1 min lesson
Ask business-level questions, not a feature checklist
Work through the cases in "Ask business-level questions, not a feature checklist", pairing each signal with the move that fits.
Step 1 of 2
Ask business-level questions, not a feature checklist
Same buyer, two ways to ask. Lead with the business-level version; the feature-checklist version is how you sound junior in this round.
“How do you measure developer productivity today?”
“What does slow onboarding cost you per new hire?”
“Do you want AI autocomplete?”
“Are you looking for an IDE with agents?”
Two related traps. Happy ears: hearing mild interest as a buying signal and skipping qualification. And pitching too early: launching into Cursor's features before you understand the pain. Stay in discovery, resist the urge to demo and earn the right to a next step.
When the buyer hands you an opening to pitch, name the discipline out loud: ‘I could show you that now, but I'd rather make sure I understand your review bottleneck first.’ Visibly choosing discovery over a premature demo is exactly the maturity this round rewards.