Long enough to understand the problem, consequence, urgency and decision process without turning the first conversation into a free diagnostic. Thirty to sixty minutes is common, but the quality of the conversation matters more than a fixed duration.
Give enough context to make the demo relevant. Ask what they are trying to evaluate and which process or problem matters so you can avoid feature tourism.
It may mean insufficient value, insufficient trust, cash timing, a cheaper comparison, weak urgency or genuine budget constraint. Ask before responding.
Existing tools do not answer whether the underlying workflow is well designed or whether a specific intervention is valuable. Keep the discussion on the business problem.
When the project lacks meaningful problem ownership, the commercial terms are uneconomic, the client expects unsupported guarantees, or the required capability is outside your competence.
Assistant
Responses are generated using AI and may contain mistakes.