Answer them honestly rather than aspirationally. The one that is hardest to answer is usually the finding.
READ 01 / DIRECTION
Which way is revenue moving?
Growing and nobody can explain it is the one to worry about. It means the result is not attributable, which means it is not repeatable.
POINTS AT · FRAMES THE OTHER FIVE
READ 02 / VOLUME
Are there enough first meetings?
Enough to hit the number if the close rate held. Most teams cannot answer this, which is itself the answer.
POINTS AT · TARGETING, MOTION SELECTION, THE TARGET LIST
READ 03 / CONVERSION
What happens to the meetings you do get?
They go quiet is qualification. You lose to a named competitor is enablement. They were never real is targeting again.
POINTS AT · QUALIFICATION, ENABLEMENT, OR TARGETING
READ 04 / THE STALL
Is there a stage where deals go to die?
One specific stage is the most diagnosable shape there is. Stalling everywhere means the stages do not mean anything consistent.
POINTS AT · STAGE DEFINITIONS, EXIT CRITERIA, THE ENTRY GATE
READ 05 / SIZE
What is happening to deal size?
Shrinking is a packaging problem far more often than a discounting problem, though it always presents as discounting.
POINTS AT · PRICING, PACKAGING, WHAT GETS BOUGHT
READ 06 / THE BASE
How much of last year’s growth came from customers you already had?
Almost none is the most common answer and the most expensive. New logo revenue costs several times what expansion costs.
POINTS AT · EXPANSION, THE POST-CLOSE MOTION, CHURN SIGNAL
The full framework, including what each answer points at and the seventh answer when three or more come back as “we do not know”, is published in full at The Six Reads.