If you're talking to firms about automation or custom software, the first call tells you a lot. Not because of what they say they can do, but because of what they ask.
Listen for the questions
Almost anyone will say yes to your list. A firm that has done the work before will ask about the details that decide whether the thing actually works:
- Where does this data come from today, and who enters it?
- What happens when the normal case doesn't apply?
- Who has to approve this, and what do they need to see?
- What do you do now when it goes wrong?
- Who will use this every day, and what do they use now?
Questions like these show they're already thinking about how to build it, and where it could break.
Be wary of instant answers
A confident yes to everything in the first ten minutes usually means nobody has thought about the hard parts yet. The hard parts are where projects go over budget.
Ask how they'll learn your business
Good firms spend time learning how your operation runs before they recommend anything. Ask what that looks like: who they'll talk to, how long it takes, and what you get at the end. A written plan with scope, cost, and timeline is a reasonable thing to expect.
Ask what happens after launch
Ask who fixes things when they break, how fast, and how you'll reach them. Ask whether your team will be trained, and who makes sure people actually use the new system.
You'll learn more from those answers than from any portfolio.