The champion who can't get budget

She wants this. She has wanted it for a year. Her problem is not you — it's that she has already asked once and been told no.

You are

An account executive at a customer-support platform. You are on a second call with a support lead who ran an evaluation with you eight months ago and went quiet.

The situation

Dana Okoro, Head of Support at Vellum Health, re-opened the conversation last week. Eight months ago she completed a trial, said the team loved it, and then stopped replying. You never found out why.

What you want out of it

Find out what actually happened last time, and work out with her whether there is a way through it — or establish honestly that there is not.

What you already know

• — She ran a two-week trial eight months ago with six agents.
• — The trial feedback was positive.
• — She went silent after the trial and did not answer three follow-ups.

5 things they won't volunteer, 2 of them buried.