How to prep for a sales call with AI

Steps

1. 1

   Minute 1: grab the facts.

   Copy the company's About page or LinkedIn summary, the person's title, and your CRM notes. Paste them into one chat.

2. 2

   Minute 2: ask for the brief.

   Use the first prompt below. Tell the AI to say "not sure" when it does not know, so it does not guess.

3. 3

   Minute 3: get your questions.

   Ask for open questions tied to their world, not a list of 20 generic ones.

4. 4

   Minute 4: get ready for pushback.

   Ask what they are likely to say no to and a short, honest answer for each.

5. 5

   Minute 5: set your goal.

   Write one line: "By the end of this call I want [a next meeting / their budget / who else decides]." Keep it on a sticky note or the top of your screen.

Prompts you can copy

The one page call brief

You are helping me prep for a sales call in 5 minutes.

About the company (pasted from their site or LinkedIn):
[paste]

About the person: [name, title, how long in the role if known]
My notes from past calls or emails: [paste or write "none"]
What I sell: [one line]

Give me a brief under 200 words with these parts:
1. What the company does, in one sentence.
2. Three problems someone in this role at this kind of company often has that my offer could help with.
3. Anything in my notes I should bring up.
If you are not sure about something, say "not sure" instead of guessing.

Questions that get them talking

I have a discovery call with a [title] at a [type of company, size].
I sell [what you sell].

Write 5 open questions I can ask. Each one should be about their day, their numbers or their plans, not about my product. Use plain spoken words, under 15 words each. Then give one follow up question for each, to dig deeper when they answer.

Objections to expect

I am about to call [title] at [company type] about [what you sell].
Here is what I know: [notes]

List the 3 most likely reasons they will push back. For each, give a short honest reply I can say out loud in under 25 words, and one question to keep the talk going. No pushy lines. No made up numbers.

Example

This is a made-up example.

Input: "Regional food distributor, 40 trucks, family owned, third generation. Contact is Lisa, VP of Sales. My notes: she said last spring they lost two big restaurant accounts to a national player. I sell route planning software."

A good brief would say: the company delivers food to restaurants across a region with its own fleet. Lisa likely cares about keeping big accounts, delivery windows and driver costs. Bring up the two accounts lost last spring and ask what changed since. Questions might be "What did those two accounts tell you when they left?" and "How do you decide which stops get the early windows?" A likely objection: "We just redid our routes last year." Reply: "Makes sense. What would have to be true for you to look again?"

Tips

• Paste the source text. If you only type the company name, the AI may mix them up with another company of the same name.
• If your AI tool can search the web, ask it to give links for any facts so you can check them.
• Save your best prep prompt in a note so it is one paste every time.
• After the call, use AI to clean up your notes. See call notes.

What not to do

• Do not read the AI brief out loud on the call. It is for you, not them.
• Do not trust a fact you cannot check. If the AI says they just raised money or opened a plant, confirm it first.
• Do not prep for 30 minutes. Five focused minutes and a clear goal beats an hour of reading.

FAQ

What should I paste in if I know almost nothing?

Paste the company's About page and the person's title. That is enough for a basic brief and good questions. Your notes after the call make the next prep better.

Can AI find information about the person for me?

Some tools can search the web on some plans, and Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini all have search options. Always check what they find, because people with the same name get mixed up.

Is a 5 minute prep really enough?

For most first calls, yes. You want to sound like you did your homework and have good questions. Bigger deals deserve more, but the same prompts work, you just paste in more.

Where can I find more discovery questions?

Look at our discovery call guide and the account executive prompts.

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First posted October 28, 2026. Last updated October 28, 2026. Free to copy and use, CC BY 4.0.