> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://irisdocs.prescientlabs.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Qualification & Disqualification

> Decide whether an opportunity is worth pursuing before investing heavily in demos, proposals or unpaid solution design.

Good consultants do not try to close every prospect. They decide whether there is a real problem, a credible route to action and a fit with their delivery model.

## Qualify five things

### 1. Problem

Is there a meaningful business consequence, or only general interest in AI?

Look for cost, delay, rework, risk, lost capacity, poor service, missed revenue or inability to scale.

### 2. Ownership

Who owns the outcome? A useful problem without an accountable owner often stalls.

### 3. Urgency

Why now? Useful triggers include growth, hiring pressure, system change, customer complaints, margin pressure, audit findings or an executive deadline.

### 4. Access

Can you speak to the people who understand the work and make the decision? A diagnostic without stakeholder access is likely to be weak.

### 5. Commercial fit

Can the client afford the engagement, and is the expected value large enough to justify it?

## Red flags

Consider disqualifying or slowing down when:

* the buyer wants free strategy before deciding;
* nobody can explain what problem they are solving;
* the project exists only because an executive wants “something with AI”;
* the client refuses access to relevant stakeholders;
* there is no route to implementation if the diagnostic succeeds;
* procurement conditions make the project uneconomic;
* the work requires capability you do not have.

## A simple scorecard

Score 1–5 for: problem severity, urgency, buyer ownership, stakeholder access, budget fit, implementation path and your credibility.

A low score is not automatically a no. It tells you what must change before you invest more time.

## Disqualification talk track

> I think the problem is real, but we do not yet have enough ownership or urgency to justify a diagnostic. Rather than push a project prematurely, I would suggest we revisit it when X is clearer.

Professional disqualification builds trust and protects your delivery capacity.