One evening with a sample deal.

1. Ask this first: Who holds the discretionary budget and final commercial authority to sign off on replacing the current carrier tracking setup? Why: Focus Area 1 (Economic Buyer) is an open gap. Marta Reiss and Owen Blake run operations, but we have not identified the single person with sign-off authority. Asking this first names the person so the next question can establish how that person gets contracts approved. Good response: A specific person named by name and title, with confirmation of their authority over this spend. What to do with the answer: Record the name, title, and budget threshold in MEDDPICC. Ask Marta to confirm what this person personally expects from operations this year. 2. Once that person approves a change, what specific legal, security, and procurement steps must happen before a contract is signed, and who leads each stage? Why: Focus Area 2 (Paper Process) is completely unmapped. Knowing the review sequence prevents late-stage legal or security stalls. Good response: Specific named owners for procurement, legal, and infosec reviews, with typical turnaround times for each. What to do with the answer: Map each stage into the deal timeline and calculate total paper process duration back from the target signature date. 3. Marta mentioned Dervla on a previous call. What is Dervla's role in evaluating operational software or reviewing vendor agreements? Why: Dervla was mentioned by Marta but has not been met. We must clarify if Dervla is a decision-maker, influencer, or paper process owner. Good response: Clarification of Dervla's exact role, team, and involvement in vendor evaluations. What to do with the answer: Add Dervla to the stakeholder map with an assigned buying role, or log Dervla as an operational reviewer. 4. Beyond the two staff on the night desk manually chasing carrier exceptions and calling carriers, what specific performance target or success metric does operations need to hit? Why: Metrics is a gap. Pains are verified, but no target metrics exist for the initiative. Good response: A defined operational metric or KPI, such as an SLA threshold or target for automated exception detection. What to do with the answer: Log the target under Metrics and compare proposed technical capabilities against it. 5. Last year service credit penalties reached about four hundred thousand. What internal targets or executive visibility exist around that penalty amount this year? Why: Metrics needs quantifiable targets tied to existing verified pains. The financial figure must be linked to operational goals. Good response: Explanation of how executive leadership tracks that penalty figure and what operational goals are tied to it. What to do with the answer: Align the business case to executive reporting on penalty targets. 6. Marta thinks the current contract requires ninety days' written notice before the 31 January auto-renewal, which makes early November the deadline. Has anyone verified the exact notice window in the agreement? Why: Compelling Event is partial. The auto-renewal on 31 January is confirmed, but the 90-day notice requirement remains unconfirmed. Good response: Confirmation of the exact written notice terms from the incumbent contract. What to do with the answer: Fix the hard deadline date for notice and build the mutual evaluation schedule around it.