{"id":1063,"slug":"gc-pattern-matching-not-roi-spreadsheets","title":"GC cognitive default is pattern-matched stories, not ROI spreadsheets — implication for pitch structure","kind":"reference","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["kevin","candid-team"],"topics":["agency-methodology","gc-vertical","psychology-aversion","naturalistic-decision-making"],"reference_body":"**Claim:** Marketing arguments structured as **pattern-matched stories** (\"here is the project we did for a contractor like you; here is what changed\") will land better with a GC than marketing arguments structured as **ROI spreadsheets**, *even when the spreadsheet is more rigorous*. The cognitive default — per [[klein-rpd-1985-fireground-naturalistic-decision-making]] and [[klein-kahneman-2009-conditions-for-intuitive-expertise]] — is recognition, not calculation.\n\n**Confidence:** Industry-consensus (well-validated across naturalistic-decision-making literature and applied sales research in trades).\n\n**For Candid:** Practical implications:\n\n- Case studies built as **narrative arcs** (problem → constraints → decisions → measured result) outperform same-data case studies presented as bullet-charts.\n- Reference clients matter more per-dollar of effort than aggregate statistics.\n- The first 60 seconds of a sales conversation should be **a story about a comparable contractor**, not a value-proposition recitation.\n- ROI math is the second-meeting tool (for the spouse / office manager — see [[gc-owner-spouse-as-primary-buyer-not-gatekeeper]]), not the first-meeting tool.\n\n**Related rule:** [[rule-lead-with-work-not-strategy-for-gc-marketing]].","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[{"slug":"research-brief-psychology-gc-marketing-aversion-may-2026","title":"Research brief: the psychology of marketing aversion among general contractor owners (May 2026 foundation)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"klein-rpd-1985-fireground-naturalistic-decision-making","title":"Klein, Calderwood & Clinton-Cirocco (1985, ARI TR-85-46-12) — Rapid Decision Making on the Fire Ground; origin of RPD model","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"}],"incoming":[]},"created_at":"2026-05-24T23:24:06.324Z","updated_at":"2026-05-24T23:24:06.324Z"}