Scenario 1: Cold Call to a VP of Marketing
Setup: You sell a marketing analytics platform. You're calling the VP of Marketing at a 200-person SaaS company.
Script:
'Hi Sarah, this is [Your Name] from [Company]. I noticed you're hiring two demand gen managers — looks like pipeline is a priority this quarter. We help marketing teams like yours track exactly which channels drive closed revenue, not just MQLs. Would it be worth 30 seconds to share how?'
If they say yes: Share a one-sentence case study, then ask a discovery question. 'One of our customers, a SaaS company your size, found that 40% of their attributed pipeline was coming from a channel they were about to cut. They course-corrected and grew pipeline 60% in one quarter. Out of curiosity — how are you currently measuring which channels actually drive revenue?'
If they say no/not interested: 'Totally understand, Sarah. Quick question before I go — is attribution something your team has figured out, or is it still a challenge? [pause]' This keeps the conversation alive without being pushy.
Scenario 2: Discovery Call
Setup: A prospect agreed to a 30-minute call. They're the Head of Sales at a mid-market company.
Framework (SPIN):
- Situation: 'Tell me about your current sales process. How does your team handle [relevant activity]?'
- Problem: 'What's the biggest challenge your team faces with [area]?'
- Implication: 'When that happens, how does it impact [revenue/team/metrics]?'
- Need-payoff: 'If you could solve that, what would it mean for your team?'
Scenario 3: Common Objections
'We don't have budget.'
'I hear you. Budget is always a consideration. Just so I understand — is it that there's no budget available at all, or that you'd need to see clear ROI before making the case internally? Because if it's the latter, I can show you exactly how our customers justified the investment.'
'We're already using [Competitor].'
'That makes sense — [Competitor] is solid for [specific use case]. The reason companies switch to us is [specific differentiator]. Out of curiosity, is there anything about [Competitor] that you wish worked differently?'
'Send me an email.'
'Happy to. So I can send something relevant — what's the biggest priority for your team this quarter? I'll tailor it to that instead of sending a generic overview.'