Step 2 · Opportunity finding

You do not have to ask clever questions.
You just have to notice things.

Every deal starts with something in the first five minutes of a normal visit. Tick what you spot. The bar tells you what to do next.

Look for these

Things you can see

Every one is a paper problem showing itself.

Paper stacked beside the copier The scan pile. Scanning is too slow to do live. Someone standing at the machine, waiting Ask how long. That answer is the pitch. A wall or room of files and archive boxes Every box is a job. A desktop scanner next to a big Sharp Someone gave up on the MFP. A printout covered in highlighter They print to mark up. Courier bags or sign-here flag pads Paper is leaving to get signed. Folders called Scans, Scans2, TO FILE Scans land and stop. A handwritten sign on the copier Their pain, in their handwriting. Boxes in a room that should be an office That floor space has a rent number.

Listen for these

Things you will hear

Write it down word for word, then use their own sentence back at them.

“We scan it, then we can’t find it.” Scanfu is literally the answer. “That machine is tied up for hours.” Get the page count. “We print it, mark it up, scan it back.” That whole loop disappears. “We have to black out the private bits.” Redaction. Big one. “Only Sandra knows where those files are.” Key-person risk. “The auditor asked and it took two days.” They already admit the failure. “We drove it over for a signature.” Straight into example two. “We’re running out of room.” Floor space is money. “Legal want it numbered and searchable.” Nobody else can say yes.

Your read on this account

0 signals ticked

Nothing yet

Tick what you noticed. Nothing yet? Ask the five questions below.

Urgency

What makes it happen this quarter

Pain gets a meeting. One of these gets a signature. None of them? Park it.

A court deadline or discovery bundleAn audit, accreditation or OIA requestA privacy complaint or a near missOffice move or downsizeA new records or practice managerMerger, acquisition or a new branchFleet renewal or tenderThe person who knows everything retiring

If you remember nothing else

Five questions. In this order.

Ask it, then stop talking.

“When you scan a big bundle, what does the person do while it runs?”

You want “stands there”.

“If I asked for a document from 2019, how long would it take?”

Let the pause happen.

“Where do scans land, and who else can see them?”

Usually a drive everyone can open.

“Does anyone print something out just to mark it up?”

Opens markup and redaction.

“How much of this building is storing paper?”

Turns it into a rent problem.

You do not have to ask clever questions. You just have to notice things.

Things you can see

Things you will hear

What makes it happen this quarter

Five questions. In this order.

You do not have to ask clever questions.
You just have to notice things.