Delivery audit call script

30 minutes. The owner talks; you ask and count. Bracketed text is what you fill in from their answers.

Block timings

Block	Existing customer	Net new or closed-lost
Open empty	0-2	0-3
Set the scene	skip	3-6
Find the pain	inside the open	6-10
Anchor the activity's value	2-5	10-13
Vertical drill (one pain)	5-15	13-22
Magic wand	15-22	22-26
Pricing	22-27	26-29
Lock + referral	27-30	29-30

The net-new call has no usage data to lean on, so the scene-set matters more. Keep it tight: 3 minutes maximum.

Open empty

Existing customer:

• "What were your thoughts coming into this call? What was on your mind when you saw 'delivery audit' on the invite?"
• (If they deflect) "When I say client delivery, what comes up for you?"
• (If still nothing) "What's the part of delivery you wonder if AI should be able to do already?"

Closed-lost or past conversation:

• "Last time we talked it was about [the old topic]. We've since shifted toward [your current focus] for firms like yours. Curious what was on your mind agreeing to this call?"
• "When I say challenges or bottlenecks in client delivery, what's the first thing that comes to mind?"

Net new, after one sentence of context on what you do and why you are talking to firm owners about delivery:

• "So I want to keep this open. When I say client delivery, what comes up for you?"

Then shut up. Three full seconds. Silence does the work.

Set the scene (net new only)

• "Just so I have context, walk me through what your firm actually does. What's a typical engagement look like?"
• "How big is the team doing the delivery work?"
• "How many active engagements right now?"

Listening for: firm size, delivery model, where the leverage might be. Move fast.

Find the pain (net new only)

• "When you think about the work your team actually does day to day, what's the part you wonder if AI should be able to do already?"
• (If vague) "What's the part of delivery that keeps you up at night right now?"
• (If still vague) "Tell me about the last project where something broke or took way longer than it should have."

You need them to name a specific pain by minute 10. Do not move on without it.

Anchor the activity's value

• "Just to make sure I'm tracking, [the activity] is a pretty critical part of your delivery, right? This is what clients are actually paying for?"
• "So this is a competitive advantage piece for you?"

Get the yes before moving on.

Vertical drill (one pain only)

• "Walk me through the process. As nitpicky as you can. You sit down to do [the thing]. Walk me through start to finish."
• "Of all those steps, which one eats the most time?"
• "Like is that 80% of the work? 50%? Just rough."
• "How often does this come up? Per client? Per week?"
• "Who's doing it? You? Someone else?"
• "What's their loaded cost roughly?"
• "Have you tried to solve this already? What did you do?"
• "Why didn't that work?"

Collect numbers. Do not do the math out loud yet.

Magic wand

• "Let's say this was completely taken care of. The [biggest step] is just done for you. What does your day look like now?"
• "What does that mean in actual numbers? What's a new client worth to you per month?"
• "If you could hire someone, what does that unlock revenue-wise?"
• (If they go small) "That's huge. But would that translate to taking on more work? Or freeing up headspace to fix something else?"

Leave this block with: an annual dollar figure for the pain, an opportunity-cost number, and their words on why it matters.

Pricing

See pricing-frame.md. Wait for them to ask; prompt at minute 24 (existing) or 27 (net new) if they have not.

Lock + referral

If yes-ish:

• "I'll send a one-page scope by [tomorrow morning] with the build, pricing, and timeline. Can we put 30 minutes on the calendar later this week to walk through it?"

If maybe:

• "I'll send a summary including the rough numbers. Sit with it. If it makes sense, we scope it properly."

Always:

• "Last thing, totally separate. If anyone comes to mind, another firm owner you respect wrestling with similar stuff, I'd love an intro. Trying to talk to as many of these folks as possible right now."

Don't forget

• One pain only. Go vertical, not horizontal.
• Anchor the value before digging into the pain.
• The magic wand question is the unlock.
• Price on the call. Never by email.
• Lock the next step before they leave.

Pain math: what to capture and how to convert it

Collect during the vertical drill. Convert during the magic wand block. Never convert out loud during the drill; it turns an interview into a negotiation.

Capture sheet

Field	Question that gets it	Example answer
The activity	"Walk me through the process start to finish."	Monthly client reporting
The biggest step	"Which step eats the most time?"	Pulling data from four sources into the deck
Share of the work	"Is that 80%? 50%? Rough."	About 70%
Frequency	"How often? Per client? Per week?"	Once a month per client, 12 clients
Hours per occurrence	Usually volunteered with the step; ask if not	3 hours each
Who does it	"Who's doing it?"	An account manager
Loaded cost	"What's their loaded cost roughly?"	$90 an hour
Already tried	"Have you tried to solve this? What did you do?"	A reporting tool, abandoned after two months
Why it failed	"Why didn't that work?"	Still needed manual cleanup every time

The two numbers you need

Annual cost of the pain

hours per occurrence × occurrences per year × loaded hourly cost

Example: 3 hours × (12 clients × 12 months) × $90 = $38,880 a year.

Use the owner's figures even when they look rough. The number only has to be theirs.

Opportunity cost

What they said they would do with the time, in dollars. Prompt with "what's a new client worth to you per month" or "what would a hire unlock". A new client at $4,000 a month is $48,000 a year of upside they are not pursuing.

If they go small on the opportunity, agree that it is huge and ask whether it translates to more work or to headspace for something else. Either answer gives you a second number.

The sentence you should be able to say by minute 22

"[Owner] is losing about [annual cost] a year on [the biggest step], which is stopping them from [opportunity], and they said it matters because [their words]."

If any bracket is empty, go back to the block that fills it. Do not move to pricing without all four.

Common misses

• Counting the whole activity instead of the biggest step. The build will target the step; price against the step.
• Taking "it's annoying" as the value. Annoying is not a number. Ask what it costs or what it blocks.
• Accepting the owner's own time at zero. Ask what their hour is worth to a client, or what they bill.
• Letting a second pain into the sheet. Write it in the margin for the follow-up and go back to the first one.

Pricing frame and objection handling

Pricing happens on the call. Stall rate roughly doubles when pricing goes by email, because the owner does the value math alone and without the anchor.

When to open it

Wait for the owner to ask. If they have not asked by minute 24 (existing customer) or minute 27 (net new):

• "Want me to share what the investment usually looks like?"

The frame, in order

1. Restate their figures. "Based on the value you just described, [their pain] is costing you about [their figure] a year, plus the opportunity cost of [what they'd do]."
2. Anchor at the standard range. "Most customers in similar situations land between [standard low] and [standard high] a month."
3. Offer the early-partner rate for this scope. "That said, we're early on this offer and being deliberate about who we work with. Looking for co-partners more than customers. So for you, based on this scope, I'd propose we start at [partner rate] a month. As scope expands, we revisit."
4. Check the ballpark. "Does that feel like the right ballpark for the value we just talked about?"
5. Describe the build in one breath. "What we'd do is embed an engineer with you for the next few weeks to build a custom solution for [the pain]. Build is included. After deployment, we keep it running, maintain it, improve it. First [scoping period] are no-charge while we onboard and scope."

Then stop talking.

The figures the script shipped with, for a custom AI-build offer to service firms: standard range $5K to $7K a month, early-partner rate $3K to $4K a month, scoping period 10 days. Substitute your own; keep the structure. The anchor must be the standard range, and the partner rate must be tied to the scope they just described, so the discount reads as selectivity rather than weakness.

A lower-ticket pilot variant for an existing customer: a fixed one-month pilot fee, refunded in full if the agreed hours are not saved, rolling into an annual license if they are. State the hours target out loud; it comes from the pain math.

Handling the "is this worth it" pause

Go back to their number, not yours:

• "You mentioned this was costing you roughly [their figure] a year. If this solves it, even partially, does the math work for you?"

This is not pressure. It is the calculation they are already doing in their head, done out loud.

Objections

They say	You say
"Price is too high"	"Fair. What were you expecting, and what would make it a no-brainer?"
"Need to check with my partner"	"Totally get it. Would it help if I did a quick 15-minute walkthrough with them? Way more effective than summarizing secondhand."
"Need to think about it"	"Totally fair. What specifically are you weighing?" Then send the recap tonight and book 15 minutes to either kick off or close the loop.
"We've tried tools for this"	"What did you try, and why didn't it stick?" Usually the answer is the manual cleanup step, which is the step you are proposing to build for.
Silence after the price	Ask the ballpark question again. Silence is not a no.

Isolating price

If the only objection is price, say so and test it:

• "All things remaining the same, if price wasn't a question, do you have any other hesitations?"

If no: "Cool. What would make sense?" You want a value conversation where it is a no-brainer for them; if it is not, it does not make sense for either side.

If yes: that hesitation is the real objection. Handle it first; price was a proxy.