Listen first.
We don't pitch in the first call. We ask questions — about the business, the customers, the thing that's been bothering you for months that nobody's been able to fix. Our job is to understand the problem before we pretend to have solutions.
Sometimes this phase is short — you know exactly what you need and we confirm the scope. Sometimes it takes two or three conversations, because the real problem isn't what you thought it was. Either way, we only move forward when we're both clear on what success actually looks like.