A sales call plan is one page you fill in before the call: who the person is, what you want from the call, three questions you will ask, the two objections you expect, and the next step you will propose. Ten minutes of prep is enough. Copy the template below, fill it in for your next call, and compare the call against it afterward.
This is the preparation sheet, which is a different thing from the minute-by-minute running order of the call itself. For the running order, see the 20-minute sales call agenda. The sheet here is what you fill in first, so the agenda has something to work with.
The template
1. Who
Name, role, company, size. What the company does in one line.
2. What I know
Two facts from their own website or recent news. How they found us, or how we found them.
3. Goal of this call
The one outcome that makes the call a success. Minimum acceptable outcome.
4. Three questions
Question about their situation. Question about what it costs them. Question about who else decides.
5. Likely objections
Objection one and my answer. Objection two and my answer.
6. Next step
The exact step I will propose, with a date.
7. After the call
Two lines of notes, the follow-up email, the date I will follow up.
A filled-in example
Say Nia sells scheduling software to physical therapy clinics. She has a call at 2 p.m. with Bruno Castellan, owner of a four-location clinic group in Tucson. Here is her page.
- Who: Bruno Castellan, owner. Four clinics, about 30 staff. Outpatient physical therapy.
- What I know: His site says new patients book by phone only. A job post for a front desk coordinator has been up for six weeks. He replied to my second email with "Not sure we need this, but ok to talk."
- Goal: Learn how bookings are handled today and get a 30-minute follow-up with his office manager present. Minimum: a clear picture of how many calls go unanswered.
- Questions: What happens when the front desk is busy and a new patient calls? How many new patients did you lose last month to a missed call, roughly? Who else would use this day to day?
- Objections: "We already have software" (ask which and what it does not do). "Too busy to switch" (offer a two-week trial in one clinic).
- Next step: Thursday 11:00 with Bruno and his office manager, 30 minutes, screen share.
Notice what is on the page and what is not. There is no pitch. Nia's page contains questions, one goal and one ask. The pitch can be improvised from what Bruno says, but the questions and the ask have to be planned or they vanish under pressure.
How to fill in each box
Who and what I know
Spend five of your ten minutes here. Read the company's own site, its job postings and any recent news. A job post tells you where the pain is, because companies hire for problems. Two facts is enough. Leave the page with one sentence you could say out loud, such as "I saw you are hiring a front desk coordinator."
Goal
Write one goal and one minimum. "Book a demo" is a goal. "Find out who decides and when" is a minimum. If you leave the call with the minimum, it was not wasted. Calls without a stated minimum drift into friendly chats that end with "send me something."
Three questions
One about the situation, one about cost, one about the decision. The cost question is the one people skip, and it is the one that makes the next step matter: "Roughly how many new patient calls go unanswered in a week?" Their number, in their words, does more than any feature list. Expect the answer to be an estimate, and write it down as given.
Objections
Write the two you hear most and a calm one-line answer for each. You are not writing a rebuttal to read aloud. You are making sure you are not surprised. When an objection arrives for which you have no answer, say so and promise a reply by a date.
Next step
Decide the exact ask before you dial: who, when, how long, which tool. "Let's keep in touch" is not a next step. "Thursday 11:00 with your office manager" is. If the person is lukewarm, pick the smaller step, such as an email with two numbers in it, and put a date on that too.
After the call
Fill in box 7 within ten minutes. Write down what they said in their own words, the date of the next step and the follow-up you promised. Then send the follow-up the same day. The wording for that email is in how to follow up after a meeting, and if the person asked about price, following up with a lead who asked for pricing covers it.
Common prep mistakes
- Spending the whole ten minutes on your slides and none on the person.
- Writing a goal that depends on them agreeing to buy.
- Skipping the cost question because it feels awkward.
- Not knowing who else decides. If it is one person, say so on the page. If you do not know, that is question three.
- Ending the call without a booked next step.
If the call is a repeat
For the second and third call, replace box 2 with "what changed since last time" and copy the previous goal into a new line: "Last call I promised X." Open with it. Returning to the thread signals you were listening.
Preparing like this for every call is the work a founder drops first when the week gets busy, and it is the reason hiring someone to sell is so tempting. Rocketship's AI salesperson does the equivalent before the first email, reading each buyer's own website so it never invents facts about them, then books the meeting on your calendar, so your prep goes into the calls that matter. Plans start at $12 a month.