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SOP-32: Lean Digital Intelligence Protocol

The Automation Surgeon's Proactive Opportunity Engine
Version 1.0
Owner Founder
Trigger Weekly, during dedicated business development block.

1. Objective

To systematically uncover and qualify high-value automation opportunities by analyzing public "digital friction logs" and turning them into actionable outreach intelligence. This protocol is an iterative playbook for proactive, intelligence-driven prospecting, designed to support the founder-led outreach strategy defined in SOP-02.

2. Phase 1: Intelligence Gathering (The Streams)

Your goal is to find public evidence of operational pain. This is the raw material for your outreach. Focus on one or two streams to begin with, then expand as the process becomes refined.

Stream 1: Reddit Friction Mining

  • Targets: r/msp, r/sysadmin, r/smallbusiness, r/accounting, and specific industry subreddits relevant to your target market.
  • Keywords: "manual process," "every week I have to," "hate this part," "spreadsheet hell," "duplicate entry."

Stream 2: Glassdoor Workflow Whistleblowing

  • Targets: Companies on your prospect list or those matching your Ideal Patient Profile [cite: SOP-16].
  • Strategy: Filter for lowest-rated reviews from ops-heavy roles (e.g., Operations, Admin, Sales Support). Look for specific complaints about outdated systems, repetitive work, or inefficient processes.

Stream 3: LinkedIn Signal Intelligence

  • Targets: Industry groups, relevant hashtags (#workflow, #burnout, #processimprovement).
  • Strategy: Look for "Day in the Life" posts mentioning manual tasks or job postings seeking to "streamline processes" or "implement new systems."

Stream 4: Industry & Support Forums

  • Targets: Niche forums for specific software (e.g., QuickBooks, Salesforce) or communities (e.g., Indie Hackers).
  • Strategy: Find posts where users are complaining about the limitations of their current tools or asking for features that AutomationSurgeon's services already provide (see SOP-01).

3. Phase 2: AI-Powered Diagnosis (The Engine)

Use these field-tested prompts to transform raw complaints into specific, actionable automation opportunities.

The Reddit Prompt (for general pain points):

Act as an AI workflow strategist. Your job is to extract real-world inefficiencies hidden behind emotional phrasing and slang. From the following posts, extract 3 repetitive, inefficient workflows that could be improved with automation. For each, describe the core problem, the likely business impact (e.g., time wasted, error risk), and the type of automation that could solve it. Be specific.

The Glassdoor Prompt (for company-specific pain points):

Act as a McKinsey operations consultant. You specialize in identifying internal bottlenecks from anonymous employee reviews. For each pain point you find, suggest a lightweight automation layer that could plug in with minimal resistance. Formulate a concise, insightful "hook" for a cold email that shows you understand their specific internal challenge without revealing your source.

4. Phase 3: Intelligence to Action (The Workflow)

This is a simple weekly process to turn your research into outreach.

  • Monday: Harvest & Filter
  • Spend 1-2 hours collecting raw "pain" posts from your chosen streams.

  • Quickly filter out irrelevant data (e.g., posts from individuals, not businesses).

  • Tuesday: AI Diagnosis

  • Run the filtered data through your AI prompts.

  • Map the identified problems to specific AutomationSurgeon service offerings (see SOP-01).

  • Wednesday: Qualify & Prioritize

  • For the most promising opportunities, perform a quick validation. Does the company fit your Ideal Patient Profile [cite: SOP-16]?
  • Identify the right person to contact through LinkedIn research and company website analysis.

  • Rank your prospects for the week based on pain level and profile fit.

  • Thursday/Friday: Prepare & Launch Outreach

  • Use the AI-generated hooks to customize the cold email templates from SOP-13: Outreach Message Templates.
  • Launch personalized outreach campaign using templates from SOP-13: Outreach Message Templates.

5. Phase 4: Intelligence-Driven Outreach (The Hooks)

Your outreach is now warm because it's based on a real, identified problem.

Reddit-Sourced Hook:

"I've been tracking discussions in the [Industry] space and noticed a recurring frustration around [Specific Process]. My firm specializes in automating exactly this kind of workflow to eliminate the bottleneck. Is this something you're experiencing at [Company Name]?"

Glassdoor-Sourced Hook (more direct):

"As companies in your industry scale, they often find that [Specific Process Pain] becomes a major source of employee burnout and inefficiency. I have a targeted 'prescription' that solves this specific issue. Is this a priority for you right now?"

This lean protocol gives you all the high-impact tactics without unnecessary complexity. It's a system you can start using this week and improve over time.