---
type: template
purpose: Customer discovery meeting prep using Mom Test framework
trigger: "prep for meeting with [client]", "customer discovery meeting", "mom test meeting"
---

# Meeting Prep: [Client Name] - [Date]

**Attendees:** [Lead] (leads conversation), [Relationship Owner] (warms room), [CEO/Founder] (listens)
**Purpose:** Customer discovery. Learn about your ICP. Understand their real pain, how they buy, how their internal process works. NOT a sales meeting.
**Context:** [Why this meeting matters. How hard they are to get. What you need to learn.]

## Reference docs

| Need | Doc |
|------|-----|
| Account status | [[Client File]] |
| Contact CRM | [[Contact Name]] |
| Problem research | [[Your problem research doc]] |
| Sales strategy | [[Your sales strategy doc]] |

---

## Agenda to send (3 points, keep it simple)

1. Hear how things have been going from their side
2. Understand better how their internal process works
3. Plan what comes next

---

## The golden rule

> **This is a Mom Test meeting.** Talk about their life, not your idea. Ask about specific things in the past, not opinions about the future. If you're talking more than 20% of the time, you're doing it wrong. You CAN'T tell them what their problem is. They CAN'T tell you what to build. You want to understand their world. (Rob Fitzpatrick, "The Mom Test")

---

## Roles

| Person | Role | Talk time |
|--------|------|-----------|
| **Lead** | Drives the conversation. Asks the questions. Controls the flow. Peer-to-peer energy, not vendor-to-buyer | ~40% |
| **Relationship Owner** | Warms the room. Has the personal relationship. Opens the meeting, transitions naturally to the Lead. Can jump in on operational details | ~20-25% |
| **CEO/Founder** | Listens. Takes notes. Captures client's exact words verbatim (no paraphrasing). Only speaks if asked directly, or to share a brief insight toward the end. Goal: absorb, not impress | ~10-15% |
| **Everyone** | NO pitching. NO describing what you're building. NO asking "would you use X?" Ask "how do you do X today?" | |

---

## Learning objectives (what you need to walk out with)

Ordered by value:

1. **How does their internal process actually work?** Walk through a real [project/event/deal] end to end. Who does what? Who approves what? Where does it get stuck?
2. **What is their real pain?** Not what you think. What keeps them up at night about [your domain]? What's hardest? What almost went wrong?
3. **How do they buy?** The procurement process. How many people approve a new vendor? What kills a deal internally? Compliance requirements? Spend thresholds for different approval levels?
4. **What words do they use to describe the problem?** Capture their exact language. This becomes copy for your pitch deck, website, sales emails. Their words, not yours
5. **Who else faces this?** Other departments, offices, regions? Internal referrals?
6. **What does "success" look like from their chair?** What do they report to their boss? What would make them look good?

---

## Meeting structure: 30-40 minutes

| Block | Time | Who leads | What happens |
|-------|------|-----------|-------------|
| **Warm-up** | 3 min | Relationship Owner | Opens naturally. Light personal catch-up. Then: "[Lead] wanted to chat about how things are going and understand your side better. I'll pass it over." |
| **Frame the meeting** | 2 min | Lead | "We're not here to sell you anything today. We want to understand your world better so we can serve you better. I have some questions about how [domain] works at [company]. Sound good?" |
| **Their world** | 10-12 min | Lead asks, client talks | Block 2 questions below. This is the core. Follow the emotion. When they say something surprising, say "tell me more about that" |
| **Pain points** | 8-10 min | Lead asks, client talks | Block 3 questions below. Go deeper into friction. Follow the "why" three times |
| **How they buy** | 5-7 min | Lead asks | Block 4 questions below. This is gold for every future enterprise sale |
| **Operational items** | 3-5 min | Relationship Owner or Lead | Payment status (if not confirmed beforehand). Case study request. Monthly cadence proposal |
| **Close** | 2-3 min | Lead | "Is there anything I should have asked?" + "Who else should we be talking to?" + Lock in next meeting date |

---

## Question bank (Lead's cheat sheet)

Pick 8-10 from this list based on conversation flow. Don't read from a script. Let the conversation guide you.

### Block 2: Understand their world (past behavior, not opinions)

- "Walk me through the last [project/event] you handled, from start to finish. What was the process?"
- "Who was involved at each stage? Who had to approve what?"
- "How many [projects/events] does [company] handle in a typical quarter?"
- "What types are most common? Most complex?"
- "What does your boss care about when it comes to [domain]?"
- "How do you internally measure whether a [project/event] was successful?"
- "How much lead time do you typically have?"
- "Where does the budget come from? Which department manages it?"

### Block 3: Pain points and workarounds (dig into friction)

- "What was the hardest part of that process?"
- "Where did you lose the most time?"
- "What almost went wrong, or what did go wrong?"
- "How are you solving [specific pain they mentioned] right now?"
- "How long does that workaround take you?"
- "What have you tried before that didn't work?"
- "What are the consequences if a [project/event] goes badly? What happens internally?"
- "If you could fix one thing about how [domain] works at [company], what would it be?"

### Block 4: How they buy (procurement intelligence)

- "How does [company] typically decide to work with a new vendor?"
- "How many people are involved in that decision?"
- "Who gives the final yes or no?"
- "What criteria weigh most when selecting a vendor? Price? Reliability? Compliance? Speed?"
- "What's the typical timeline from 'we need this vendor' to 'vendor approved'?"
- "What can kill a deal internally even after someone wants to move forward?"
- "Is there a spend threshold above which a different approval process kicks in?"
- "What compliance or legal requirements should we know about?"

### Block 5: Competitive landscape (what are you really replacing?)

- "Before working with us, how did you handle [domain]?"
- "Did you consider other options? Which ones?"
- "What made you choose to work with us specifically?"
- "If you had to describe what we do to a colleague, how would you explain it?"

### Block 6: Expansion and referrals (only if rapport is strong)

- "Are there other teams at [company] that handle this on their own?"
- "Do you know people at other companies dealing with the same thing?"
- "If we could do one more thing for you, what would it be?"

---

## Case study outline (draft, in case client approves)

**Title:** How [Company] [improved/streamlined] [domain] with [Your Company]

**The challenge:**
- [Company] handles ~[N] [projects/events] per year ([list types])
- Before [Your Company], coordination ran through [old process]
- The [role] teams spent hours per [project] on [specific pain points]
- [Additional friction: compliance, invoicing, communication overhead]

**What [Your Company] did:**
- [Key solution 1]
- [Key solution 2]
- [Key solution 3]

**Results (to confirm with client):**
- [N] [projects] in first [time period]
- Time from request to delivery: [ask client for perception]
- Hours saved per [project] vs previous process: [ask client]
- Satisfaction / would they recommend: [get in their own words]
- Specific [project] that went particularly well: [get the story]

---

## After the meeting (same day)

- [ ] Team debrief (15 min while it's fresh): What did we learn? What surprised us? What exact words did the client use?
- [ ] Send thank-you email
- [ ] Type up client's exact words and key learnings into account file and contact CRM
- [ ] Log new pain points or ICP insights into problem research
- [ ] If case study approved: draft and send for review within 48 hours
- [ ] If recurring cadence agreed: create calendar event
