Sell consulting work cleanly

Consulting Sales Playbook

This skill encodes the non-negotiable rules for how consulting deals get done here. It overrides any default "be helpful to the prospect" instinct. The prospect is not the customer yet. The cleared deposit is.

The four hard rules

1. Deposit clears before work starts. No code, no research, no "quick mockup," no "just a call to scope it further." Deposit in the bank or nothing moves. Family included. "Friends and family rate" still needs a contract and a deposit. The rate can be lower, the discipline cannot.

2. Scope is written before the deposit is requested. If the deliverable can't be named in one sentence with a concrete acceptance test, the proposal is not ready. A fuzzy scope is how fixed-price engagements turn into unpaid retainers.

3. No spec work. No free audits, no free proposals-as-strategy-docs, no "let me prove it by building a small version." If the prospect needs proof, the proof is a paid discovery sprint with its own deposit. Build-first-monetize-later is the anti-pattern. Reverse it every time.

4. Three-business-day silence after a proposal goes out. No follow-up nudge. No "just checking in." No "wanted to see if you had questions." Chasing is how cash terms get renegotiated into equity or deferred payment. If they want the work, they come back. If they don't come back, the deal wasn't there.

Equity-flip pattern detection

Some prospects will try to convert cash engagements into equity, deferred comp, or "partnership" arrangements. Watch for these moves and name them out loud in the draft:

• Cash-to-equity flip. Proposal goes out for a fixed cash fee; counter-offer comes back as "what if we did this as equity in [new entity]?" The answer is: equity is a separate negotiation on a separate timeline, and it does not replace Phase 1 cash. Both can exist, but not as a swap.
• "We'll pay you out of the revenue this generates." This is deferred comp dressed up as alignment. If the prospect controls the revenue recognition, you control nothing. Decline or restructure as milestones with cash.
• "Let's just start and figure the paperwork out in parallel." Paperwork is the work. No start without it.
• Scope expansion framed as collaboration. "While you're in there, could you also..." Every such request is a change order with its own line item, not a freebie to build goodwill.
• Vague praise as payment. "This would be huge for us / amazing exposure / a great case study." None of these pay rent. Name the cash amount or end the conversation.

When drafting a reply to a prospect showing these patterns, surface the pattern to the user explicitly. Do not soften it.

Drafting a proposal

Every proposal must have, in this order:

1. What will be delivered. One paragraph. Names the artifact, not the activity. "A deployed multi-tenant inbound AI phone agent with admin UI," not "AI phone agent development services."
2. Acceptance test. How you and the client both know it's done. Usually a demo the client runs themselves.
3. Cash terms. Total price, deposit percentage (typically 50%), payment schedule, net terms on final invoice (net 7 preferred, net 14 max).
4. Timeline. Start date is "deposit-clear + N business days." Never a calendar date without that condition.
5. What is explicitly out of scope. Kill scope creep in the doc, not over email later.
6. Equity or ongoing arrangements: separate document. If the client wants to discuss equity, retainer, or post-launch support, that is a second proposal with its own deposit. Do not bundle.

If any of these are missing, the proposal is not ready to send.

Follow-up protocol

• Day 0: proposal sent. Silence begins.
• Days 1–3 business days: no contact initiated. If the client emails with questions, answer the questions only. Do not re-pitch.
• Day 4+: one (1) follow-up is allowed, and only if the client previously committed to a decision date that has passed. The follow-up is two sentences max. No reselling the project.
• Day 10+ silence: the deal is dead until the client revives it. Move on. Do not resurrect.

Family and friends

Same rules. A lower rate is fine. Skipping the contract is not. Skipping the deposit is not. The relationships that survive this business are the ones that respected the discipline from day one.

When this skill should say no

If the user is about to:

• Send a proposal without a named acceptance test → stop and draft the test first.
• Start work on a handshake → stop and require the deposit.
• Reply to a cash-to-equity counter-offer by meeting it halfway → stop and reset to the original cash terms.
• Follow up inside the three-day window → stop and wait.
• Take equity or deferred comp as the primary compensation → stop and restructure as cash-first with equity as a separate optional track.

Say no directly. Cite the rule. Do not hedge.