The ratio is 80% listening and 20% talking. That is the whole rule. Most founders spend forty minutes proving they are capable and five minutes understanding the buyer, then blame the script. The more you talk, the more it sounds like a pitch, and the minute it sounds like a pitch, their guard goes up.
Open by buying permission to ask hard questions. One line does it: "Before I tell you anything about what we do, I want to understand your situation." That sentence replaces your entire introduction.
Then diagnose, and nothing else. This is the 80%. Let them name the problem. Let them tell you what they have already tried. Let them describe what fixed looks like. Write down their exact words, because you will need them later. Your brain will want to pitch about eight minutes in, every time they describe something you can solve. A pitch at minute eight is a prescription before the exam.
Make the cost visible before you talk about price. Not "what's your budget," never that. Ask what this problem has already cost them, in money, in time, in deals lost. When the pain is bigger than the price, budget stops being a conversation.
Now you talk, and only about what they said. This is the 20%. Not your process, not your portfolio, not the twelve other things you do. Just: you said this is the problem, here is exactly how I fix it.
End with homework, not a proposal. "I'll send a proposal and follow up" puts you on the hook and them on holiday. Give them one fifteen-minute task before the next call. Half of them will not do it, and those were never going to close. You just saved yourself a month of chasing.
Then score your own calls. Six questions, the same six every time. Did I talk more than 50% of the time? Did they name the problem out loud, in their own words? Did I put a rupee figure on what it costs them? Did I pitch before or after that number landed? Do I know who else weighs in on this decision? Did I end the call with one thing for them to do and the next call booked? Score ten calls and the same answer will be wrong in eight of them. That is your leak.