Guide contents
Before a meeting it is easy to burn all your time on browser tabs and notes and still not decide what to ask the client. Let Octodus pull the context together in one document. Your job is to check the evidence and pick the questions that will uncover the real need.
What to prepare
- Gather the company name, its website and any materials you have: emails, notes from a previous contact, the client's inquiry.
- Describe your offer and the goal of the meeting. An introduction, a needs check and a discussion of terms call for different questions.
- For the exercise, use the brief for the fictional company "Northwood Workshop". It lets you check the conclusions without searching for outside information.
The source files use practice data. Replace it with your own once you know the process.
Set the limits of the research
Ask Octodus to separate known facts from hypotheses. For the practice example, the attached brief is the only source. On a real task you can add public sources and ask for links next to the facts.
If sources contradict each other, seeing the gap matters more than getting a smooth company description. Clarify which details apply to the period you care about.
Prepare me for a meeting based on the attached brief. Use it as the only source. Put together: a short company brief, confirmed facts, hypotheses about their needs and five questions to test them. List separately what we do not know yet. Do not assign the client a budget, problems or an intent to buy unless the brief says so.
Turn hypotheses into questions
"The client needs automation" is too broad. It is more useful to ask how inquiries get from an account manager to production and at which step context gets lost.
Pick a few questions in the order of the conversation: the current process, the painful part, the consequences, the criteria for improvement. Ask Octodus to trim the brief to a length you can reread before the meeting.
Sample result
Fact, hypothesis, question
- Fact from the brief: inquiries arrive through the website and a messenger; two account managers prepare the proposals.
- Hypothesis: some details may be moved between channels by hand. The brief does not confirm this.
- Question: how do you bring dimensions, materials and client revisions together in one place before you price a proposal?
The catch and how to check
Preparation helps you ask good questions. It does not decide in advance what the client needs. No information about the budget means no information, not a sign of a small budget.
Before you use the result
- Every important fact has a source.
- Assumptions are clearly labeled as hypotheses.
- The questions fit the goal of this meeting.
- The brief contains no invented quotes, figures or client plans.
How to repeat this on your own task
Save the structure of a good brief as a skill. On the next run, change the company, the meeting goal and the source materials. After the conversation, attach your notes and ask Octodus to update the brief with the confirmed answers.
Try this scenario
Download the source file, copy the task and send it to Octodus together with the file.