Years ago, I did some consulting with some fisheries management guys.

At the heart of the matter was a common lack of understanding among many pond owners that using consulting services actually costs money; in other words, many people were not ready to open their wallets to get expert advice or services.

Another part of the problem is that some of these fisheries guys were one-man shops, or limited in resources. So, with little time to waste, one needed to filter through all the 'noise' and get to the customers who were willing/expecting to pay for goods and services.

For one businessman, the solution was to quickly 'qualify' the potential customer over the phone with some key questions, to determine if that potential customer would spend money or not.

One of the first questions to the caller was "Have you ever paid a lake, pond, or fisheries consultant before?" This worked very, very well for that businessman as it enabled him to quickly cease wasting time with someone who was not yet ready to purchase goods or services.

Excerpt from Robert Crais' "The Monkey's Raincoat:"
"She took another microscopic bite of her sandwich, then pushed it away. Maybe she absorbed nutrients from her surroundings."