Pre-Call Research Checklist

Build a focused research checklist that prepares reps for relevant, informed, and efficient sales calls.

Sales - Discovery - Pre-Call Research Checklist

Who it's for

SDRs, Sales reps, Account executives, Founders, Sales managers

Get Ready

Prepare the Required Inputs listed in the Workflow Prompt. Use as much detail as necessary.

How to use this prompt

1. Copy the Workflow Prompt.
2. Paste it into your AI tool.
3. Replace the "Required Inputs"
4. Run the prompt.

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Workflow Prompt

				
					You are a sales preparation specialist. Your task is to create a pre-call research checklist that helps a seller prepare for a specific prospect conversation without wasting time on unnecessary research.

### Required Input
- Prospect Company: [Company name and website if available]
- Buyer Role: [Person or role you are speaking with, e.g. VP Finance]
- Offer: [What you sell and the outcome it supports]
- Call Type: [Cold call, discovery call, demo prep, renewal, expansion, executive meeting]
- Call Goal: [What the seller needs to accomplish, e.g. qualify need, book demo, confirm stakeholders]
- Known Context: [Any prior interaction, trigger, referral, inbound form, campaign, or notes]
- Time Available for Research: [e.g. 10 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour]

### Input Validation
Review all inputs before creating the checklist. If the buyer role, offer, call type, call goal, or known context is missing or unclear, ask specific clarification questions. Pause and wait for clarification before producing the final checklist.

### Instructions
Create a focused checklist that prioritises research likely to improve the conversation. Do not suggest paid tools or gated databases. Use publicly available information and the seller's existing notes only.

Tailor the checklist to the call type and time available. A 10-minute checklist should focus on the highest-value signals. A longer checklist may include deeper company, role, trigger, and stakeholder research.

Include what the seller should look for, why it matters, and how to use it in the call. Avoid research for its own sake. Every item should connect to a better opening, sharper discovery question, stronger relevance statement, or clearer next step.

Cover company context, buyer role priorities, possible triggers, current initiatives, recent changes, likely pains, competitive or alternative approaches, and conversation risks. Include a section for what not to over-research.

End with a concise call prep brief the seller can read two minutes before the call.

### Output
Provide the checklist in this format:

1. Research Priorities Based on Call Goal
2. Fast Checklist for the Available Time
3. Company Research Items
4. Buyer Role Research Items
5. Trigger and Timing Signals
6. Possible Pain Hypotheses
7. Tailored Opening Angle
8. Discovery Questions Informed by Research
9. Risks or Assumptions to Avoid
10. Two-Minute Pre-Call Brief

Optional advanced instructions

				
					Create a 10-minute express version for high-volume outbound calling.

Example output

1. Research Priorities Based on Call Goal

Prospect Company: LumaDesk, a SaaS helpdesk platform for small ecommerce brands

Buyer Role: VP Customer Success

Offer: Customer health scoring and renewal risk analytics platform

The seller should prioritise research that helps open the conversation around retention, customer success scale, renewal forecasting, and account risk visibility.

2. Fast Checklist for the Available Time

First 10 minutes: Review company website, recent resources, and buyer LinkedIn profile.
Next 10 minutes: Scan job postings, growth announcements, and customer reviews.
Final 10 minutes: Convert research into three pain hypotheses, three discovery questions, and one tailored opening.

3. Company Research Items

Product and market: Understand whether LumaDesk sells to SMB, mid-market, or enterprise ecommerce teams.
Pricing model: Look for self-serve, usage-based, or contract-based pricing.
Customer lifecycle: Identify whether onboarding, adoption, support usage, or renewals are highlighted.
Public growth signals: Funding, hiring, new markets, or launches may indicate pressure to retain customers while scaling.
Customer proof: Case studies may reveal outcomes LumaDesk promises.

4. Buyer Role Research Items

VP Customer Success tenure and likely mandate.
Prior company experience and whether they have scaled CS before.
Public posts or interviews on churn, outcomes, or retention operations.
Reporting line, if visible, to validate decision dynamics.

5. Trigger and Timing Signals

Guide download on reducing silent churn suggests active interest.
Response to renewal forecasting message suggests possible concern around prediction accuracy.
CS Ops or data hiring would suggest a current initiative.
Recent growth or funding would increase the need for scalable retention processes.
A new VP Customer Success could create a leadership-change trigger.

6. Possible Pain Hypotheses

Account health scoring may be subjective or inconsistent.
Renewal risk may be identified too late.
Customer data may be spread across product usage, support, CRM, and CSM notes.
Leadership may lack confidence in churn forecasts.
CSMs may spend too much time manually preparing account reviews.
The team may lack playbooks tied to risk signals.

7. Tailored Opening Angle

“I saw you downloaded our guide on silent churn and replied to the note about renewal forecasting. Rather than assume the issue is churn itself, I’d like to understand how LumaDesk currently identifies risk before renewal conversations and where visibility is strong or weak today.”

8. Discovery Questions Informed by Research

What prompted the interest in silent churn now?
How does your team currently define a healthy versus at-risk customer?
Which customer signals do CSMs trust most?
Where does renewal risk usually become visible too late?
How confident is leadership in the current renewal forecast?
What data sources do CSMs need to check before deciding whether an account needs attention?
What would need to improve for a health scoring initiative to be worth prioritising this quarter?
If this is a fit, who else would need to weigh in?

9. Risks or Assumptions to Avoid

Do not assume they have a churn problem.
Do not assume the VP owns budget without confirming the approval path.
Do not over-index on product usage data if churn drivers are commercial or relationship-based.
Do not pitch a generic dashboard before understanding who acts on the signals.
Do not spend time researching every competitor unless competitive replacement is confirmed.

10. Two-Minute Pre-Call Brief

LumaDesk is a SaaS company serving ecommerce support teams. The VP Customer Success engaged with content about silent churn and renewal forecasting, which suggests potential interest in earlier risk detection and more reliable account health visibility. The call should focus on how they identify risk, what data they trust, where intervention happens too late, and whether improving renewal forecast confidence is a current priority.

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