30 seconds · hallway
Permission
“I help shop owners find the one weekly leak — hours or money — and plug it. Not an AI pitch. Fifteen minutes this week to find yours?”
Mechanics, then the sell
The engine is trust.
The product is one cork.
You do not sell AI. You sell a plugged leak they already named.
The mechanics
Why this machine works even if you are not “the AI person.”
1. Doctor, not catalog
A pile of tools makes them feel dumb. A diagnosis makes them feel seen.
2. Two visits is the trick
First visit they sell themselves the problem. Second visit you only match a cork to that sentence.
3. Hours × hurt = the fee
Write the number down. If the leak is expensive, the setup is cheap. That is the whole ROI speech.
4. Gift first, money second
They pay for install because they already believe the map. Pitching before the gift is why “AI” gets a no.
How to sell it
The motion in the real world. Short. Local. One leak.
1. Go where owners already are
Door, meetup, a friend who knows a shop, a partner who already has trust. You are hunting conversations, not inboxes.
2. The ask is tiny
“Fifteen minutes to find the one thing that is leaking. I will not sell you a tool today.” Then shut up.
3. Never sell these words
Sell the hours back, the missed calls, the proposals they rewrite. The cork can be boring. Good.
4. The ladder after yes
Gift the find. Get paid to install. Stay as the monthly guide. Bigger shop work only after they felt the first cork.
The two sentences
Close meeting 1: “The leak is X. Give me a couple days. Let’s talk Thursday.”
Close meeting 2: “Want me to hand this off, or set it up so it is working next week?”
Time boxes are jobs
Do not write five decks. Match the room. The 15-minute find is the unit. Longer is usually product, not pitch.
3 minutes · coffee / meetup
A yes to 15
Who: owners drowning in repeat work. What: I find one leak, come back with one cork. Why two visits: I will not guess a tool on the sidewalk. Ask: 15 minutes. No invoice today.
15 minutes · meeting 1
This is not a pitch
Five questions. They talk. You write. You say the leak back in one sentence. Book Thursday. If you are still explaining AI at minute 8, you already slipped into vendor.
30 minutes · trap or return
One cork, or stop early
First visit that ran long: still the 15, then extra listening. Do not fill the rest with slides. Return visit: name, price, first step this week, the install ask. Thirty is plenty.
60–90 minutes · paid
This is the work
Full shop score or install session. If you are still convincing them to hire you, you skipped the gift. Charge, or you trained them that an hour of your brain is free.
Open seating is a repeated game
Same faces three days a week. Impression is how you sit, not a pitch. The plan is the temperature, not a script you have to finish.
Cold · first hellos
Neighbor
Name. What they are working on. Be easy to sit near. Remember one thing. No leak. No 15. Impression = you are sharp and not hunting.
Warm · they asked “what do you do?”
30 seconds, then them
One sentence about leaks, not AI. Turn it back: “What eats your week?” If they do not lean in, you are done. You will see them Thursday.
Invited · they want more
Book the 15
Do not run the five questions over their focus block. “Coffee at 2, fifteen minutes, one leak. I will not sell you a tool today.”
When you see them while you work
The desk is for work. The seam is for people. Friendship is the 8-second hello you can keep forever, not a sit-down every time you make eye contact.
Don’t know them yet
Nod until a seam
Eye contact: smile, go back to the screen. Do not introduce yourself at their laptop. Kitchen, door, printer: “I’m Rashid. I don’t think we’ve met.” Then what they’re working on. Stop. You will see them again.
You already know them
Look up. Greet. Close.
Ignoring them is how you kill the friendship. Eight seconds: their name, one remembered thing, your block. “Coffee after?” is the invite. If they sit down anyway, stand up and walk to coffee so their desk stays theirs.
The playbook in pictures
A shop is a bucket
Only three kinds of leak
Listen, homework, one cork
Five questions, smaller each time
Pick THE one: happens a lot × hurts a lot × the lever they chose.
One door, not a catalog
Gift the map
Classroom vs the street
Classroom is reps. The street is five owners. Skill comes from the fifth conversation, not the slide.
If you remember nothing else
- Diagnose. Don’t dump tools.
- Two visits. They name it first.
- Hours × hurt pays the fee.
- Gift the cork. Then install it.