Opening: thirty seconds on who I am, then I ask them to describe how their team prepares a first meeting today. I don't start from the product. The slide exists only to fix the line I want them to keep.

I want them nodding here. If they don't nod at the spread between salespeople, this isn't our customer and it's better to find that out at minute three than at the end. Question to ask: between your best and your worst salesperson, what's the ratio? Usually the answer is 3 to 1.

This is the slide of the deck. If they remember one, it has to be this one. Story to tell out loud: two of their salespeople on the same customer, one closes and the other doesn't — and it wasn't the product.

I mention the book once and don't push. It's there to say that behind this is a written method rather than a lucky prompt. If they ask when it's out, I answer honestly that it's forthcoming and I don't invent a date.

Do this interactively: I ask them to place their most important customer in one of the four quadrants. They always do it, and at that moment they've adopted the model. Then I ask where they place themselves: almost every sales director puts themselves in Pilot.

This removes the «it's just four boxes» objection. Two Architects with opposite Security prepare differently. Anyone who has done DISC training raises this point, and they're right to.

The slide that sells. I stay quiet and let them read. If they start reading out loud, they're convinced. If they skip to the end, I ask them what's missing.

The third step is the one to press on during the beta: without the return after the meeting the product doesn't improve. It's also the concrete commitment I'm asking for, and it belongs here rather than as a surprise at the end.

These four objections arrive anyway. Saying them first changes the register of the conversation from defensive to technical. The second one is what their DPO will ask them about.

With sales directors this slide is worth more than it looks: not because they care in itself, but because it's what saves them three weeks of internal stalling. If they have a DPO, I send the dedicated page after the call.

Disqualifying is the most useful moment of the call. If their deals run on formal specifications, I say so and close — and a referral almost always comes out of it, because I didn't sell them something they didn't need.

The only third-party number in the deck, and I attribute it. On the team: being two is a weakness and it's better to say so before they ask — the counterweight is that they're talking to the people who build the product, not to an account manager.

I close with the direct question: are you in? If they say yes, I book the first check-in before ending the call. If they say «let me think», I ask what they're missing in order to decide — that answer is the only useful thing I take home.