A 5-MINUTE STORY · ILLUSTRATION
Seven Gates: publish the process that lowers the buyer's risk
On a big custom job, the buyer is buying down risk. Publish the process that controls it, and price stops being the first question.
Tarrow Cell Works is an invented maker of custom assembly and test cells. It runs a seven-phase process with a stop after every phase, and none of it is on the website. Pick the work you want, then scroll. We'll follow a plant engineer at a defense electronics plant as she decides whether to sign.
SCROLL TO READ THE DRAWING ↓
AS SAID · THURSDAY 4:50 PM
Pen over the PO.
Thursday, 4:50 PM. A plant engineer at a defense electronics plant is scoping a new line to press-fit and test connector housings for field radios. The last custom system she signed for didn't work, and she answered for it. The capital request is on her desk. Her pen is over the signature line.
Tarrow Cell Works is on her shortlist. She's heard good things. She has never seen how they run a job.
ILLUSTRATION · DRAMATIZED BUYER · INVENTED MAKER · TARROWCELL.TEST
NEXT: THE READ ↓THE READ
“Does custom-engineered systems.”
Before she signs, she asks an AI assistant how Tarrow runs a custom job. All it can say is that the company does custom-engineered systems. She opens the website. It says the same thing over a stock photo of a robot arm, with one button: Get a quote. What happens after the PO, where she could stop, how they'd test on her part: none of it is there.
RED: A QUESTION THE PAGE DOESN'T ANSWER · ILLUSTRATION
NEXT: THE COST ↓THE COST
So she asks about price.
Her real questions are about risk, and the page answers none of them. With no process to read, she can't judge the risk, so she judges the price. Her first email to Tarrow is one line: what does it cost? Now Tarrow gets compared on a number, against shops that may run no gates at all.
HER FIRST QUESTION: PRICE · ILLUSTRATION
INVENTED MAKER ON A .TEST DOMAIN
NEXT: AS BUILT ↓AS BUILT · INSIDE THE BUILDING
Seven gates, each priced on its own.
Inside Tarrow there's a seven-phase process. Each phase is priced on its own, so the customer can stop after any one. Phase one is a risk assessment. Phase two is a paid lab test on the customer's own parts, run on Tarrow's test stand before anything gets built. Every phase ends at a hold point: stop or go. None of it is on the website.
True in the building isn't the same as said on the page.
HOLD POINT: WORK STOPS UNTIL THE CUSTOMER SAYS GO · DETAIL A: THE LAB TEST STAND · ILLUSTRATION
NEXT: THE CHANGE ↓THE CHANGE · BLUEPRINT + CONTENT MARKETING
Write the process as a page.
The paid Buyers Blueprint captures the process as it's run, each gate with its source. Content marketing writes it as a process page: each gate, its hold point, what the customer gets and where they can stop. It's the Blueprint's own idea: the process is what the buyer pays for.
BLUEPRINT · PAID ONBOARDING · FIRST STEP OF EVERY PROGRAM
NOTHING GOES PUBLIC WITHOUT YOUR YES
NEXT: RELEASED ↓RELEASED · ILLUSTRATION
Same desk, same capital request.
The process is on the page: seven gates, what she gets at each, where she can stop, and how the lab test runs on her own part. She can sign for gate one alone and keep the risk register if she stops there. Her first email to Tarrow asks when gate one can start.
THE PAGE STATES 7 OF 7 GATES · HER FIRST QUESTION: THE SCHEDULE · ILLUSTRATION, NOT A PROMISE
NEXT: YOUR TURN ↓SEVEN GATES IN THE BUILDING · HOW MANY ON THE PAGE? · ILLUSTRATION
| Gate | On the page, before | As built | After release |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gate 1: Study and risk assessment | Not on the page | You get a written risk register for your line. Priced on its own. Hold point after it: the customer may stop here. | Stated on the process page |
| Gate 2: Lab test on your own parts | Not on the page | You get a press-fit force and continuity report from the test stand, run on your own parts before anything is built. Priced on its own. Hold point after it: the customer may stop here. | Stated on the process page |
| Gate 3: Concept and layout | Not on the page | You get a layout, a cycle-time estimate and a fixed quote for the build. Priced on its own. Hold point after it: the customer may stop here. | Stated on the process page |
| Gate 4: Detailed design | Not on the page | You get models, drawings and a design review you sign. Priced on its own. Hold point after it: the customer may stop here. | Stated on the process page |
| Gate 5: Build and debug | Not on the page | You get the cell built and run in Tarrow's shop. Priced on its own. Hold point after it: the customer may stop here. | Stated on the process page |
| Gate 6: Factory acceptance test | Not on the page | You get your parts run on Tarrow's floor while you watch. Priced on its own. Hold point after it: the customer may stop here. | Stated on the process page |
| Gate 7: Install and site acceptance | Not on the page | You get the install, a site test on your floor, training and the documents. Priced on its own. Hold point after it: the line is released. | Stated on the process page |
| The first button | Get a quote | Gate 1 can be booked on its own | Start with gate 1 |
| Her first question | What does it cost? | Her real questions were about risk | When can gate 1 start? |
Publish the gates.
RELEASED · CHECKED · DRAWN FOR DEFENSE WORK · ILLUSTRATION
305 · THE LESSON
On a big custom job, the buyer is buying down risk.
Publish the process that controls it, and price stops being the first question.
Name each phase and what the customer gets at the end of it. Show where they can stop. Say how you test before you build: on whose part, and with what report.
THE SAME MOVE IN DEFENSE WORK · ILLUSTRATION
A defense fabricator publishes its weld procedure qualification steps and who witnesses them.
| CLAIM | AS SAID | AS BUILT | WHERE IT'S SAID NOW |
|---|---|---|---|
| THE PROCESS | CUSTOM-ENGINEERED SYSTEMS | 7 GATES · STOP/GO AFTER EACH | /process · EXAMPLE PAGE |
| WHERE SHE CAN STOP | NOT SAID | AFTER ANY GATE · EACH PRICED ALONE | /process#gates · EXAMPLE PAGE |
| TESTING BEFORE BUILDING | NOT SAID | LAB TEST ON HER PARTS · PRESS-FIT FORCE · CONTINUITY | /process/lab-test · EXAMPLE PAGE |
| THE FIRST BUTTON | GET A QUOTE | START WITH GATE 1 | every system page · EXAMPLE PAGES |
EXAMPLE PAGES ON AN INVENTED SITE · EVERY GATE AND DELIVERABLE IS INVENTED FOR ILLUSTRATION
General notes
- The companies, people, websites and figures in this story are invented. The pattern is real: it comes from client work, with details changed to protect the client.
- A hold point is a point where work stops until the customer signs off.
- A factory acceptance test (FAT) runs at the builder's shop, a site acceptance test (SAT) on the customer's floor.
BEHIND THE STORY · Content strategy · See how the Blueprint itself is run · IKE, our Industrial Knowledge Engine · Methodology and sources
YOUR TURN · THREE YES OR NO CHECKS
Check your own
Three yes-or-no checks you can run on your own site on Monday morning.
Named phases
Is your design or build process on your site as named phases, with what the customer gets at the end of each?
Where they can stop
Can a buyer see where they can stop, and what they walk away with if they do?
Testing before building
Does your site say how you test before you build: on whose part, and with what report?
ANSWER ALL THREE · YOUR ANSWERS STAY ON THIS PAGE
Put your process where buyers can read it.