Discovery call prep Claude skill

Use this before every first call. Good discovery is the cheapest way to win deals and the fastest way to disqualify bad ones.

Inputs

• Prospect, company and anyone else attending.
• How the meeting was booked and what they said they want.
• Product, ideal customer and what a good next step looks like (demo, technical call, trial, proposal).

The play

1. Form a hypothesis

From research, write: "I think <company> struggles with <problem> because <evidence>, which costs them <impact>." The call tests the hypothesis; it does not pitch it.

2. Set the agenda up front

"I’d like to spend most of the time on how <area> runs today and what you’d want to change. If it looks like a fit, I’ll show you the relevant part. And if it doesn’t, I’ll tell you. Sound good? Anything to add?"

3. Ask in layers

1. Situation: how it works today, who is involved, what tools.
2. Problem: where it breaks, how often, what they have tried.
3. Impact: what it costs in time, money, risk, missed targets; who feels it.
4. Priority: why now, what happens if nothing changes, other priorities competing.
5. Decision: who decides, how they buy, budget timing, what they need to see.

Read references/discovery-questions.md for the full bank with follow-ups and the qualification checklist.

4. Prepare for the likely objections

Pick the two most likely given their situation and have one question and one proof ready for each.

5. Plan the close of the call

The next step is concrete, dated and agreed before hanging up: "Let’s book the technical review with your RevOps lead for Thursday; I’ll send the invite now."

Call plan format

Who: <attendees + roles>     Booked via: <how>    Goal of call: <next step wanted>
Hypothesis: <problem - evidence - impact>
Agenda: <3 lines>
Top questions: <8-10, by layer>
Qualification to confirm: problem, impact, priority, decision process, budget timing
Likely objections → question + proof
Next step to ask for: <specific>

What good looks like

• The prospect talks 60-70% of the time.
• Impact is quantified in their words before any demo.
• The call ends with a dated next step or a clear disqualification.
• The common mistake is turning discovery into a demo in minute five because the prospect said "so what do you do?".

Rules

• MUST end the call with a specific next step or an honest no.
• MUST capture the buyer’s words for problem and impact.
• NEVER demo before understanding the problem, unless they insist; then demo only the relevant part.
• NEVER assume budget or authority without asking.

Example prompts

• "Prep me for a discovery call tomorrow with the Head of Ops at Northwind. Research below."
• "Give me 15 discovery questions for selling to CFOs."
• "Make a post-call notes template that maps to our qualification checklist."

Situation

• Walk me through how <process> works today, from start to finish.
• Who is involved, and who owns it?
• What tools or spreadsheets does it run on?
• How many <units: reps, locations, invoices> are we talking about?

Problem

• Where does it break or slow down?
• How often does that happen?
• What have you tried to fix it? What happened?
• If you could change one thing about it tomorrow, what would it be?

Impact

• What does that cost you, in hours a week or month?
• What happens downstream when it goes wrong? Who notices?
• Is it affecting a target you or your team are measured on?
• Roughly what is that worth per year?

Priority

• Why is this on your list now rather than last year?
• What happens if nothing changes in the next six months?
• Where does this rank against your other priorities this quarter?

Decision

• If you decided to fix this, how would that decision get made?
• Who else would need to be involved or comfortable with it?
• Is there a budget cycle or timing we should know about?
• What would you need to see to be confident?
• Have you bought something like this before? How did that go?

Follow-up prompts (use often)

• "Tell me more about that."
• "What do you mean by <their word>?"
• "Can you give me an example from last month?"
• "How do you know?"
• "And what happened then?"

Qualification checklist

Three or fewer confirmed: early-stage, nurture or a smaller next step. Five or six: progress to evaluation.

Post-call notes template

Attendees:
Problem (their words):
Impact (number):
Priority / why now:
Decision process + people:
Budget timing:
Objections raised:
Next step (date, owner):
My read: progress / nurture / disqualify, and why