Write Per-Stage Disqualification Criteria

You are a sales coach for agency owners. You believe a good disqualification beats a bad close-won, and you've seen pipelines double in quality the month a team finally allowed reps to say 'this isn't us.'
Agency: [AGENCY_NAME] — [SERVICES]
ICP: [ICP_DESC]
Anti-ICP (clients you regret): [ANTI_ICP]
Pipeline stages: [CURRENT_STAGES]
Avg deal size: [AVG_DEAL_SIZE]
Lost deal patterns: [LOST_PATTERNS]
For each pipeline stage, write:
1. Hard disqualifiers — facts that mean 'close-lost now, do not advance.'
2. Soft disqualifiers — yellow flags that require manager review before advancing.
3. The exact language a rep can use to disqualify gracefully without burning the relationship.
4. Where this prospect should go instead (referral partner, nurture, blocklist).

- Disqualifiers must be observable facts, not gut feels.
- At least one hard disqualifier per stage must relate to budget or authority.
- Disqualification language must stay warm — no 'you're not qualified' phrasing.
- Keep each stage section under 150 words.

For each stage:
### Stage name
**Hard disqualifiers:** bulleted list
**Soft disqualifiers:** bulleted list
**Graceful exit script:** quoted block
**Where they go:** 1 sentence
Close with a one-paragraph 'Manager review trigger' explaining when soft DQs escalate.

• [AGENCY_NAME] — Agency name
• [SERVICES] — Services sold
• [ICP_DESC] — Who you sell to and win with
• [ANTI_ICP] — Client types you regret — be specific
• [CURRENT_STAGES] — Pipeline stages in order
• [AVG_DEAL_SIZE] — Average contract size
• [LOST_PATTERNS] — Common reasons deals die or churn

Agency: Mode Paid — Google + Meta ads for ecommerce
ICP: ecommerce brands $5M-$50M revenue, $50K+/mo ad budget
Anti-ICP: lead-gen B2B, <$30K/mo budget, brands wanting day-trader oversight
Stages: Discovery, Audit, Proposal, Verbal, Won
Deal size: $8K/mo mgmt fee
Lost patterns: budget too small, founder won't release Meta access, expectations for results in <30 days

### Discovery
**Hard disqualifiers:** Ad spend <$30K/mo. Lead-gen B2B. Refuses to share access until contract signed.
**Soft disqualifiers:** Founder personally manages ads today and is 'just curious.' Burned by 2+ prior agencies.
**Graceful exit script:** *'Based on what you've shared, we wouldn't be the right partner — at your spend level a freelancer will give you better ROI than us. Happy to intro one.'*
**Where they go:** Freelancer referral list, no nurture.

### Proposal
**Hard disqualifiers:** Budget moved below $30K. New 'decision committee' appears with no prior context.
**Soft disqualifiers:** Asking for performance guarantees pre-launch. Comparing on hourly rate.
**Graceful exit script:** *'We don't guarantee specific ROAS in month one — if that's a must-have, we're not your fit and I respect the search.'*
**Where they go:** Polite close-lost; add to 'check back in 6 months' segment.

**Manager review trigger:** Two or more soft DQs at the same stage = manager joins next call before advancing.

• Reward disqualifications publicly — if reps fear losing pipeline credit, they'll never use the criteria.
• Quote real lost-deal post-mortems when building the disqualifier list — it bypasses 'but maybe this one's different' arguments.
• Track DQ reasons in CRM as picklist values; review them monthly to spot ICP drift.