claude standard
The evidence bar for this hub. A claim may travel when it names a role, a scene, and a tradeoff that a colleague can find in the notes. It may not promise ROI, and it may not present a range of conversations as representative statistics. Full rules are on the evidence standards page.
Decision trace
A single purchase, loss, or renewal reconstructed in order: who acted, what artifact moved, where it nearly stopped, and what tradeoff the speaker accepted. Traces are the output of decision-maker interviews, not a pile of pain-point adjectives.
Touchpoint
A visible surface where a buying situation happens: a security packet, a pilot review, a comparison page, a renewal meeting, a procurement form. Observation studies the surface instead of trusting recall alone.
Say/do gap
The difference between the story a buyer tells and the move they make at a touchpoint. The gap is a finding. It is not a reason to accuse the buyer of bad faith, and it is not a percentage of “buyers who misremember.”
Purchase friction
The cost, politics, or risk that sits between interest and a yes. Switching effort, the internal sell, personal downside, and a good-enough incumbent are the patterns developed in the friction guide.
Buying committee
The set of seats that can stall, fund, review, or inherit a purchase. It is a split right to say no, not a single persona with a stock photo. Mapping guidance is in buying committees.
Range sample
A deliberate mix of situations — win, loss, stall, renewal, non-buyer — and of roles. A range improves contrast. It does not create statistical representativeness. Protocols tell you how to write the grid before the script.
Pattern
A repeated move or tradeoff inside the range, labeled so another coder can see it. Mention counts are clerical. They are not market measurement. Coding rules live in pattern synthesis.
Positioning line
A sentence a company may say because the tradeoff in it was actually spoken or observed. It names a situation and stays narrow enough that some buyers will not want it. The craft steps are in positioning synthesis.
Internal sell
The translation a champion must make so a reviewer or budget owner can defend the choice without the vendor in the room. If that translation needs a number nobody measured, the sell is where costume statistics usually sneak in.