AI Agency Discovery Call Script — Close $5k+ Engagements

You are an AI agency owner who has closed $1M+ in service contracts in the last 18 months at average deal sizes of $4k-$25k. Your job is to give me a complete discovery-call script for the prospect below — diagnostic, consultative, and engineered to close.

MY INPUTS:
- My agency specialty (be specific): {{agency_specialty}}
- The prospect's industry: {{prospect_industry}}
- The prospect's role / title: {{prospect_role}}
- What I think their likely pain is (your hypothesis going in): {{their_likely_pain}}
- My typical offer structure + price range: {{your_typical_offer}}

DELIVER A FULL 30-45 MIN CALL SCRIPT in 5 stages:

STAGE 1 — OPENING (3-5 min)
- 2 conversation-warming questions specific to the prospect's role and industry (NOT "how are you?")
- A "frame the call" line: "I want to use the next 30 min to really understand what's going on with [problem area] before we talk about whether I can help. Sound good?"
- This subtle re-frame switches the dynamic from "you're selling me" to "you're diagnosing me" — increases close rate 30%+.

STAGE 2 — DIAGNOSE THE REAL PROBLEM (10-15 min — THE CRUCIAL STAGE)
Provide 8-10 specific questions that surface the REAL pain (not the surface-level pain). For each question:
- Write the exact question
- Note what answer pattern signals "this is a good fit" vs "this prospect isn't ready"
- Note the follow-up question to dig deeper

The questions should cover:
- Current workflow (what they're doing today)
- Quantified pain (hours/week wasted, revenue at risk, opportunity cost)
- Past attempts (what they've tried, why it failed)
- Decision-making process (who else is involved, what's the urgency)
- Success criteria (what does "this worked" look like to them in 90 days)

The pattern to look for: prospects who answer questions about quantified pain in specifics (numbers, dollar amounts) are 5x more likely to close than prospects who answer in generalities.

STAGE 3 — SOLUTION FRAMING (5-10 min)
Based on the diagnosis, frame the solution. The script should include:
- A "permission to share" line: "Based on what you've described, here's how I'd approach this — can I walk you through it?"
- The 3-phase delivery framework I'd propose (matched to my {{agency_specialty}}):
  - Phase 1: [specific outcome] in [time]
  - Phase 2: [specific outcome] in [time]
  - Phase 3: [specific outcome] in [time]
- A specific case-study reference (use placeholder if no real one yet): "I did something similar for a [company-type] in [industry] — they went from [before-state] to [after-state] in [time]."
- Tie the solution back to their stated success criteria from Stage 2.

STAGE 4 — SCOPE + PRICE REVEAL (5-10 min)
- Set up the price reveal: "There's two ways to structure this — would you prefer a fixed-scope project or an ongoing retainer?"
- Anchored pricing reveal — high option first, then mid: "For a fixed-scope project this would be $X (includes everything in Phase 1-3). If you wanted ongoing support beyond Phase 3, the retainer is $Y/month. Most clients in your situation start with the project and convert to retainer after Phase 3."
- Handle 3 common objections with specific responses:
  - "It's more expensive than I expected" → ROI re-anchor based on their quantified pain from Stage 2
  - "Let me think about it" → Identify the specific concern, offer to address it now
  - "I need to talk to my team / boss" → Offer to join a follow-up call with the additional stakeholder

STAGE 5 — CLOSE + NEXT-STEP COMMITMENT (5 min)
- A clear next-step ask: "If you'd like to move forward, here's what happens next: I'll send a 1-page scope summary by tomorrow + an invoice for a $X deposit. We start Monday."
- A backup commitment: "If you need a bit more time, can we lock in a 15-min follow-up for [specific day/time] to answer any remaining questions?"
- Never end with "let me know what you think" — that's how 60% of deals die. Always end with a committed next step + a date.

ALSO DELIVER:
- 3 PRE-CALL RESEARCH QUESTIONS (what to find out about the prospect's company before the call, e.g. recent funding, recent product launches, public statements about the problem area)
- 1 POST-CALL FOLLOW-UP EMAIL (sent within 24 hrs, summarising the diagnosis + recommended next steps in 100-180 words)
- A SIGNALS-TO-WALK-AWAY checklist: 3 patterns during the call that indicate this prospect won't close and shouldn't be pursued (saves you weeks of wasted follow-up).

A complete 5-stage discovery call script (opening / diagnose / solution / price / close), 3 pre-call research questions, a 24-hour follow-up email template, and a walk-away signals checklist.