BattleTested.

Walk me through what happens when a new customer calls or emails wanting a quote on a robotic cell. From first contact to signed PO — who touches it, what systems does it live in, and where does it get stuck?

You just made an acquisition. How are you tracking which customers came from which company? Are the customer lists merged or still separate?

When a FANUC project goes from sold to engineering to build to install — how does the team know what stage it's in? Is that in anyone's head, a whiteboard, a spreadsheet?

How do your engineers and programmers log their time on projects? Can you tell me right now which project is over budget on labor hours?

If your best customer called right now, could anyone in the office pull up their full history — every project, every service call, every quote — in under 60 seconds?

How do quotes get built? Is there a template, or does each engineer do it differently? Where do the quotes live after they're sent?

What's your close rate on quotes? Do you know, or is that a gut feel? How many quotes are sitting out there right now with no follow-up?

When you lose a deal, do you know why? Price, timing, went with a competitor? Is anyone tracking that?

How do you handle the handoff from the acquisition's sales pipeline? Are there deals in progress that are falling through the cracks during the merge?

What does your revenue mix look like — new system builds vs. service/maintenance vs. retools vs. parts? Which one is growing?

When a project kicks off, how does the bill of materials get built? Does it come from engineering, from a standard template, or does someone pull it together manually each time?

How do you track parts on order for a project? If a FANUC robot has a 6-week lead time, who's watching that clock?

After installation, how does a customer reach you for service? Is there a ticketing system, or do they call/email and someone writes it on a notepad?

How do you handle warranty vs. billable service calls? Is that clear in the system or does someone have to look it up?

What does your maintenance contract pipeline look like? Are you proactively selling service agreements, or waiting for things to break?

QuickBooks — Desktop or Online? Who manages it? How many people touch it?

How do project costs (labor + materials + subcontractors) get into QuickBooks? Is there a job costing setup, or is everything lumped?

Can you tell me right now the gross margin on your last 5 projects? Not revenue — actual margin after labor, materials, travel, and overhead?

How do you handle progress billing on large projects? Milestone invoicing? Deposits? Is that in QuickBooks or tracked separately?

What does month-end close look like? How long does it take? What's still manual?

What systems did the acquired company use? Are those still running, or have you already shut them down?

Are there overlapping customers between the two companies? How are you handling account ownership?

Did the acquired company bring any recurring revenue (service contracts, maintenance agreements)? Where does that live now?

What's the biggest operational headache from the merger so far? The thing that's creating the most friction day-to-day?

If you do another acquisition in the next 2-3 years, how painful would it be to merge again with your current systems?

What's the full list of software you're paying for right now? QuickBooks, email, any project management, any estimating tools, anything?

Where do your spreadsheets live — Google Sheets, Excel on a server, individual laptops? How many people have their own version of "the tracker"?

Do your field techs have any mobile tools, or is everything paper-based until they get back to the office?

What's your phone system? When a customer calls, does anyone see who it is before they pick up?

If I gave you one thing that would make your Monday morning easier, what would it be?