How to prepare for a 30-minute call
The difference between a useful conversation and a wasted hour is decided before the call, not during it. Seven points that take ten minutes of preparation and change the outcome.
1. Phrase your request in one sentence
If the request does not fit into a sentence, it is not formulated yet. "Expand my network" is not a request. "Figure out how to land the first ten B2B clients without a sales team" is. A good test: the phrasing itself shows which person can answer it
2. Read what the other person wrote about themselves
Their profile arrives in advance: roles, hubs, what they seek, what they give, a few lines about themselves. Five minutes of reading removes the first ten minutes of the call — the ones usually spent on "so what do you do"
- •What is in their offer — that is where your questions should start
- •What is in their ask — that is where you can be useful
- •Where they are based and which language they speak
- •How long they have been around — newcomers and veterans care about different things
3. Prepare three questions, not a list of twenty
Twenty questions turn the call into an interrogation and none of them gets a real answer. Three questions give you depth. Phrase them so they cannot be answered with yes or no
4. Plan the half hour minute by minute
- •0–3 min: who you are in two sentences, no biography
- •3–12 min: your request and the questions around it
- •12–22 min: their request — now you are the one helping
- •22–27 min: what each of you takes away: a contact, a link, an intro
- •27–30 min: agree on the next step, if there is one
5. Decide upfront what you can give
A call where only one side takes never happens twice. Before it starts, answer for yourself: what are you useful for to this particular person. An intro, a review of their landing page, an honest answer about your market, a template you already have — any of these is enough
6. Check your setup five minutes before
- •Working camera and mic in the app you agreed on
- •A quiet place — a café with music eats half the conversation
- •Battery and a stable connection, especially on a phone
- •The link sent in advance, not at the moment of the call
7. Close the call so it is not the last one
In the final three minutes it helps to say out loud what each of you does next. If the answer is nothing, say that — it is more honest than "let's catch up again". If the person helped, write a day later and tell them how it went: that is the only way one conversation becomes a working contact
What not to do
Selling
Talking about your product instead of the stated request is the fastest way to never hear from this person again
Showing up without a request
"Just chatting" moves the work onto the other person: now they have to invent a way to help you
Overrunning
Thirty minutes is an agreement. If the topic is alive, schedule a second call instead of stealing an hour
Key takeaways
- ✓A request that does not fit in one sentence is not formulated yet
- ✓Five minutes of reading the profile saves the first ten minutes of the call
- ✓Three deep questions beat twenty shallow ones
- ✓A ready answer to "what am I useful for" makes the exchange mutual
- ✓A message a day later turns an introduction into a working contact
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