I think what helps early during the qualification process is asking if they've got money. I remember a fully fledged meeting with a whole bunch of people around

I think what helps early during the qualification process is asking if they've got money. I remember a fully fledged meeting with a whole bunch of people around the table discussing how they'd like the project to look. Eventually,after an hour or so,my manager at the time, asks: have you got budget for this? Emm...emm.. we may.. it's almost there..etc.