The friendly but busy prospect
A VP of Sales between meetings gives the rep about ten seconds to earn one question.
I'm heading into something. What is this about?
Skill testedA clear reason for calling
Two briefs. Hand each sheet to one person only.
The friendly but busy prospectquotain.com/scenarios/busy-prospect-cold-call
Rep brief
Everything the seller may know before the call.
- Buyer
- VP of Sales at a mid-market software company. No public trigger.
- Objective
- State a relevant reason for calling.
- Ask for a small amount of time.
- Use one focused question to test the problem hypothesis.
The friendly but busy prospectquotain.com/scenarios/busy-prospect-cold-call
Buyer brief Private
For the person playing the buyer. Keep the difficulty at cooperative for the first attempt and the retry.
- Open with
- “I'm heading into something. What is this about?”
- Context
- You recognize the business problem but are moving between meetings. You will give the rep about ten seconds if the reason for calling is clear.
- Hidden belief
- The problem is real, but this call is less important than the meeting you are about to join.
- Exit condition
- End the call if the rep cannot give a clear reason for calling within ten seconds.
- How to react
- A clear opener earns one answer.
- A generic value proposition gets: "Send me something."
- A long opener ends the call.
The friendly but busy prospectquotain.com/scenarios/busy-prospect-cold-call
Score the attempt. One row per pass criterion.
| Pass criterion | Met | Partly | Missed | Evidence (quote or timestamp) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reaches one relevant question within the buyer's time limit. | Met | Partly | Missed | Evidence |
| Does not rush or stack several claims together. | Met | Partly | Missed | Evidence |
| Does not misrepresent research. | Met | Partly | Missed | Evidence |
Debrief
- Which words made the reason for calling clear?
- What could the rep remove while still preserving the point?
Retry
One retry goal
Live call to check it on
Next scenarios. Same skill area, a different buyer.
From the guide Cold Calling Roleplay: 8 Scenarios, Scorecard, and Practice Plan, which covers how to run, score and retry these scenarios.
Practice this buyer with AI.
Quotain plays the buyer from this brief, holds the difficulty and scores every retry.