How to Prepare for the Mock Discovery Call or Pitch in a Sales Interview
Reaching the mock discovery call or pitch means you've already shown you're a potential fit. Now the hiring team wants evidence you can actually sell.
The challenge is that this is often quite an unnatural task - conducting a discovery in an industry/space you're not well versed in, or doing a pitch for a product you haven't fully understood.
The good news is hiring teams are not assessing your expertise in their product.
What they want to see is the right approach and sales capabilities.
So, the mock call/pitch isn't about proving you've already done their job. It's about proving you're ready to do it. This can be broken down into 3 key themes:
Show you understand the company
Demonstrate sales capability
Bring enthusiasm and confidence
1 - Understand The Company
This isn't an exercise to understand everything about the company and learn as many facts as you can.
My article here on researching a company covers more detail on the type of things to focus on (opens in new tab).
In principle, you want to know enough to explain what they do, why customers buy from them, and one customer success story you can naturally reference.
I always find being able to reference a customer story is valuable. Browse through the case studies online, pick one that resonates with you, maybe a brand you like, a part of the product you're excited about…just something that gives you some excitement or conviction when you use the story.
2 - Demonstrate Sales Capability
💡 Step Up Sales Principle
A mock call or pitch requires you to demonstrate your sales capabilities more than getting everything correct about the company or service.
For example, in a pitch you’d normally want to reference a client and provide some outcomes/evidence. You might not have this information available for a mock pitch, so create a realistic example based on the customer story you picked.
They're assessing how you use customer evidence, not whether you know confidential metrics.
This ultimately comes down to meeting control - a key aspect you should make sure to demonstrate during a mock call/pitch.
There are three simple pillars to have in mind for controlling a meeting:
Timing & Agenda - setting up the meeting
Interaction - the level of discussion
Closing - what are we doing next
In one of my first ever mock pitch interviews to get an AE role for a small SaaS company selling into retail, I didn't do this.
I thought "I’m great at pitching", and I'd done loads of research to really understand their offering - I was quietly confident.
But I only pitched, no setting agenda, no discussion or interactivity. The hiring manager pulled me up on it mid-way through the exercise. Whilst he gave me another go (because he said he liked my effort and the impression I'd given up until then), they understandably ended up going with someone else who had shown more proof of their capabilities.
Setting up the meeting:
Confirming what each attendee is interested in if you haven't met them. You can do this as part of the intros - "please introduce yourself and share something you'd like to get from the meeting today"
Double check timing and agenda - a small thing, but you occasionally get senior people might only be attending for the first half and be more interested in a specific topic.
Social Contract: My most recommended bang for buck item that shows great meeting control. "I'd recommend a deep-dive demo with the wider team next. If we show xyz (based on what they wanted to get out of the session), would you be happy to plan that session with me?" This is starting to position next steps, and makes closing much smoother later on.
“A Social Contract is a recommended next step that you position at the START of a meeting, subject to showing them what they wanted to see”
Meeting Interactivity:
Interactivity should have purpose. Too many sales people feel they should ask questions because that’s what general advice says to do.
Yet every meeting is different, based on number of attendees, timing and what’s on the agenda. Remember, you are showing you know how to approach these calls vs getting the content spot on. So, here are a set of simple principles for both the discovery call and the pitch to help.
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Don't prepare 30 questions. Prepare 3-5 areas you're curious about. That lets you listen, adapt and ask natural follow-up questions.
Focus on business impact/outcomes. If you are unsure how to go deeper with your questions when uncovering some initial information, frame them around "how does this affect the business".
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You are presenting content here. So I would have ready 2-3 anchor points with a quesiton for each. Natural breaks in your content that could lead to a decent discussion. As a simple example, you present a "what you've heard" type slide. A great chance to call something out you want to go deeper on and spend a few minutes discussing.
Be flexible - if something get’s raised that’s worth discussing then go for it, just tie it back to the original agenda and desired outcomes.
Closing:
An open question asking if there’s anything we've not covered is a nice easy opener to get them to share more. Then, come back to the social contract above (adjust that initial recommendation if needed).
It doesn't have to be exactly what they would do in reality. You're simply demonstrating that you know how to agree and secure a logical next step.
“Leave them feeling you’d handle a real customer meeting well.”
3 - Bring enthusiasm and confidence
One thing hiring managers notice is whether you sound like someone who genuinely believes they can sell what the company offers. I think of this as an “I could sell this…” mindset.
You don't need fake enthusiasm. You just need enough conviction to confidently say:
"After researching the business, I can genuinely see why customers buy this. Based on my previous experience (insert example), I'm confident I could do well here."
Note this would be for the discussion that typically takes place after the mock exercise when you review. But, I’d have this confident and ready mentality in mind throughout your interview.
If you take one thing from this article it’s to remember that showing you know how to conduct yourself as a sales person in a mock call/pitch is more important than any of the content, topics or outcomes being exactly right.
Show them you approach the exercise in the right way, with well-rounded sales capabilities and meeting control.
To help with that, here’s a simple exercise:
✅ Three questions to ask yourself before every mock exercise:
What do I want them to remember about me?
Where do I intend to create some discussion/interactivity, and around what topics?
How will I open the meeting and position next steps?
If you've got a mock discovery call or pitch coming up, I can help you with 1-1 preparation using the same framework this article is based on.