First Call Script — Charter Partner Discovery

Call length: 20–30 minutes Goal: Qualify the prospect and earn a second conversation (not close the pilot) Your job on this call: Listen more than you talk. The prospect should speak for at least 60% of the call.

Before the Call

Know these things before you dial:

Company name and approximate size (employees, crews, service area)
Whether they are owner-operated or have a GM/VP Ops
What software they appear to use (Aspire, Jobber, QuickBooks, none visible)
Whether they do commercial, residential, or both
Any recent news (hiring, expansion, new contracts)

Have ready:

Your tracking sheet open — you will take notes during the call
Demo screenshots on a second screen (in case they want to see something)
The pilot terms doc (README or pilot-terms.md) — you may need to reference pricing

Opening (2 minutes)

The opening depends on how you connected.

If Ring 1 (they know you):

“Thanks for making time, [Name]. I’ll keep this short. You know my background in the industry, so I’ll skip the long introduction. I built something I want to show you and I want your honest reaction — not a polished demo, just your gut response to whether this is a real problem you’d pay to solve.”

If Ring 2 (warm intro):

“Thanks for taking the call — [Referral Name] mentioned you might be the right person to talk to. I’ll give you 90 seconds of context and then I want to ask you a few questions, because whether this is relevant to you depends entirely on how your operations actually work.”

If Ring 3 (cold):

“Thanks for responding — I’ll be direct with you. I built a hardware system for landscape companies and I think it solves a specific problem you probably deal with. I want to spend 5 minutes asking you about your operations, and if what I built isn’t relevant, I’ll tell you that and we’ll both get our time back.”

90-Second Context Statement

Deliver this once, clearly, without rushing. Do not expand on it yet.

“Here’s what I built: a small badge each crew member wears — same size as a work ID. It has GPS in it. Each piece of equipment — the truck, the trailer, the mower — has a small BLE tag on it. The badge records when the crew arrives at a property and when they leave. It also detects the equipment tags nearby, which confirms the crew was actually working with their gear, not just standing in the area.

At the end of the week, you have a GPS-verified record of which crew members were at which properties, for how long, and which equipment they were running — without anyone filling out a timesheet. That data goes to a dashboard on your phone or computer, and it can feed into whatever you use for payroll.”

Then stop. Do not keep talking.

Discovery Questions

Ask these in order. Do not rush to the next question until you have a real answer.

Question 1 — Current state

“Right now, when your foreman finishes a property, how does that get recorded? Walk me through what actually happens between the crew leaving the site and that time showing up in payroll.”

Listen for:

Manual paper timesheets (high pain)
Foreman texts the office (high pain)
Crew members use a phone app to clock in/out (medium pain — already aware of the problem but solution is imperfect)
GPS on the trucks (medium — property-level, not crew-level; no badge identity)
“It mostly works fine” (low pain — qualify carefully or disqualify)

Question 2 — Pain frequency

“How often does something go sideways with that process? I mean a time entry that doesn’t match reality, a property that gets missed, a crew that clocked out before the job was done — anything like that.”

Listen for:

Specific examples with dollar amounts or employee names (high pain, high trust signal)
“It’s a constant thing” vs. “occasionally” (frequency indicates priority)
Stories about buddy punching, crews leaving early, or jobs marked complete before the crew arrived (these are the anchor stories for the value prop)

Question 3 — Impact

“When that happens — when you find out a property got skipped or hours don’t add up — what does that cost you? I mean literally: rework charged to you, a client complaint, an overpaid timesheet?”

If they give a number, remember it. You will reference it later in the call. If they hedge, probe once: “Even a rough estimate — last time it happened, what did it end up costing?”

Question 4 — Current attempts

“Have you tried to solve this before? An app, a different timekeeping system, anything?”

Listen for:

What they tried and why it failed (crew adoption gap is the most common failure mode)
What they wish it had done differently
Whether they gave up or are still looking

Key failure pattern: “We tried [app] but the crews wouldn’t use it.” This is your opening — the badge requires zero action from the crew.

Question 5 — Decision making

“If something like this was working the way I described — who on your side would make the call to actually move forward with it? Is that you, or is there someone else I should include?”

This is a must-ask. If the person you are talking to is not the decision maker, find out now. Do not pitch to someone who cannot say yes.

Question 6 — Timing

“Are you actively trying to solve this problem right now, or is it more of a ‘someday’ thing for you?”

This separates active prospects from curious ones. Both are worth tracking. Active = follow up fast. Curious = keep warm, re-engage in 60 days.

The Pivot to the Pilot Offer

Only make this offer if:

The pain is real (they gave you a specific example)
They are the decision maker or can get you in front of one
The timing is active or near-term

“Based on what you’ve described, I think what I’ve built is directly relevant to you. Here’s what I’m doing with the first few partners:

I’m running a 90-day pilot for $1,500. That covers the hardware, the setup, and my direct involvement throughout the pilot. I’ll be the one monitoring your badge uptime, flagging anything unusual, and making sure the data is useful before the 90 days are up.

I have a specific list of what success looks like — crew coverage rate, GPS accuracy, whether the data could actually help you resolve a payroll question. If those metrics aren’t met, I’ll refund the $1,500. No conversation needed — it just goes back.

I’m looking for two or three companies to start this spring. Would you be open to seeing the actual system before you decide anything?”

Objection Handling

“I already have GPS on my trucks.”

“That’s useful for route tracking — you know where the truck went. But the truck staying on the street while two crew members work a property looks identical to the truck being on the street while the crew is eating lunch. The badge is crew-level and property-level. It tells you which person was at which property, not just whether the truck drove through the area.”

“My crews won’t wear another thing.”

“That’s the most common pushback I hear, and it’s a fair one. Two things I’d say: first, the badge is passive — it doesn’t require the crew to do anything. No clocking in, no tapping, no phone. They wear it like a work ID. Second, in the pilot I handle the crew introduction personally. I explain to the crew what it does and what it doesn’t do. Most crews respond better than owners expect once they understand it’s not surveillance — it’s a payroll protection tool for them too.”

“What if the hardware breaks?”

“We replace it. The pilot kit has spare badges. Any badge that fails during the 90 days gets replaced at no additional cost. The refund guarantee also covers hardware failure — if we can’t keep the system running, you get the money back.”

“Why is it $1,500? That seems like a lot to test something.”

“It’s not a freemium trial — it’s a real deployment. The hardware has real cost, the cellular data has ongoing cost, and I’m personally involved for 90 days. The $1,500 reflects that. The reason I’m including a full refund guarantee is because I want you to be willing to say yes knowing you’re not taking the risk — I am.”

“I don’t have time to deal with new technology right now.”

“I understand. The setup takes one half-day on your end — an hour for the badge introduction with your crew, and that’s it. After that, the system runs. You check the dashboard when you want to. There’s no ongoing work required from you or your team. If you’re in the middle of busy season, the pilot can start when you’re ready — I’m not pushing a specific start date.”

“Send me something to look at.”

“I’ll send you a one-page overview and the pilot terms today. Before I do — is there a specific question you want the document to answer, or a specific part of the operation you want to see addressed? I’d rather send you something targeted than a generic overview.”

This keeps the conversation going and tells you what they actually need to see to move forward.

Close the Call

You are closing for a next step, not for the pilot.

If the call went well:

“I want to set up a 30-minute working session where I walk you through the actual system — not a sales demo, just the real thing. You tell me what a normal week looks like for your crews and I show you exactly what the data would look like. Does [day] or [day] work for you?”

If they are interested but not ready:

“I hear you — the timing isn’t right yet. Can I check back in with you in [30 / 60] days? And is it okay if I send you a quick update when we have the first pilot results from another company — so you can see what the data looks like before you commit to anything?”

If they are not a fit:

“I appreciate you being straight with me — that saves us both time. If you run across another owner who is dealing with this problem and you think they’d want to hear about it, I’d appreciate the introduction. And I’ll keep you on a short list — if we end up building something more relevant to how you operate, I’ll let you know.”

After the Call — Within 24 Hours

Update the tracking sheet with: date, what they said, pain level (1–5), next step
Send the follow-up message (see below)
If they agreed to a demo: send the calendar invite immediately

Follow-Up Message (Same Day or Next Morning)

Email subject: Following up — Actual pilot

Hi [Name],

Thanks for the conversation today. You mentioned [specific thing they said about their pain — foreman timesheets, property skips, the payroll dispute in October]. That’s exactly the problem I built this to solve.

Attached is a one-page overview of how the system works and the pilot terms. The key things to know:

90 days, $1,500

I handle the setup and the crew introduction

Full refund if the defined metrics aren’t met

[If demo scheduled:] Looking forward to our session on [date/time]. I’ll send a link for that call shortly.

[If not yet scheduled:] I’d like to set up 30 minutes to walk you through the real system. Would [day] or [day] work?

Thanks again, Greg Ehrenberg greg@limosa.work [phone]

Qualification Scorecard

Score each prospect before investing more than one follow-up call.

Criterion	0	1	2
Pain is specific (named event or dollar amount)	No example given	Vague / “sometimes”	Specific story or number
Decision maker on the call	Not the DM, won’t connect you	Partial influence	Is the DM or controls access
Timing is active	“Someday”	“Later this year”	“Now / this season”
Crew size in range (10–50 employees)	Under 10 or over 100	50–100 (more complex)	10–50
Current method is manual	Uses GPS or digital app	Hybrid	Pure manual

Score 8–10: Priority — move fast, offer demo within 5 days Score 5–7: Nurture — stay in contact, re-qualify in 30–60 days Score 0–4: Close — send a polite note, do not invest more time