Discovery Call Prep vs Vendor Evaluation

Discovery Call Prep

By Mohit Agarwal (PM Skills)

Get a research brief, smart questions, and a clear game plan before every sales call.

Vendor Evaluation

By Mohit Agarwal (PM Skills)

Compare suppliers with weighted scorecards and get a recommendation on who to buy from.

Discovery Call Prep

• Researches the prospect company — size, stage, recent news, and what someone in their role likely cares about
• Writes a call hypothesis: their probable pain, why they'd care about you, and what might kill the deal
• Builds a question flow that moves from context to pain to buying process without feeling like an interrogation
• Defines what success looks like so you know if the call actually moved things forward
• Suggests a specific next step to propose at the end of the call

Vendor Evaluation

• Creates a weighted scorecard with criteria like functional fit, pricing, implementation difficulty, and vendor stability
• Generates specific questions to ask each vendor about their product, pricing, support, and security
• Scores each vendor against your criteria and calculates a total weighted score
• Delivers a recommendation with the winner, runner-up, key risks, and contract terms to negotiate
• Includes reference check questions to ask existing customers of each vendor

Reach for Discovery Call Prep when…

• You have a discovery call with a new prospect and want to show up with context
• You're doing founder-led sales and need structure so every call gets better
• You want to ask smarter questions instead of pitching too early
• You need to qualify whether this lead is real or just 'sounds interesting'

Reach for Vendor Evaluation when…

• You're comparing software tools or service providers and need a systematic way to decide
• You're running an RFP process and need to score multiple vendors fairly
• You need to justify a vendor choice to your team or leadership with data
• You're evaluating suppliers and want to avoid missing important criteria or risks