Field card · Tue 25 Aug, 11:00am
The one job
Understand how the place actually runs.
Not to pitch. Not to quote. Not to close. Half an hour was the ask and the hour on the calendar is buffer, so do not fill it. The risk in this room is talking too much.
Four things that are true today and were not true last week.
Offer your hand first. Say this slowly.
“Mr H., Shafen Khan. Thank you for making the time. We actually met a couple of years back, I came out to your house and did the eleven-month inspection on it.”
His house, not this plant. You have never seen this building. Do not imply you have.
If he does not place you, let it go immediately. No “you probably don’t remember.” Just: “No matter, our mutual friend spoke well of you and asked me to call.” Move on.
“Could you show me the floor?”
He built it over 34 years. A man showing you his life’s work is a different conversation than a man across a desk.
You are not from this industry. That is fine. The move is not to sound like you are.
Use four or five of these correctly and ask about the rest. With a man who has done this for 34 years, one wrong term costs you more than ten missing ones. What signals you did the reading is using the right noun inside a good question, not spraying vocabulary.
If he says a word you don't know, ask. “Sorry, what does that mean in your world?” That reads as respect, not ignorance. Never nod through a word you didn't catch.
Precise, and they force real answers. Pick from these rather than improvising jargon.
“What's your MOQ, and does it change by format?”
MOQ = minimum order quantity. This is the gate the referrer thinks is killing deals.
“When someone comes to you, are they bringing their own formula, or are you doing the bench work?”
Separates private label from custom formulation. Completely different businesses.
“How much of the business is turnkey versus fill-only?”
Turnkey = formula, fill, components, labels, finished sellable units.
“Where do most enquiries die? Is it MOQ, cost per unit, or lead time?”
The single best question on this card. Ask it exactly like that.
“How long from bench sample to first production run?”
Bench sample = the first small lab batch a client tries.
“Do you source the componentry, or does the client bring it?”
Componentry = bottles, caps, pumps, closures, cartons. Who buys it moves a lot of margin.
Read once. You only need to recognise them when he says them.
The order matters. Three, four and five are the ones that pay.
“What made you start thinking about the website now?”
Why now.
“When a new brand becomes a customer, how do they usually find you?”
Is inbound even a thing here.
“Walk me through what happens from first enquiry to first production run.”the real one
Surfaces the whole process without you naming it. Let him talk.
“How many enquiries are a fit? What makes one not a fit?”ask like you mean it
The referrer says the binding constraint is a ~5,000 piece minimum plus a unit cost high enough to kill deals. If that is true, a website does not touch it. Let him tell you. Do not name the number.
“Of the accounts you have now, how did the best ones come to you?”
Relationship or inbound. This tells you what actually generates revenue.
“What would have to be true a year from now for this to have been worth doing?”
His goal, in his words. Write it down verbatim.
“Who else should I meet here?”
Warm, not a challenge. He may be founder rather than President. Do not raise that, and do not correct him if he calls himself President. Just find out who else is in the building.
“What formats do you fill? Do you make anything somebody swallows?”
Sounds like plain curiosity and is worth real money. They publish topicals and health beverages but not capsules, tablets or powders. If they do oral dose, a whole supplement network becomes reachable. If not, it is zero. Nobody outside the building can answer this.
You already have the meeting. What you need now is a second date with a date on it.
“This has been really useful. Let me go away and think properly about what would actually move the needle for you, rather than guess at it now. Can I come back to you [name a day] with how I see it?”
Get his agreement to a specific day before you leave the building. Not “I’ll send something over.” That is how a warm visit becomes nothing.
If he pushes for a number in the room: “I’d be guessing, and you’d be paying for my guess. Give me till [day].”
Any one of these costs you the room.
Only if he asks. Offer to make the site say only what he can substantiate. It is genuinely protective, costs him nothing, and needs no mention of the regulatory matter at all.
Attach the next step in the same breath: “that’s the first thing I’d want to get right, and it’s part of any rebuild.” Never leave a gap after it.
Five minute voice memo in the lot. Do not skip it and do not drive first. The texture is gone within the hour and the texture is the asset. Calendar block is at 12:00.