stephenrogan/pre-call-prep

Pre-Call Prep

Builds a structured brief for any customer call. The 10 minutes you spend preparing determine whether the call advances the relationship or wastes everyone's time.

How to Use

Provide whatever you know:

• Account name, ARR, health status
• Call type (check-in, QBR, escalation, renewal, first meeting, ad hoc)
• Who is attending (customer contacts and internal team)
• Last touchpoint (what was discussed, any open items)
• Current account situation (health, usage, engagement, open issues)
• What you want to accomplish (the objective of this specific call)
• Anything you are worried about (risk signals, difficult topics, relationship concerns)

The 5-Minute Brief

For routine calls, the skill produces a 5-minute brief:

## Pre-Call Brief: [Account Name]
**Date:** [date] | **Type:** [type] | **Duration:** [expected]

### Call Objective
[One sentence: what does success look like when this call ends?]

### Context (30-Second Refresh)
[Account name] | EUR [ARR] | [Health] | [Renewal: date]
Last touch: [date, what happened]
Open items: [any commitments pending from either side]

### Talking Points (In Priority Order)
1. [Most important topic -- the one you must cover even if the call runs short]
2. [Second priority]
3. [Third priority -- cover if time allows]

### Questions to Ask
- [Question 1 -- genuine information-gathering, not leading]
- [Question 2]

### Watch For
- [Signal to listen for -- competitive mention, sentiment shift, new information]

### Do Not Forget
- [Open item to close, commitment to confirm, or follow-up to mention]

Prep by Call Type

Check-In Call

| Element | Content | |---------|---------| | Objective | Maintain the relationship. Surface any changes. Offer value | | Lead with | Something specific to their account (usage observation, upcoming event, open item status) | | Ask about | Their priorities this quarter, any changes, any concerns | | Avoid | Running through a generic checklist. If you have nothing specific, reconsider whether this call should happen |

QBR / Business Review

| Element | Content | |---------|---------| | Objective | Demonstrate value. Align on direction. Identify expansion or risk | | Lead with | Value evidence (the headline number they should take away) | | Prepare | Deck or data (from qbr-content-assembler), discussion questions, strategic recommendation | | Avoid | Data dump without narrative. QBR is a conversation, not a presentation |

Escalation / Issue Review

| Element | Content | |---------|---------| | Objective | Show accountability. Provide an update. Confirm resolution path | | Lead with | The update -- what has been done since the last conversation. Do not make them ask | | Prepare | Timeline, resolution status, next steps, any asks of the customer | | Avoid | Defensive language. Do not explain why the issue is hard. Explain what is being done |

Renewal Conversation

| Element | Content | |---------|---------| | Objective | Confirm value. Initiate the commercial conversation. Understand their position | | Lead with | Value delivered (use the value-narrative-builder output) | | Prepare | Renewal pricing, objection responses (from pricing-conversation-framework), competitive readiness | | Avoid | Jumping to the commercial discussion before establishing value. Value first, then pricing |

First Meeting with New Contact

| Element | Content | |---------|---------| | Objective | Build the relationship. Understand their priorities. Establish credibility | | Lead with | A brief introduction and a genuine question about their priorities | | Prepare | Research on their role and likely concerns (from stakeholder-research-prep) | | Avoid | Presenting. First meetings should be 70% listening, 30% responding |

The Call Objective Test

Before every call, write one sentence: "This call is successful if [specific outcome]."

| Good Objectives | Bad Objectives | |----------------|---------------| | "Confirm Tom supports the renewal and identify any blockers" | "Discuss the renewal" | | "Understand Lisa's priorities for Q2 and identify one way our product supports them" | "Check in with Lisa" | | "Get agreement to schedule a QBR for April" | "Talk about doing a QBR" | | "Confirm the escalation is resolved from the customer's perspective" | "Follow up on the issue" |

If you cannot write a specific objective, either (a) you need more preparation or (b) the call does not need to happen.

Output

The skill produces:

• The structured brief (5-minute or full depending on call complexity)
• The call objective (one sentence)
• Talking points in priority order (most important first)
• Questions to ask (genuine, not leading)
• Signals to watch for (competitive, sentiment, political)
• Post-call actions to plan (follow-up email, CRM update, internal debrief if warranted)

Quality Gates

• Does the brief have a clear objective? Not a topic -- an objective with a definition of success
• Are the talking points prioritised? If the call runs short, will you have covered the most important item?
• Is there at least one genuine question? A call where you only talk and never ask is a presentation, not a conversation
• Are open items from the last touchpoint addressed? Walking into a call without knowing what was promised last time is a credibility failure
• Can you complete this prep in under 10 minutes? If the prep is longer than the call, the tool is not working

Principles

• Preparation is respect for the customer's time. Walking into a call unprepared wastes 30 minutes of their day. 10 minutes of preparation creates 30 minutes of value
• The objective is the anchor. If the conversation drifts, the objective brings it back. If the customer takes the conversation in a new direction, the objective helps you assess whether that direction is more valuable than what you planned
• Priority order saves bad calls. If the internet drops at minute 15, you have covered the most important topic. If the customer takes the call in a different direction, you covered the critical item before the drift
• The best calls feel like a conversation, not a checklist. The prep provides structure. Your skill as a CSM provides the responsiveness, empathy, and judgment that make the conversation valuable