"Thanks for the time. Here's how this call works: I want to understand what's broken, and if I can fix it I'll tell you exactly what it costs. If I can't, I'll tell you that too. Fair?"
"Walk me through the last time it broke. What did that cost you — in money, in hours, in customers?"
"Show me where the manual work lives. Who does it? How often? What happens when they're out?"
Listen for the number. Every integration has a cost-of-broken. Get them to say it out loud. "$3,900" needs to sound small next to it.
"Here's what I'd do. Three weeks, fixed price: $3,900.
Week one, I map every system and every data flow, and you sign off on the spec — so there's zero ambiguity about what you're getting. Week two, I build it: the connections, the error handling, the monitoring. Week three, I break it on purpose — failure drills, duplicate tests, load tests — then I hand you the docs, the runbook, and a recorded walkthrough. Your team can run it without me."
"You're not buying code. You're buying a business process that works, that's visible when it fails, has a named owner, and doesn't depend on me forever."
"Compared to what it costs you every month it's broken? You told me [their number]. This pays for itself in [X weeks]." — never defend the price without their number next to it.
"I can do less scope, not less quality. Tell me which flows matter most and I'll re-scope the proposal. But I don't cut the testing — that's what you're paying for."
"Then I fix it. The acceptance criteria are written before I build, you sign them, and I don't get the final $1,950 until every test passes. My money is on the line too."
"Of course. What's the part you're unsure about?" — handle the real objection, not the stall.
"I'll send the proposal tonight — scope, price, timeline, all in writing. If it looks right, the deposit is $1,950 and we start [date]. Any reason that wouldn't work?"
Never leave without: a next step, a date, and the name of the person who signs.