Pre-call plan

A pre-call plan sets out what the account executive and sales engineer need to establish in their first customer meeting. Work backwards from what the meeting needs to establish, and agree that before deciding what to show.

Ask for these inputs

1. The customer, who asked for the meeting and what the request said.
2. Who will attend from the customer and from the selling team.
3. What the account executive already knows from earlier contact: outcomes, infrastructure and challenges uncovered so far.
4. Public material the team has read, such as the customer's annual report or financial statements, which can help identify the goals behind a purchase.
5. Any example or demo the team is thinking of showing.

Step 1: Set the meeting outcomes

Put these at the top of the plan. A first meeting should leave the team with:

• the problem in the customer's words,
• a possible champion to investigate,
• an agreed next step.

A demo booking alone does not tell you which business problem matters or who would help pursue a change.

Step 2: Fill three rows

The rows follow the three puzzles in every deal:

• Technical: does the product fit this customer's needs and environment, and where does it differ from the alternatives? The sales engineer leads this row.
• Business value: what is the change worth to their business, and which outcomes would the economic buyer commit to?
• Qualification: who decides, how and by when, and who inside the customer carries the deal?

The sales engineer shares the business value and qualification rows with the account executive. Agree who leads each shared row for this meeting.

For each row, write:

• what you know, and where it comes from,
• what you assume,
• a question that could confirm or change each assumption,
• who will ask it.

Keep evidence and assumptions in separate columns. In the business value row, make sure the sales engineer asks what the technical problem costs the customer today, or what it holds up. Without that question, the meeting can collect requirements and leave the business consequence vague. The sales engineer needs the account executive's prior knowledge to prepare it.

Step 3: Decide what to show, and under what condition

Prepare one short example. Write in the plan which customer problem would make it useful. Decide whether to show it only after hearing the customer's problem. If the conversation goes another way, keep asking questions. Ask about the business before showing the product, then explain and demonstrate the parts that answer what you heard. If a relevant demonstration needs more preparation, propose a separate session.

Output template

Meeting outcomes: problem in their words / possible champion / agreed next step. What to show: one example, and the condition for showing it.

Example, for an invented insurer asking about software that reads and routes incoming documents:

Review before the meeting

Check that each row has a lead, that each assumption has a question and someone responsible for asking it, and that the condition for showing an example is written down. Tom Mills's pre-call template suggests an internal alignment call with both sellers, which is a good place to run this review.

Review after the meeting

Beside each assumption, write what the customer said: confirmed, changed or still open. The plan for the next meeting starts from what is still open. Both sellers leave with their next steps.

Checks

• An assumption with no question, or a question with no owner, is a gap.
• A row with no source column filled is all assumption.
• A plan whose main outcome is "book a demo" has skipped the problem and the champion.
• A business value row with no cost or consequence question can collect requirements and leave the business consequence vague.

A browser version of the same plan, for people without an agent: Pre-call plan template.

Based on: Pre-call planning for a first enterprise software meeting