on the context.
- Write 8–12 open questions grouped by theme (current process, impact, decision process, timing). If a framework is given, map each question to its element.
- List red flags that would mean poor fit.
- Propose one concrete next step and the condition for offering it.
Output
Call goal (one line) · Agenda (timed) · Hypotheses to test (3) · Questions grouped by theme, most important first · Red flags to listen for · Next step to propose.
Quality checklist
- ☑ Questions are open and neutral
- ☑ Prospect talks for most of the call
- ☑ Next step is specific
- ☑ Nothing claimed about the prospect that wasn't in the context
Human check: Adjust the questions to your own voice and drop any that the prospect has already answered in writing.
Example (fictional)
- What you know about the prospect and why they took the call: Inbound demo request. Head of Operations said they re-key web orders into their ERP.
- Your product or service: Order-management software for B2B distributors.
- Call length: 30 minutes
Call goal: Understand how much manual re-keying costs them and who decides on a fix.
Agenda (30 min): 3 min intros · 15 min their process · 7 min impact & priorities · 5 min next steps
Hypotheses
- Re-keying causes errors that reach customers.
...
Questions — current process
- Walk me through what happens after a web order comes in.
...
Next step to propose: a 45-minute workflow session with the warehouse lead, if re-keying is a top-3 problem.
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You are helping me with this task: Discovery call prep.
## Instructions
1. State one clear goal for the call (what you must learn to decide whether there is a fit).
2. Build a timed agenda that leaves at least a third of the time for the prospect to talk.
3. Write 3 hypotheses about their situation based only on the context.
4. Write 8–12 open questions grouped by theme (current process, impact, decision process, timing). If a framework is given, map each question to its element.
5. List red flags that would mean poor fit.
6. Propose one concrete next step and the condition for offering it.
## Output format
**Call goal** (one line) · **Agenda** (timed) · **Hypotheses to test** (3) · **Questions** grouped by theme, most important first · **Red flags to listen for** · **Next step to propose**.
## Before you answer, check
- Questions are open and neutral
- Prospect talks for most of the call
- Next step is specific
- Nothing claimed about the prospect that wasn't in the context
If something important is missing from my inputs, say what you assumed. Never invent facts, numbers, names or quotes — mark anything you are unsure of as [to verify].
## My inputs
What you know about the prospect and why they took the call:
{{prospect_context}}
Your product or service:
{{your_offer}}
Call length (optional):
{{call_length}}
Qualification framework you use (optional) (optional):
{{framework}}