Two weeks ago, I had the privilege of attending Mike Weinberg’s Supercharge Your Sales Leadership event in Atlanta alongside some of my clients.
First, it was an absolute pleasure to see my friend and mentor Mike in person again, and an honor to spend over eight hours learning from him. The day was packed with incredible discussions, takeaways, and reinforcement of a core belief at Vendi: Enhancing Visibility + Prioritizing Accountability = More Sales. This isn’t just theory—it’s a formula that works.
Sales Leaders’ Two Most Important Jobs
At the event, we focused on what Mike calls the two most important jobs of a Sales Leader:
- The 1:1 Accountability Meeting (Prioritizing Accountability)
- On-the-Job Coaching (Enhancing Visibility)
During the coaching discussions, we zoomed in on the significance of having a strong sales process and the impact of pre and post-call planning templates. From my experience coaching Sales Leaders, I know that too few leaders spend time coaching their reps in the field—and even fewer use a structured pre and post-call planning process.
Essential Pre-Call Planning Questions
At the event, we participated in an exercise where each table had to contribute two Pre-Call Planning Template questions without repeating previous answers. I loved the variety of questions and perspectives that came out of it, and I wanted to share them with you:
- Do we know what we are trying to solve?
- What information are we lacking?
- What do you need from leadership to win?
- What is the “frame” for this call?
- Have we checked all the requirements from our last call with this client?
- What is our “half-talk” plan? (2 ears, 1 mouth)
- Is your technology & collateral ready?
- What potential issues could derail us?
- Why did they take this meeting?
- Are our roles defined? (Who speaks when, who asks what, who closes?)
- Who will attend this call?
- What unique perspective can we bring to this meeting?
- What existing customers look like them?
- How much research have we done, and what did we find?
- What biases are in place?
- Have we made a pre-call with the champion of this deal? What did we learn?
- What’s the cost of the problem we can solve? Is there an ROI?
- What questions can we ask to draw out the cost of this problem?
Elevate Your Sales Leadership
If you’re serious about leading your team effectively, start by prioritizing the 1:1 Accountability Meeting and spending more time selling and coaching your reps. Use these pre-call planning questions to refine your team’s approach and improve sales outcomes.
On June 3rd, 2025, another group is attending Mike Weinberg’s Supercharge Your Sales Leadership event. If you’d like to join the Vendi crowd, reach out to kjager@vendiconsult.com or find more details at Mike Weinberg’s event page.
Cheers,
Kyle Jager
