case-study

Before you have customers, you sell on the demo and the refund. After you have one, you sell on them. One real story, with a name and a number, is worth more than anything you could write about yourself. But it's a claim about a real company, so it has to be true and it has to be theirs to give.

${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR} below is this skill's folder (where this SKILL.md lives).

python3 "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/casestudy.py" draft --deal north-pier --before "Paid \$6,400 a month to chase invoices" \
    --after "Cancelled the collections service" --source "North Pier's own numbers, Jan 2027" \
    --quote "We stopped thinking about late invoices." --quote-by "Renee Alvarez, CFO"
python3 "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/casestudy.py" approve --deal north-pier --said "Approved, go ahead." --at 2027-02-10
python3 "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/casestudy.py" check --deal north-pier

Steps

1. Wait for a result. draft refuses until the deal is delivered (/pre-sale deliver). Give it long enough to have a real number.
2. Ask first. "Send this to Renee: would you be open to a short write-up, if you approve every word? Reply yes or no." A no is fine, and it ends here.
3. Get the real numbers from them. Before and after, and where they came from. Ask what changed, in their words: "What's different now?"
4. Draft. casestudy.py draft. It writes whale/case-studies/<deal>.md with a DRAFT line at the top. Keep it under 150 words. A quote is what they actually said or wrote, word for word, with their name. Don't tidy it into something they wouldn't say.
5. Send them the exact text. "Send this to Renee for approval? Reply yes or no."
6. Log their approval. casestudy.py approve --said "<their words>". It removes the DRAFT line, for this text only.
7. Check before every use. casestudy.py check. If the text changed after they approved it, it says to ask again.
8. Use it. On the next pitch, in /offer-builder, on the launch page. Only then does the "you'd be one of the first" answer in /objection-handler change.

What makes it believable

• A real name and a real company, if they agree. If they'd rather not be named, say "a regional freight company" and keep the number.
• One number. "Cancelled a $6,400-a-month service" beats a list of adjectives.
• The bad part. What was hard before, or what took longer than expected. It's how people know it's true.
• Typical, or not. If one customer's result is unusually good, don't suggest everyone gets it. The FTC treats testimonials as claims you must be able to back up.

Example from the reel's board

After North Pier Logistics has the product: Before, paid $6,400 a month to chase invoices. After, cancelled the collections service. Quote: "We stopped thinking about late invoices." Renee Alvarez, CFO. It stays a draft until Renee approves it. (Illustrative: this result and this quote are made up to show the format, and North Pier and Renee are fictional. Your case study uses only what your customer gives you.)

What it never does

• Never writes a case study before delivery, and never makes up a quote, a number or a logo.
• Never publishes or sends anything without a yes, and never uses a draft their approval doesn't cover.
• Never presents a pre-sale payment as a result. "They paid" is not "it worked".

Consent and truth

• Nothing is sent or published without the user's explicit yes for that exact message, and the customer's written approval of that exact text. One yes per message. Never "yes to all".
• Stop at the first "no". Not wanting a case study never affects how the customer is treated.
• Never invent a number, a result, a client or a quote. If they withdraw their approval, take it down.