# Plan a Sales Discovery Call With Questions That Qualify

> Build a 30-minute discovery call plan: hypotheses to test, staged open questions, follow-ups for vague answers and signals to disqualify.

- **Author:** [Mateo Gonzalez (@mateo_gonzalez)](https://promptabide.com/mateo_gonzalez)
- **Tested on:** Claude · Opus 5.5
- **You fill in:** `product`, `prospect`, `known`
- **Published:** 2026-08-15
- **Updated:** 2026-09-24
- **Tags:** `sales`, `startups`, `meetings`
- **Keywords:** sales discovery call questions, b2b discovery call template, questions to qualify a sales lead, discovery call script for founders, how to run a discovery call
- **Views:** 1277
- **Likes:** 24

**Best for:** Founders doing their own sales and newer B2B reps who want to run discovery calls that qualify properly instead of turning into demos.

## Prompt

```
Build me a question plan for a 30-minute discovery call. I want to understand the prospect's problem well enough to decide honestly whether we're a fit, not to pitch.

What we sell: {{product}}
Prospect: {{prospect}}
What I already know about them: {{known}}

Give me:
1. Three hypotheses about their situation, each with the question that would confirm or kill it.
2. The question plan in 4 stages: current situation, the problem and its cost, how they'd decide, next steps. Use 3 open questions per stage and mark the one per stage I must not skip.
3. For the 3 most important questions, a likely vague answer and a follow-up that gets to specifics (numbers, names, dates).
4. Two disqualifying signals: answers that mean I should say we're not the right fit.
5. A one-sentence opening that sets the agenda and asks permission to ask questions.

Avoid leading questions ("Wouldn't it be great if..."), yes/no questions, and anything I could have found on their website.
```

## Variables

- `{{product}}` — What you sell, the main outcome, and the price (e.g. Rotaflow: rota and timesheet software for multi-site care homes, £6/staff/month)
- `{{prospect}}` — Who you're meeting: role, company and size (e.g. Operations director at a group of 7 care homes, about 420 staff)
- `{{known}}` — What you already know from research or earlier contact (e.g. Came from our agency-spend webinar, uses spreadsheets, hires a rota coordinator per home)

## Example input

```
product: Rotaflow - staff scheduling and timesheet software for multi-site care homes. It builds rotas that meet staffing ratios and flags agency-staff overspend. £6 per staff member per month.
prospect: Operations director at a group of 7 residential care homes in the Midlands, about 420 staff.
known: They booked the call after our webinar on agency spend. Their job ads show a "rota coordinator" at each home. In the webinar chat they said they use spreadsheets plus a separate payroll provider.
```

## Output

*Produced by Claude · Opus 5.5.*

```
**Opening line**
"I've blocked 30 minutes. I'd like to spend most of it understanding how rotas and agency cover work across your seven homes, and at the end we can decide together whether a demo is worth your time. OK if I start with some questions?"

**Hypotheses**
1. *Agency spend is their biggest pain, and it comes from late gaps in rotas.* Ask: "When you use agency staff, how far in advance do you usually know you'll need them?"
2. *Each home builds its rota differently, so head office has no single view.* Ask: "How do you see staffing across all seven homes today?"
3. *Payroll errors from spreadsheet timesheets cost more time than rota building.* Ask: "Walk me through what happens between a shift ending and that person being paid."

**Question plan** (* = don't skip)

*Current situation*
- *Walk me through how next week's rota gets built at one home, start to finish.
- What does each rota coordinator spend most of their week on?
- Where do the seven homes do things differently?

*Problem and cost*
- *What did agency staff cost across the group last quarter, and what was the target?
- When a rota falls short of the required staffing, who finds out, and when?
- What have you already tried to bring agency spend down?

*Decision*
- *If you changed how rotas work, who else would need to agree, and who signs off the budget?
- How have you bought software for the group before?
- What would make this a priority this year rather than next?

*Next steps*
- *What would you need to see in a demo to know whether this fits?
- Who should be in that demo?
- What timing works around your inspection or budget cycle?

**Follow-ups for vague answers**
- Agency cost: "Quite a lot." Follow-up: "Roughly, per home per month? Even a range helps."
- Rota process: "It works, mostly." Follow-up: "When did it last go wrong, and what happened?"
- Decision: "I'd make the call." Follow-up: "Has finance ever blocked something you approved? What happened?"

**Disqualifying signals**
1. Agency spend is under control and falling. At £6 x 420, about £2,500 a month, you'd have little to save them.
2. They're locked into a group-wide workforce system through a contract that won't be renewed for 2 or more years.
```

## Why it works

Starting with **three hypotheses** makes the call a test, not a script: each question has a job. The **"must not skip" marker** protects the questions reps drop when time runs short, usually cost and decision process. **Vague answer plus follow-up** pairs prepare you for "it's a bit of a problem" and push towards numbers you can build a case on. **Disqualifying signals** give you permission to walk away early, which saves both sides time. The ban on website-findable questions stops you wasting the prospect's time.

## When not to use it

Less useful for simple, low-price sales where a self-serve trial answers the questions. It's also not a substitute for knowing your product's limits: if you can't tell a good fit from a bad one yourself, the disqualifiers here are guesses. For complex enterprise deals with many stakeholders, you'll need a plan for each person.

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