Evidence
The brief uses current public evidence about the business situation, stakeholder role and relevant operating or technology context.
Pre-Discovery Brief
Pre-call account research before discovery.
For one upcoming client or prospect conversation, I research the business situation, stakeholder context and relevant decisions. The output is a concise brief with evidence-backed areas to investigate and questions to test. Delivery is within 2 working days.
Use it here
When to use the brief
A stated requirement may form part of the starting context. The research also examines how the business operates around the issue, who is affected, any material changes, the hypotheses worth testing and the measures that may be relevant if an issue is confirmed.
Reason to talkThere is a real client conversation coming up.
→Pre-discovery briefEvidence, hypotheses, questions and what to quantify.
→DiscoveryThe client confirms, rejects and adds evidence.
→Qualification updatedPain, impact, stakeholders, process and next step are recorded from the client.
→Presales / scopeYour team works from a clearer problem boundary.
Research before the conversation. Validation during it.
How the research is used
Public evidence is used to identify relevant areas for investigation. The client conversation determines whether a problem is real, material and worth addressing.
Questions
The research is reduced to a small number of areas worth testing and specific questions for the conversation.
Rejection conditions
Each retained hypothesis includes the conditions that would make it irrelevant or already resolved. A hypothesis is not treated as a requirement without client validation.
Good inputs
Typical starting points
“Can we talk about our CRM?”
The client has named an area, but not necessarily the business problem behind it.
“We have our quarterly review next week.”
There is a defined relationship and meeting, but no explicit new requirement yet.
“They have just appointed a new Commercial Director. We want to talk to them.”
A visible business event gives the provider a concrete reason to start a more substantive conversation.
Not for this
Scope boundaries
For proactive work, the account has already been selected. Cold-list building and target selection are outside scope. The input is the client domain and the specific reason for the conversation.
The main users are AEs, Account Managers and BDMs preparing for discovery, account expansion or selected prospect conversations. Routine high-volume SDR qualification is outside the intended use case.
- Not random research across a cold list.
- Not intent scoring or continuous account monitoring.
- Not a client interview or requirements workshop.
- Not a technical recommendation.
- Not a search for extra products to push.
- Not useful where the problem and requirements are already fully defined.
- Not useful where there is no real upcoming conversation or reason to engage.
- Not a guarantee that additional need exists.
Inputs
Inputs
Your domain
So I understand what your firm can credibly address.
Client / prospect domain
The organisation I will research.
Reason for conversation
Why the conversation is happening now: inbound enquiry, review, catch-up, stated request, visible change, new stakeholder or a selected proactive account.
Who the conversation is with
Optional. The person, job title or role if known. If the stakeholder is not decided yet, say so.
Anything already mentioned
Optional. A system, issue or project idea the client has already raised.
Relationship context
Optional after fit is confirmed: what you already supply or know.
No client approach
I research independently and do not approach the client as part of the service.
Research
Research scope
The starting point may be a stated request, current operating model, strategic objective, existing constraint, system environment or recent change. The research retains only information that is material to the conversation.
Business situation
The current context behind the conversation, with material evidence separated from background noise.
Stakeholder
The decisions, controls or dependencies that make the situation relevant to the person you are speaking to.
Areas to investigate
Possible gaps that are relevant to what your firm actually supplies, stated as hypotheses rather than assumed pain.
Conversation path
Questions to test the hypothesis, what may be worth quantifying if confirmed and what would rule the hypothesis out.
Output
Brief structure
The first page summarises the findings for the person running the meeting. Supporting pages provide the evidence and reasoning.
Conversation context
Why this conversation is happening and what is already known.
Material account context
The small number of facts and conditions that materially affect the conversation.
Stakeholder context
What the role needs to decide, see, coordinate or control in this situation.
Areas to investigate
Typically a small number of evidence-backed hypotheses for client validation.
Questions
Specific questions tied to the evidence and stakeholder decision.
Measures to explore
Measures or operational effects to explore if the client confirms the issue. Baseline and ROI are not assumed in advance.
Rejection condition
The client evidence that would make each hypothesis irrelevant or already resolved.
Dated sources and discarded signals
Evidence behind the brief, together with signals considered but not retained.
If the evidence does not support a useful hypothesis, no additional issue is added to the brief.
Qualification compatibility
Use with qualification frameworks
Research prepares context and hypotheses. Qualification is based on client evidence gathered during the conversation.
The brief prepares
Business situation, stakeholder context, areas worth testing, questions and measures worth asking for if an issue is confirmed.
The client establishes
Confirmed Pain, impact, Economic Buyer, Champion, Decision Process, Decision Criteria and agreed Metrics.
What account research can prepare before MEDDICC / MEDDPICC →
First brief
Pricing
The first brief is £99 and subsequent single briefs are £145. The research scope and 2-working-day turnaround are the same. The lower first-brief price is intended to make the initial comparison with your normal preparation easier.
FIRST COMPARISON BRIEF
£99
One upcoming client conversation. Independent test against your normal preparation.
STANDARD SINGLE BRIEF
£145
Per additional client conversation after the first test.
DELIVERY
Within 2 working daysAfter payment and receipt of agreed inputs.
First comparison brief - £99
First brief comparison
The first brief uses the same scope as the £145 brief. Its value can be assessed by comparing the resulting questions and areas of investigation with your existing preparation.