Red Flags

Hard nos, yellow flags, green flags for qualifying prospects

Version 1 · June 29, 2026 salesicp

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# Red Flags — When to Walk Away

_Parent: ICP & Targeting_

Disqualifiers worth catching early so we don't waste cycles on bad-fit prospects.

## Hard nos

- **"We're getting quotes from 4 vendors"** — RFP shopping = race to bottom = our pricing won't survive. Walk.
- **"Our IT team has to approve everything"** — committee selling = 9-month cycle, often dies in legal review.
- **"Can you do it for $15K?"** — they're not buying value, they're shopping price. Walk.
- **"We just need a quick prototype"** — prototypes don't pay $47K and don't ship. Walk.

## Yellow flags (worth probing)

- **"We've tried this before with another vendor"** — ask what went wrong. If "they delivered something that didn't work," good — we can be different. If "we never finished spec'ing it," that's on them and will happen again.
- **"Our process is too custom"** — no, it isn't. Every contractor says this. But ask them to walk you through it. If after 20 minutes you genuinely cannot find a pattern, then maybe walk.
- **"Email me a proposal"** before any discovery — they're shopping. Push for a 30-min call before sending anything.

## Green flags

- **"Our office manager is buried"** — concrete pain, named person.
- **"We just hired someone to do this and they quit after 6 months"** — labor problem we can solve with automation.
- **"We tried Zapier but it broke"** — they understand the category, just need a real implementation partner.
- **Owner is on the discovery call** — fast decision path.

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_Last updated: 2026-05-24_

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