Overview

You’ve mastered ABM segmentation with Sales Navigator, built sharp LinkedIn + email sequences, developed your personal branding, and refined your copywriting. You’re getting qualified calls—yet your closing rate remains stuck below 30%. That’s normal: the average SaaS conversion rate after a sales call is only 22%. But you’re clearly not here to be average.

If your segmentation and copywriting are solid, then the real reason is usually simple: your call script isn’t good enough.
Whether the call is inbound or outbound, if your persona agreed to talk, you should close 30%+. And if you don’t, it’s rarely luck—it’s structure.

A great call is not improvised. It’s a carefully orchestrated conversation designed to feel natural. The illusion of “effortless flow” comes from preparation, structure, and mastering how you speak—pace, tone, volume, emphasis.

If you want to increase your post-call conversion rate, keep reading.

Why call structure matters

Improvising a sales call = going straight into a wall.

A solid structure lets you control every moment of the call:

Understand the prospect’s real problem — in their own words.
Identify the exact use case that led them to accept the call.
Never start by presenting your product — under any circumstances.
Only show the 20% of your product that solves their problem.
End with concrete, dated next steps.
Build trust throughout the entire call.

Here is a recommended structure for a 45-minute first call.

0’–0:30 — Create an instant connection

Probably the most important part.
If it fails: no trust, no openness, no usable information.
If it works: everything else flows naturally.

1’–15’ — Discovery phase

No demo. No screen sharing.
Just deep questions to understand what they really want to fix.

Simple rule: your prospect should speak 3 times more than you.

15’–35’ — Solve their problems

Now that you understand their needs, show how your product will make their life easier.
Leave room for questions — never speak alone for more than 3 minutes.

35’–45’ — Recap and concrete next steps

You validate real interest, clarify the timeline, and get a dated action plan.

A great call always ends with a great follow-up email.

Before going further: preparation

Preparation is often overlooked, yet it determines 50% of your success.
You cannot join a call without knowing:

Who you’re speaking to
What the company does
Their current situation
Their likely persona

A prospect immediately sees the difference between a prepared rep and someone who “just shows up.”
Lack of preparation sends three terrible signals:

You’re not professional
The prospect “isn’t worth” your time
You don’t respect their schedule

Result: failed discovery.

Who are you talking to?

Person analysis

Check their LinkedIn profile to identify:

Tenure
- New employee = clear mandate + pressure → opportunity
- Long-term employee = institutional knowledge → valuable context
Authority level
- Intern = no impact
- Manager = internal champion
- VP = budget + decision power
Understanding of the problem

This helps you adapt your level of conversation.

What does the company do and in what situation are they?

LinkedIn and Sales Navigator help you understand:

Their growth
Their structure
The relevant department
Hiring signals
Key team members

Look at:

Headcount growth

Open job postings

Role distribution

Organizational structure

Then complete with:

Google News (recent events — excellent icebreaker)

Crunchbase (funding dates)
Their website (value proposition)

If you cannot summarize what they do in 30 seconds → bad sign.

Tip: If you don’t fully understand what they do, say it honestly. They’ll appreciate your transparency.

“I was checking out your company - I’m not quite sure I understood completely what you do.

It’s important for me to make sure I understand your business to be fully able to help you. 

Can we start with a quick intro to what you do?”

Which target/audience/persona do they likely belong to?

Aour research will help you form hypotheses.
But beware: assuming = danger.

If you think you “already know,” you will:

ask the wrong questions
push the wrong value
miss the real problem

Discovery exists precisely to avoid this.

Build a real personal connection

The information you collected will also help you build rapport in the first seconds.

People don’t just buy a tool — they buy the relationship with the company.
At the beginning, you are that relationship.

Useful sources:

LinkedIn posts
Their engagements
Twitter / X
Interests

Arriving prepared → strong first impression.

The first 30 seconds: the moment that makes or breaks the call

Within seconds, the prospect decides:

They like you → they open up → you gather useful insights
They don’t → they shut down → call lost

Your goals:

Break the “I’m about to get sold to” barrier
Inspire instant trust

Your tone accounts for 80% of the impact.Positive energy, smile, lightness.

Inbound openers

“Hey {{firstname}} thanks for taking the call! 

I was wondering first, how did you hear about us?”.

Outbound openers

“Oh, you’re coming from {{firstname}}. 

They’ve had good success with us indeed to improve {{XYZ}}. 

What did they tell you about us ?”

Generic opener

“How’s your day going so far? Too many meetings?”

It’s not the wording — it’s how you say it.

1’–15’ : Discovery — don’t talk, listen

You’ve created connection, the energy is good.
Now you want to hear their version of the problem.

Even if you have an ABM hypothesis, never assume.
You want their exact words.

Inbound sample opener

“Alright, the goal of today’s call is to understand {{company}} can help you. 

I could do a generic demo, but I know that if I don’t take the time to understand your needs, it’s boring and useless.
 
I’d love for us to take the next 5-10minutes to discuss what you’ve been doing sor far {{in the area you’re solving}},

what worked and didn’t work,

tools you’ve been using and what you have in mind to do with {{solution name}}.

I explained I didn’t want to do a generic demo but provide value - nice!
I set the subject for the next 5-10minutes
I’m asking open-ended questions for them to start with.
Most importantly, I’m asking what doesn’t work => It’s the most important question. If they're coming to you, something has been wrong up to this point and this will be the key speech!
👉 What hasn’t worked until now?

Outbound sample opener

“Why did you take the call?”.

Then: stay quiet.
They must fill the space.

It’s the best way to get the discovery started. Do not ask about business priorities, do not ask about BANT questions. NO - this just sets your prospect into a sales pitch mode, and people are less and less patient with this nonsense.

From both approaches, progressively deep-dive into their solution asking “How and Why” questions.

What is the goal of potentially using LGM? / What are the people/Companies you’re prospecting? / Have you been using Sales Navigator to source leads before? / Are you doing any retargeting? / Do you have any idea of the number of leads you need to contact per week?

Always end with:

“Anything you had in mind we haven’t talked about but would like to see today?”

15’–35’ : Solve their problem

Now you can share your screen.

Rules

Never talk more than 2 minutes without stopping
Feature → pause → question

Tie everything back to the discovery

“I believe that is one of your key problems. 
Is it clear for you how we’ll solve this for you ?”

Use their verbatim
Watch their signals

Positive signals

They ask questions
They ask to see something again
They react with curiosity

Negative signals

“Yeah, okay… yeah… okay…” → disengagemen

35’–45’ : Recap and next steps

The last 10 minutes decide everything.

Open question 1

“What do you think?”

Pause.

Open question 2

“How do you see things moving forward?”

Pause again.

If the fit is good:

“When do you see yourself implementing {{solution}}?”

You should leave with:

Clear interest (yes/no)
Concrete next steps
A date
Internal introductions if needed
A timeline

After the call: follow up within 24 hours

Your follow-up must:

Arrive within 24 hours
Clearly summarize what was said
Repeat the problem in their own words
Explain how you’ll solve it
List next steps
Give a clear timeline
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Here are below an example of follow-ups we send after an inbound demo :

A good follow-up turns a great call into a deal.

Bonus 1: handling a technical question you can’t answer

Best response:

“Wow, that’s a great question! 

I’ve actually never heard it before, believe it or not. 

Let me do this for you, let me write down the question that you just ask and I’m gonna get with somebody that will make absolutely sure to get the right answer for you. 

Because what I’d hate for you is guess, and tell you something that’s half right half wrong. 
 
I want to make sure I get the right answer for you!”

A great trick from Troy Barter, it’s great for two reasons :