Qualify the lead and win the work
31 primitives in this stage — 27 skills · 4 agents. Concept-stage catalogue, kept vendor-agnostic.
Research the prospect across public sources →
"I never go into a first meeting cold — I want to know what's been keeping their CEO up at night before we even speak."
Red-team the value story against a sceptical buyer →
"If I can't defend the value story against my own sceptic, I have no business sending it to theirs."
Route and chase internal approvals to close-out →
"Internal approvals are where deals die quietly — I need something running the chase that doesn't forget or politely give up."
Chase signatures and confirmations to completion →
"Deals stall between handshake and signature more often than people admit — I want something relentless chasing the last mile."
Build the discovery question arc →
"I walk into every call with a structured arc, not a blank slate — I know exactly where I want the conversation to go."
Distil the real problem from the conversation account →
"What they asked for and what they actually need are rarely the same thing — this is where I find the real problem."
Form likely-problem hypotheses and the angle to test →
"I'd rather walk in with a wrong hypothesis I can correct than no view at all — it shows I've thought about their situation."
Frame budget, authority, and timeline probes naturally →
"Getting the commercial facts matters, but the way you ask tells the prospect whether they're being interviewed or helped."
Read the commercial signals behind the answers →
"The most important data is what they didn't say — the hesitation, the redirect, the 'we'd need to check' that tells you who really decides."
Write the internal go / no-go judgement →
"The discipline is writing down why you're saying yes or no — it forces honesty and creates a record you can learn from."
Draft the outcome message to the prospect →
"How you decline is as important as how you win — a graceful no with a referral is often how the best referrals come back."
Synthesise discovery notes into a problem statement →
"When I share the problem statement back and they say 'that's exactly it' — that's when I know we can sell anything."
Articulate outcomes and success criteria →
"Deliverables are easy to promise — I care more about what success actually looks like when we're done."
Pressure-test the problem framing against the prospect's words →
"I always ask myself: would they nod reading this, or would they feel I've made it about my framework instead of their situation?"
Propose methodology and phase structure →
"The methodology isn't a template I paste in — I need to be able to explain why this sequence makes sense for their problem, not just for our playbook."
Build the why-this-approach rationale →
"They don't just need to accept the approach — they need to feel like it was built for their situation, not pulled from a shelf."
Draft in-scope / out-of-scope statement →
"The scope document isn't the fine print — it's the shared mental model that keeps both sides honest throughout the engagement."
Surface adjacent requests and scope-creep risks →
"Scope creep never announces itself — I'd rather draw the fence explicitly now than defend it under pressure mid-engagement."
Draft the value narrative →
"The value story has to be about them, not us — if it could be dropped into any other proposal unchanged, it's not doing its job."
Design the proposal section architecture and outline →
"The best proposals have a spine — a logical sequence the reader follows from 'you understand us' to 'we want to work with you'."
Draft a proposal or RFP narrative section →
"Each section is a contained argument — I write it to answer the evaluator's question, not to document our internal process."
Select and tailor team credentials and case evidence →
"Generic credentials look like filler — the right case evidence is the one that makes them think 'they've solved exactly this before'."
Set the price point and commercial structure →
"The pricing strategy is the decision I'm most accountable for — the effort model tells me what it costs, but I decide what to charge."
Red-team and quality-review the proposal draft →
"I read every proposal as if I'm the competitor looking for the hole — if I can find it, so can the evaluator."
Build the proposal walkthrough narrative →
"Presenting the proposal isn't reading it out loud — it's a choreographed argument built for the people in the room."
Anticipate questions and reactions from the room →
"The meeting never goes to script — but if I've pre-run every likely challenge I stay in the conversation, not in my head."
Diagnose the real objection behind the stated one →
"Every objection is a message — my job is to hear what it's actually saying before I open my mouth to respond."
Frame the response, reframe, or counter-offer →
"Negotiating isn't conceding — it's finding the shape that works for both sides without giving away what makes the engagement viable."
Draft answers to supplier and security questionnaires →
"Procurement questionnaires are a compliance theatre no one loves — but a late or incomplete response can kill a deal that's already won."
Review MSA/SOW redlines and flag risk clauses →
"The clause that costs you is never the one your lawyer flagged — it's the quietly changed indemnity the partner didn't read until after signing."
Prepare the internal handoff to delivery →
"The delivery team shouldn't have to reverse-engineer what was promised — the handoff brief is the bridge between winning and delivering."