Diagnosis

The agent books appointments without exploring customer intent, leaving critical information gaps before committing to a site visit.

Session objective

The objective of the session is to help the group see how little they actually know about a customer after a vetting call when curiosity and open questions are absent. Help the agents connect shallow qualification to a concrete business cost — a wasted drive to a customer who may not be ready to buy. Get the coachees to commit to asking deeper, more open questions in future vetting calls, particularly around what drove the customer's interest and whether they have explored other options.

Session tactics

Play the full vetting call to the group without interruption. After the call, draw the loop on the board and ask the room what is actually known about the customer, mapping responses into Q1 to make the information gaps visible. Go around the room asking what questions were not asked and could have been. When Q1 is visibly sparse, invite the group to articulate what would need to be known before committing to a visit — let the room feel the risk of driving out without that information. If the agent whose call was played does not notice they are talking over the customer, play the call a second time and direct attention to that specific moment. Close by asking the group what they will do differently on their next vetting call and draw out specific question types as shared commitments.

Behaviour observations

• The agent asks basic questions on the vetting call but does not explore what drove the customer's interest.
• The agent talks over the customer on several occasions during the call.
• The agent moves to book an appointment before establishing the customer's level of intent, competing quotes, or timeline.
• The agent does not ask whether the customer has spoken to or received quotes from other providers.

Experiments

• On the next vetting call, ask the customer what drove them to respond to the outreach and what is making them think about getting solar panels now.
• Before agreeing to a site visit, ask the customer whether anyone else has been to their home to quote or whether they are currently speaking to other providers.
• Listen to the customer's full answer before moving to schedule an appointment, and do not interrupt to progress the booking.
• Ensure you really qualify the customer before going out on an appointment