Introductory calls with clients

Introductory Calls with Clients

Demonstrate rigor and executive presence while leveraging your agility.

Big firms use a “Discovery & Diagnosis” framework. They don’t just ask “What do you want?”; they ask “What is the cost of doing nothing?”

Before you hop on the call, do 15 minutes of “AI Audit” research:

Tech Stack: Check their job postings for “Data Engineer” or “Python” to see what they use.
Industry Sentiment: Find one specific AI use-case a competitor is already using.
The “Situation”: Have a 2-sentence summary of their market position ready.

The Opening: “The goal today is to bridge the gap between AI hype and your specific business P&L. By the end, we’ll know if there is a high-value pilot worth pursuing.”
The “Solo” Edge: Briefly mention that because you are independent, you aren’t here to sell a 2-year software implementation, but to give unbiased strategic direction.

Consulting Question: “Where does AI sit on your priority list today—is it a ‘FOMO’ pressure from the board, or a specific operational bottleneck?”
Objective: Understand their current AI maturity (e.g., “We use ChatGPT team” vs. “We have a proprietary data lake”).

Consulting Question: “If we don’t implement an AI strategy in the next 6 months, what is the specific risk? Is it margin erosion, talent loss, or slow product cycles?”
Deep Dive: Ask about Data Readiness. “Do you have the data to support these goals, or is it siloed across legacy systems?”
Psychology: Listen for “The Unspoken.” Often, the real pain point isn’t “we need AI,” it’s “the CEO is obsessed with AI and we don’t have a plan.”

The Pivot: Don’t give answers yet. Offer Hypotheses.
Framework: Use a “Impact vs. Feasibility” mental model.
- Example: “It sounds like an AI agent for Customer Support is High Impact, but your data privacy requirements make it Low Feasibility right now. Perhaps an internal ‘Knowledge Search’ tool for your sales team is the better ‘Quick Win’?“

The Solo Model: Explain how you work (e.g., 4-week “AI Opportunity Audit”).
Accountability: “As a solo advisor, I work directly with your leadership. I don’t hand this off to junior associates.”

Immediate Value: “I’ll send over a 1-page summary of the 3 use-cases we discussed today by tomorrow EOD.”
The Call to Action: “Would you like me to draft a brief proposal for a 2-week Discovery Sprint to validate these?”

Feature	Big Consulting Firm	Your 1-Person Shop
Speed	4 weeks to staff a team.	”We can start the Audit next Monday.”
Price	$150k+ minimum.	Value-based pricing (e.g., $15k–$ 25k for a roadmap).
Insight	Generalized frameworks.	Deep, personalized technical expertise.
Deliverable	100-slide deck.	A working Prototype or a 5-page Action Plan.