Sales-Call Demo Flow · D6
A 5-minute call: 30-second hook, 2-minute walk, 2-minute close. Operator-side voice — Westbrook queries Goodmark, every spec attribute cited, every claim auditable. Roadmap visible on the surface. Crew doesn’t wait on Dan’s callback.
32
Plant SKUs · calibrated
4
Authority tiers
4
Agent positions
~15 hrs
Per additional grower
Cold demo
surface-a-plant-lookup.html (local) or
becomingiq.com/_demo/plant-specialist
Per-prospect
becomingiq.com/{slug}/plant-specialist/ via proto skill
Open Surface A. Sample chips visible: Redpointe Red Maple ·
Karl Foerster · Swamp White Oak ·
Winterberry Holly. Zoom 110-125% for screen-share. Keep
sample-queries.md in a second tab for failure-mode beats.
Point at the spec card top line: scientific name + cultivar + trademark + patent stack.
Click the citation tier-tag on the hardiness zone line.
Click Winterberry Holly. Point at dioecious: true right at the top of the spec card.
Point at the Alternative Finder · designed for next build card below the sourcing card. Mandatory beat · Amendment E
| Objection | Likelihood | Response |
|---|---|---|
| O1 · “Can’t I just Google this?” | High | Public answers don’t know your grower’s specific calibers, dig windows, or Dan’s calibration on Beech Leaf Disease or ALB in your region. The wedge is Goodmark’s plants, against Goodmark’s availability, with Goodmark’s register — not generic plant knowledge. |
| O2 · “Does it have all 399 SKUs?” | High | 32 today — the seed records, fully calibrated and citation-grade. Extension methodology documents how we reach 399. ~85 hours for first install; ~15 hours per additional grower. Calibrated depth on what your crews actually spec, expanding as gaps surface. |
| O3 · “What about daily availability changes?” | Medium | Today: dated xlsx refresh — freshness signal flags rows > 30 days old. v0.1 path is live-feed integration (cron or API). Typically discussed during the Dan calibration call. Not load-bearing for v0; meaningful for v0.1. |
| O4 · “Is it just an LLM with a system prompt?” | High | No. Authority-disciplined retrieval against a citation-traceable knowledge layer. Public LLMs hallucinate plant facts — wrong zones, wrong dig windows, made-up patent numbers. This agent reads the evidence layer or doesn’t write the attribute. Grounded retrieval, not smarter generation. |
| O5 · “What if a plant isn’t in the layer?” | Medium |
Agent says so honestly. Click Hostas: “This plant isn’t in Goodmark’s current calibrated knowledge layer. Want Goodmark’s availability listings, or escalate to Dan?” Two follow-up paths. Honesty over coverage. |
| O6 · “Does Dan have to maintain this?” | Medium | Methodology covers ongoing maintenance — it’s not Dan’s role to populate fields. First calibration captures his register and microclimate notes. After that, extension is a documented process. Dan’s time is the constraint we’re relieving, not the constraint we’re multiplying. |
| O7 · “What about Wilson, Fiore, MGC?” | High | Extension methodology covers them at ~15 hours per grower after the first install. v0 is Goodmark-only by scope — clean wedge, validate the pattern. Multi-grower extension is v0.1, named on the demo as the next build. |
| O8 · “Where does this run?” | Low | Demo runs at becomingiq.com/_demo/plant-specialist; production deploys per your install practice (operator dashboard, crew-side app, or grower portal). v0 is operator-side: your crew queries your grower. v0.1+ supports posture-toggle when grower-side becomes the answer for your shop. |
Same operator (Westbrook). Same family posture (operator-vs-self anchor · intelligence ON existing relationships · passive reads, not recommendations). Same authority discipline (different substrates, same trust mechanic). Same Chicagoland regional spine.
Vendor’s wedge: intra-vendor pricing intelligence + rep-quote sanity check — the “your rep is quoting ~$150 high” beat. Plant’s wedge: spec + sourcing two-stack on preferred grower with citation-grade authority — the “your crew doesn’t wait on Dan’s callback” beat. Different surfaces: Vendor’s Surface C is quote-drop; Plant’s Surface A is name-lookup.
| If you say… | Catch and reframe as |
|---|---|
| “The agent recommends planting Acer rubrum because it tolerates compacted soils” | “The agent surfaces that Acer rubrum tolerates compacted soils, cited to Morton Arboretum. Your designer decides if that matches the job spec.” |
| “Goodmark deploys this for their customers” | “Westbrook’s crew queries Goodmark — Westbrook’s preferred grower. v0 is operator-side. Grower-side deployment is documented but not in v0 demo.” |
| “The agent knows about Redpointe Red Maple from training data” | “The agent reads the evidence-layer record for Redpointe — the same authority-disciplined source Morton Arboretum’s citation would point you to. If the layer didn’t carry it, the agent wouldn’t say it.” |
| “Want me to find an alternative if Goodmark is out of stock?” | “Alternative Finder is v0.1 — designed for next build. v0 covers plant-name spec + sourcing. The roadmap affordance shows where that lands.” |
| “The agent works across all your growers — Wilson, Fiore, MGC, Goodmark” | “v0 is Goodmark-only. Extension methodology brings in Wilson, Fiore, MGC at ~15 hrs per grower. v0.1 promise; not v0 capability.” |
Redpointe Red Maple
Lead query · richest record · trademark + cultivar + patent stack
“JFS introduction. Patent-protected. Morton Arboretum cited the hardiness zones, the breeder cited the genetics, Missouri Botanical Garden cited the cultural needs. Three calipers in stock, list price published.”
Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grass
Perennial Plant of the Year 2001 · awards field · perennial category
“Perennial Plant of the Year 2001. Plant Association called it 21 years ago and it’s still the bones of half the DuPage commercial plantings.”
Swamp White Oak
Illinois native · EAB-replacement narrative · rain-garden landscape use
“Illinois native — three citations to back it. Tolerates compacted urban clay. Note flags it as a Morton Arboretum-recommended EAB replacement.”
Winterberry Holly
Dioecious gotcha · operator-must-know surfacing
“Dioecious flag is the saver. Without the male pollinator, the female cultivar doesn’t fruit. Public LLM might miss it until the customer’s already in trouble in February.”
Accolade® Elm
Morton Arboretum bred · high DED resistance · regional pride
“Bred by Morton Arboretum — twenty minutes from Westbrook’s shop. Vase form, classic American elm silhouette, high DED resistance.”
Hostas
No-match deference state · honesty-over-coverage demo beat
“No matching record. Agent says ‘Goodmark’s calibrated layer doesn’t carry this — want the availability listing OR escalate to Dan?’ Operator-deference posture in action.”
Position 1
Plant Catalog Reader
Reads materials_catalog Goodmark-scoped. Match strategy ladder: scientific exact → fuzzy → common → trademark. Returns ALL matched rows; no “best” pick.
Position 2
Availability Reader
Extracts supplier_info + size_options + import_metadata. Emits sourcing rows sorted by size. Freshness warning if last_updated > 30 days.
Position 3
Intent Matcher
Normalizes plant identity (common · scientific · trademark · patent). ICNCP formatting. Capability-boundary routing hints (design_intent · multi_grower) without enforcing.
Position 4
Specification Surfacer
Reads evidence-layer record by scientific_name. Authority discipline: cited or omitted. Assembles spec_card + sourcing_card + citations + deference posture. Reshape from Alternative Finder per Amendment C.
Schemas (5) · agent-crew architecture · standards framework (4-tier authority) · extension methodology (~85hr first / ~15hr Nth) · citation propagation rules · deference templates. No grower-specific tokens.
Compiled plants.json (32 records) · materials_catalog Goodmark-scoped rows · Dan’s register in deference strings · Surface A’s embedded 12-plant demo subset.
A Lurvey dropped from Plant Specialist v0 substrate (retail · permanent unless wholesale surfaces) B Goodmark-only v0 scope; multi-grower via extension methodology v0.1+ C Hook B+ lead surface (spec + sourcing two-stack); Position 4 reshape Alternative Finder → Specification Surfacer D Operator-side deployment posture for v0; Westbrook queries Goodmark; grower-side held in reserve E Alternative Finder roadmap-note affordance visible on demo (mandatory · “designed for next build”)
Plant Specialist v0 is Instance N of the pattern. Per the evidence-layer README, three current confirmations: Wilson’s Intelligence (production at wolfcouncil.com/wilson) · Plant Specialist (this build) · Unilock contractor blitz (verify source at use time). Candidate named capability class: Interface Agents.
Catalog-keeper graduation entry brief at _build-close/catalog-keeper-graduation-entry-2026-05-14.md — founder paste-and-confirm pending.
| A | Live Goodmark availability feed | Replace dated xlsx with cron / API. ~10-20 hrs once. Trigger: Dan calibration call. |
| B | Wilson · Fiore · MGC extension | Per-grower evidence layer + ingest + scope mapping. ~15 hrs per grower after first install. |
| C | Multi-grower cross-availability | Position 1 returns rows across growers; per-grower availability comparison. Depends on Path B. |
| D | Project Intake capture handoff | Job Measurement capture → Plant Specialist query auto-populate. ~10-20 hrs. |
| E | Synthetic persona register variation | 2-3 demo personas with different registers (CLT/ISA · Master Gardener · retail). |
| F | Posture toggle | Operator-side ↔ grower-side framing on single surface. Earns answer via real demo runs. |
Specialist Frame shared runtime shell — the “extract the common code” question. Held until N=3+ Specialists earn it (Vendor · Plant · Asset). Do not pre-resolve at N=2.
If a prospect asks about any of the above: “Not yet · would that be useful?” Capture for downstream prioritization. Don’t commit.