A seller may have a strong relationship, a responsive contact and a plausible business problem. Those are meaningful signals. They do not automatically prove that the customer has agreed the problem matters, that the buying group supports action or that a next step carries commitment.
The practical move is to classify each important statement before debating whether the deal is good.
Confirmed through customer action or an attributable statement
A plausible interpretation that still needs testing
Information that has not been established
Two signals that cannot both be relied on without clarification
A composite example
A seller says, “The operations director needs this live this quarter.” The contact has described a serious workflow problem, but no implementation date has been agreed and finance has not joined the conversation. The time pressure is an assumption, not validated evidence. The missing work is not to defend the forecast in the review. It is to prepare a direct customer question and decide what response would change the opportunity plan.
Use the distinction to choose an action
Classification matters only when it changes the work. Validated evidence can support a decision. An assumption needs a test. An unknown needs a collection step if it is material. A contradiction needs resolution before either side is used in a forecast or commitment.
This does not remove judgement. It makes the basis of the judgement visible enough for a seller and manager to improve it together.
The example is a fictional composite and does not describe a customer.
