This page replaces the downloadable Word facilitator guide — it is the current source of truth for running this session.
1 Session at a glance
Format
Live virtual (Teams/Zoom). One shared room for the full session — no breakout rooms. Cameras on. 8–20 participants ideal; interaction runs through chat, live polls, and volunteer role-play in front of the group.
Length
45 minutes, chunked so something interactive happens every ~8 minutes (Pike 90/20/8).
Pre-work (required)
Learners have read the Week 2 module and worked the shared sanitized lead through the interactive Go/No-Go Worksheet. They arrive with a read (strengths vs. open questions), a named pursuit type, a quick value read, an estimated net revenue, and an honest win probability.
You will need
The shared sanitized lead + RFP excerpt; the Go/No-Go Worksheet open and screen-shareable; the slide deck; a live poll or chat tool for whole-room input; the Week 2 Quick Reference Guide's WSE Process primer, screen-shareable.
Outcome
Each participant can run the Go/No-Go honestly, defend a win probability out loud, price a pursuit to the value it carries, say “No-Go” to tempting work without flinching — and state plainly which Go/No-Go steps are mandatory every time versus where judgment is expected.
2 What participants will be able to do
- —Decide. Run Weston & Sampson's Go/No-Go honestly — including the two hard gates that override any read, no matter how strong it is.
- —Calibrate. State an estimated net revenue and an honest win probability, and defend both to peers.
- —Refuse well. Recognize a tempting-but-wrong pursuit and decline it with confidence, naming the real cost of a bad “Go.”
- —Price it. Name the pursuit type, read the value on three dimensions, and say where the price actually gets decided.
- —Follow the process. State without hedging which Go/No-Go steps are mandatory every time — the two hard gates, the two separate decisions, naming the pursuit type — versus where judgment is expected.
3 Run of show
The whole session runs in one shared room — no breakout rooms; interaction comes from chat, live polls, and volunteers practicing in front of the group.
| Start | Time | Segment | What happens | Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0:00 | 5 min | Cold open & frame | Open on the screen: “Roughly how many technical hours did your group spend last year on proposals you didn’t win?” Take 2–3 numbers in chat. Reframe: every proposal is a withdrawal from the same account that pays our salaries — and our ownership. | Slides 1–3 |
| 0:05 | 6 min | Calibrate on the shared lead | Reveal the group's pre-work reads for the shared lead (poll or chat) — who's pursuing, who's pausing, and why. Display the spread. Ask the most-confident and most-hesitant participant to say one sentence on their read. Do NOT resolve yet. | Slide 4 + Worksheet |
| 0:11 | 7 min | Reconcile win probability (whole room) | Whole room, no breakout: everyone types their win probability into chat/poll at the same time, before any discussion. Display the spread live. Call on the highest and lowest number to state their evidence. Reconcile live to a single number. | Slide 5 |
| 0:18 | 5 min | Price the value & name the pursuit type | Ask: is this qualifications-based, an RFP, or a direct appeal — and where does that put the pricing decision? Whole room types value read into chat at once. Call on 2–3 contrasting answers. Land it: opportunity read protects hours; value read protects price. | Slide 6 |
| 0:23 | 8 min | Skill practice — the hard No-Go (fishbowl) | Present a tempting opportunity that fails a hard gate. Everyone drafts an opening line in chat privately first. Two volunteers then role-play live for the whole group. Debrief the language that worked as one discussion; run a second round if time allows. | Slides 7–8 |
| 0:31 | 5 min | Defend a number | Popcorn round: 4–5 participants each state estimated net revenue + win probability for the shared lead and defend it in two sentences. Group may challenge once each. | Slide 9 |
| 0:36 | 2 min | Recap | Restate the throughline in one sentence. Ask one volunteer to say it back in their own words — the teach-back is the proof it landed. Quick fist-to-five: how confident is the room running a real Go/No-Go tomorrow? | Slide 10 |
| 0:38 | 5 min | WSE process & expectations — say it straight | Screen-share the Week 2 Quick Reference Guide's WSE Process primer. Walk it top to bottom, no editorializing. State plainly that this is the process, not a suggestion. This part is intentionally dry; the discipline lives in the repetition. | Slide 11 |
| 0:43 | 2 min | Close & bridge | Restate the throughline. Pose the challenge question. Bridge to Week 3: sharpening the two numbers the Go/No-Go demanded — revenue/effort forecasting and honest win probability. | Slide 12 |
4 Facilitator notes by segment
Cold open (0:00)
Say / ask: “What did chasing the wrong work actually cost us last year — in hours we’ll never bill?”
Watch for: Defensiveness. Keep it blameless — the point is the system, not any one bad call. Land the line: pursuit isn't free.
Calibrate (0:05)
Say / ask: “Same lead, same worksheet — why did our reads land so far apart?”
Watch for: The gap usually lives in Section B (positioning) and the win probability. That gap is the lesson; resist closing it too quickly. (Law 2 — let their own data make the case.)
Reconcile win probability (0:11)
Say / ask: “What evidence — not hope — supports that percentage?”
Watch for: Answers anchoring on “we're good at this” instead of relationship, incumbency, or capture history. Push for evidence, live, in the open — there's no breakout room to retreat to.
Price the value & name the pursuit type (0:18)
Say / ask: “Is this lead qualifications-based, an RFP, or a direct appeal — and where does that put the pricing decision?”
Watch for: Groups treating value as a feeling instead of a read on three dimensions. Press for the specific dimension driving the read, and for where the price actually gets set.
Skill practice — the hard No-Go (fishbowl) (0:23)
Say / ask: “You have to tell a principal who wants this badly that it's a No-Go. What do you say in the first 15 seconds?”
Watch for: Apologizing or hedging. Coach toward: name the gate, name the cost of ignoring it, offer the alternative. This is the behavior-change rep (Law 4).
Defend a number (0:31)
Say / ask: “Net revenue and win probability — give me both, and defend them in two sentences.”
Watch for: Round numbers with no basis. A good defense cites the form, the relationship, and the competition. Praise honest low numbers as much as confident high ones.
Recap (0:36)
Say / ask: “In one sentence — what's the throughline of today's session?” Call on a volunteer; don't answer it yourself.
Watch for: Silence or a vague paraphrase — both mean the idea hasn't landed yet. Spend the extra 20 seconds here rather than in the process segment next. (Law 5 — teaching it back is the proof.)
WSE process & expectations — say it straight (0:38)
Say / ask: Nothing — this segment is a statement, not a discussion. Read the WSE Process primer straight, top to bottom.
Watch for: The instinct to soften mandatory steps with “usually” or “it depends.” For the hard gates, the separate decisions, and the pursuit-type call, there is no “it depends” — say so plainly.
5 Anticipated pushback & responses
| You'll hear… | Respond with… |
|---|---|
| “The form is just bureaucracy.” | It's the opposite — it's how a gut call becomes a number the whole firm can trust and plan against. Skipping it doesn't save time; it hides risk. |
| “We should chase everything — you miss every shot you don't take.” | Every shot costs senior hours we could bill or spend on winnable work. The Go/No-Go isn't about timidity; it's about aiming. |
| “My win probability is always 50%.” | 50% is usually code for “I haven't looked.” Anchor it to evidence: relationship, incumbency, who helped write the RFP, the competition. |
| “Marketing will sort out the fee later.” | Profitability isn't optional — it's Section C for a reason. A win we can't deliver profitably isn't a win; it's a loss with a press release. |
| “We'll just match the competitor's price.” | Matching price throws away the value read. If we're uniquely positioned, a premium is earned, not greedy — and quals-based work is won on that value before price is ever negotiated. |
6 Exercise sheet — the shared lead (facilitator copy)
Distribute the sanitized lead and RFP excerpt before the session. Replace bracketed items with the real sanitized lead from WSE.
Exercise A — Work it through (pre-work, reviewed live)
- —Sections A–D, worked as yes/no judgments — no total score. Two hard gates in Section A are decisive stop signals, no matter how strong the rest of the read is.
- —Capture the essentials. Your read, the pursuit type, a quick value read, estimated net revenue, and honest win probability.
- —Flag the tension. The one place you were tempted to talk yourself into a “Go.”
Exercise B — Reconcile (whole room)
- —Submit first. Type a win probability for the shared lead into chat/poll before any discussion — so nobody anchors on the first voice.
- —Reconcile live. As one group, agree on a single number and one piece of evidence behind it — not the hope.
Exercise C — Price it (whole room, quick)
- —Name the pursuit type. Qualifications-based, RFP, or direct appeal — and say where that puts the pricing decision.
- —Read the value. High, medium, or low on uniqueness of fit, client experience, and business return — and say what that read should do to the fee.
Exercise D — The hard No-Go (fishbowl demonstration)
- —Scenario: a tempting opportunity that fails a hard gate (e.g., not licensed individually in the project state, or the only qualified lead is unavailable for two of three proposal weeks).
- —Two volunteers role-play delivering the No-Go to an eager principal, live, in front of the whole group, while everyone else drafts their own opening line in chat. Debrief as one discussion; run a second pair if time allows.