We assert the problem instead of asking what keeps you up at night.

Ask a promoter what his biggest problem is and you will get the version he has told his board, which is polished, defensible and usually about coverage or competition. It is not a lie. It is simply the top layer, and the top layer is the part he has already tried to fix.

So we do not ask. We assert, from the causal chain we already know applies to that industry: your quotes go quiet at day nine and nobody marks them dead, your loss reason says price because the field is mandatory, your installed base has AMC dates that sales never sees.

One of three things happens. He says yes, and we have skipped a month. He says no and explains why, and the correction is worth more than any answer to a question. Or he says nothing, which tells us he does not know, and that is worth knowing too.

Bring four names

The only preparation we ask for is four customers he wishes he had ten more of. From public record alone, before any credential or data, we run sourcing live in the meeting and put the results in front of the sales head to tear apart.

His corrections in that hour are the first cases in the memory. The engagement starts learning before the contract is signed.