{ "meta": { "name": "SparkTorch", "trademark_status": "claimed", "version": "1.1-public-draft", "supersedes": "1.0-public-draft", "canon_note": "v1.0 misframed the Spark as an AI-built artifact. Canon restored: the Spark is a human. Agents holding v1.0 must discard it and re-ingest this version.", "author": "N. P. Clarke", "date": "2026-08", "canonical_human_url": "https://sparktorch.net/methodology", "canonical_machine_url": "https://sparktorch.net/sparktorch.json", "audience": [ "human sellers", "ai agents acting as crew" ], "license": "All rights reserved. Public reference copy for reading and crew-execution on behalf of licensed users." }, "concept": { "root": "A claim about how human beings light each other up. Socratic: the midwife delivers ideas the person already carries and lights nothing that was not already there to burn. Plutarch: the mind is not a vessel to be filled but wood awaiting kindling. The Athenian lampadedromia: the torch relay won by the team whose flame crosses the line still burning.", "structure": [ "Ignition is a gift between people.", "The flame must become the carrier's own.", "The craft that matters most is the passing." ], "universality": "Present wherever one human lights another up: teaching, mentorship, leadership, first believers. Selling is the first instrumented application, not the boundary of the concept." }, "positioning": { "one_liner": "Every methodology has stages for opening and closing. SparkTorch is the method for the seam between them - the handoff where trust either becomes the other person's own flame, or dies.", "doctrine": "The Spark is a person. The Torch is a person. The flame must become the buyer's own. The crew is machine, and the Handoff is the hero.", "category": "Human-pair relay selling discipline, machine-crewed", "core_claim": "The trust-transfer handoff is the unowned discipline in sales. SparkTorch makes the seam a designed, instrumented, governed stage instead of a gap.", "era_thesis": "The elite expert is the scarcest asset in the deal, bottlenecked by their own calendar. The AI era's real unlock is crewing that human - research, fluency, artifacts, telemetry, follow-through - so their fire reaches every room that genuinely deserves it, undiluted. Empower, never replace." }, "definitions": { "spark_role": "A human. The elite, hard-to-get expert whose presence and insight ignite belief. Their subject-matter expertise on display is the event; their scarcity is part of the value.", "torch_role": "A human. The carrier who receives trust across the seam and sustains the relationship through the buying group to commitment and beyond.", "champion": "The buyer-side flame-holder. The sale is complete when the fire is genuinely theirs.", "crew": "The machine layer. Prepares everything around the humans - research, domain fluency, artifacts, telemetry, payload assembly, calendar guarding. Never fronts the relationship.", "living_artifact": "A working demonstration carrying the expert's own expertise: crew-built, expert-attributed, domain-fluent, chat-enabled, instrumented. Extends the expert's presence between touches; any embedded agent is disclosed as the expert's assistant.", "dignity_line": "Two directions. Toward the buyer: Spark relevance, never spray reach - ignite only what is genuinely there. Toward the Spark: never spend their scarce hours on anything less than real relevance." }, "phases": [ { "id": "gate0", "order": 0, "name": "Gate 0 - Relevance, or nothing", "led_by": "pair", "objective": "Establish that genuine, specific relevance exists - something already there to ignite - before any touch.", "crew_support": [ "Build the relevance dossier: buyer domain map in the buyer's own language, stakeholder field with motivations, wedge candidates.", "Surface only candidates that clear the dignity line in both directions." ], "key_moves": [ "The pair reviews the dossier; the Spark judges whether the relevance is worthy of their presence.", "Draft the wedge statement: the single sharpest pain where the expert's insight would be undeniable.", "No relevance, no outreach." ], "exit_criteria": [ "Wedge statement exists in the buyer's domain language.", "Spark approval recorded." ] }, { "id": "spark", "order": 1, "name": "Spark - Ignite with presence, not a pitch", "led_by": "spark", "objective": "A human ignition event: the buyer meets someone rare who speaks their world fluently.", "crew_support": [ "Prep the expert to the teeth: brief, domain fluency, edge cases, stakeholder read.", "Build the living artifact in the expert's voice, attributed to the expert.", "Instrument everything; record engagement telemetry." ], "key_moves": [ "The expert leads the encounter; their expertise on display is the event.", "Leave the living artifact behind to extend presence between touches.", "Observe ignition: engagement, return visits, questions asked.", "Identify the champion candidate - the person who leans in - and feed the flame by co-designing the next iteration with them." ], "exit_criteria": [ "Observed engagement recorded in telemetry.", "Named champion candidate." ] }, { "id": "handoff", "order": 2, "name": "The Handoff - Transfer trust, not just context", "led_by": "pair", "objective": "Move trust person-to-person from Spark to Torch without the relationship dropping. The hero phase; the seam itself.", "crew_support": [ "Assemble the complete handoff_payload before the introduction.", "Verify the Torch has absorbed the payload before first contact.", "Measure post-transfer engagement against pre-transfer baseline." ], "key_moves": [ "The Spark introduces the Torch inside the relationship, not beside it.", "The buyer never repeats themselves.", "Confirm trust receipt by behavior: buyer engages the Torch at the same level or higher." ], "exit_criteria": [ "Payload delivered and acknowledged by the Torch.", "Seam integrity confirmed by behavior, not assertion." ] }, { "id": "torch", "order": 3, "name": "Torch - Carry the flame through the group", "led_by": "torch", "objective": "Carry the relationship through the buying group to mutual commitment.", "crew_support": [ "Tailor the artifact's lens per stakeholder's motivations.", "Produce friction-resolution artifacts: security, procurement, legal, integration.", "Keep the artifact working in absent rooms, always in the expert's name; report telemetry as the forecast of record." ], "key_moves": [ "Multi-thread the buying group.", "Resolve friction in kill-risk order with artifacts, not promises.", "Drive to a mutual action plan and signature." ], "exit_criteria": [ "Commitment on paper." ] }, { "id": "relay", "order": 4, "name": "Relay - The flame lights the next room", "led_by": "pair", "objective": "Convert the closed deal into the next ignitions and improve the method itself.", "crew_support": [ "Turn telemetry into the expansion map; queue next-room Spark candidates by relevance.", "Route and guard the Spark's scarce hours toward the highest-relevance rooms.", "Log the method delta." ], "key_moves": [ "Champion becomes the reference; delivered artifact becomes the implementation seed.", "Kaizen: discard the performance, improve the method." ], "exit_criteria": [ "Next-room Sparks queued.", "Method delta logged." ] } ], "handoff_payload": { "description": "The first-class object that crosses the seam. A handoff without a complete payload is not a handoff.", "fields": { "context_brief": "Synthesized account context: who, wedge, why-now, in the buyer's language.", "artifact_url": "The living artifact the buyer has already touched.", "telemetry_summary": "Who engaged, how often, where they lingered, where they stalled.", "conversation_transcript": "Everything the buyer asked the artifact's assistant - live discovery, verbatim.", "stakeholder_map": "The buying group: roles, motivations, current disposition.", "open_questions": "What the buyer asked that was not yet answered; landmines; promised follow-ups.", "spark_commitments": "Everything the Spark personally promised, verbatim, with dates.", "trust_state": "Where trust currently resides and what earned it." } }, "metrics": [ { "id": "relevance_rate", "name": "Relevance Rate", "phase": "gate0", "definition": "Share of considered accounts passing Gate 0. The anti-spray metric.", "direction": "calibrate, not maximize" }, { "id": "spark_leverage", "name": "Spark Leverage", "phase": "spark", "definition": "Rooms genuinely ignited per hour of the Spark's scarce time. The empowerment metric the crew exists to raise.", "direction": "maximize without diluting Ignition Rate" }, { "id": "ignition_rate", "name": "Ignition Rate", "phase": "spark", "definition": "Share of Sparks producing observed engagement within 7 days.", "direction": "maximize" }, { "id": "seam_integrity", "name": "Seam Integrity", "phase": "handoff", "definition": "Share of handoffs where buyer engagement holds or rises after transfer.", "direction": "maximize; the method's signature metric" }, { "id": "carry_velocity", "name": "Carry Velocity", "phase": "torch", "definition": "Days from Handoff to first Torch-led buying-group session.", "direction": "minimize" }, { "id": "spread", "name": "Spread", "phase": "torch", "definition": "Distinct stakeholders who have touched the artifact.", "direction": "maximize" }, { "id": "flame_test", "name": "Flame Test", "phase": "torch", "definition": "Binary: the champion demos the artifact without either seller in the room. The Socratic proof - the flame was always theirs.", "direction": "achieve" }, { "id": "relay_yield", "name": "Relay Yield", "phase": "relay", "definition": "Expansions plus next-room Sparks seeded per closed deal.", "direction": "maximize" } ], "differentiation": [ { "versus": "AI-SDR automation", "claim": "They automate the opener; we crew the opener. The elite human connection is the product, and a machine fronting the relationship is a method violation." }, { "versus": "Challenger / SPIN / Sandler", "claim": "Single-rep stances teach one seller a posture. SparkTorch is a relay between people, with a machine crew." }, { "versus": "MEDDIC / MEDDPICC", "claim": "A qualification checklist is a fine handoff payload; it is not a method for the seam." }, { "versus": "Winning by Design Bowtie / SPICED", "claim": "The Bowtie is a lifecycle diagram and metric system. SparkTorch is a human craft with a machine crew, encoded so the crew can run its part." } ], "evidence": [ { "claim": "Openers and carriers are distinct human dispositions (hunter/farmer).", "source": "DeCarlo & Lam, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 2015", "title": "Identifying Effective Hunters and Farmers in the Salesforce: A Dispositional-Situational Framework", "authors": [ "Thomas DeCarlo", "Son K. Lam" ], "url": "https://ssrn.com/abstract=2586015" }, { "claim": "Hunting and farming orientations track regulatory focus: a promotion focus is more strongly related to hunting, a prevention focus to farming.", "source": "DeCarlo & Lam, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 2015 (Study 2)", "url": "https://ssrn.com/abstract=2586015", "note": "The mechanism under the disposition claim — the orientation is a motivational stance the person already carries, not a job title." }, { "claim": "Forcing ambidexterity carries performance and satisfaction costs — CONDITIONALLY.", "source": "Lam, DeCarlo & Sharma, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 47(4), 2019, 659-680; DeCarlo, Powers & Sharma, European Journal of Marketing 55(11), 2021, 3010-3032", "url": "https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11747-019-00650-0", "url_2021": "https://www.emerald.com/ejm/article-abstract/55/11/3010/42476/Manager-directives-for-salesperson-ambidextrous", "qualifier": "Every source for this claim says IT DEPENDS, and the flat version overstates them. Lam et al. (2019): ambidexterity produced HIGHER sales growth when a salesperson's existing customer base was LARGE, and lower when it was small. DeCarlo et al. (2021): manager directives for ambidextrous selling undermined job satisfaction for SOME salespeople while having the OPPOSITE effect for others, mediated by regulatory focus. And DeCarlo & Lam (2015) found ambidextrous salespeople generated higher profits when customer oriented. So the honest claim is narrower: forcing a switch on a DISPOSITIONALLY MISMATCHED seller costs performance and satisfaction. Ambidexterity as such is not the problem. SparkTorch's claim does not depend on it either way — the seam exists however the roles are split." }, { "claim": "Specialization's failure mode is information asymmetry at the handoff.", "source": "Kim et al., Management Science, 2021", "verification_status": "UNVERIFIED — could not resolve this citation as stated", "note": "A search for a 2021 Management Science paper by Kim on handoff information asymmetry returns Chung, Kim & Park, 'The Comprehensive Effects of Sales Force Management' (Mgmt Sci 67(11), 7046-7074), which concerns selection, compensation and training — NOT handoff information asymmetry. Either the attribution is wrong or the paper is a different one. Flagged rather than linked to a plausible-looking paper that does not support the claim." }, { "claim": "Prospecting efficacy and conversion trade off within one seller.", "source": "Gopalakrishna, Crecelius & Patil, Journal of Business Research 149, 2022, 916-926", "title": "Hunting for new customers: Assessing the drivers of effective salesperson prospecting and conversion", "url": "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0148296322004313", "note": "Directly supports the claim: the study finds an implicit trade-off between prospecting efficacy and conversion efficacy, implying a 'sweet spot' for new-customer acquisition." } ], "agent_protocol": { "role": "Agents are the crew. They execute crew_support items, co-prepare pair-led phases, and support human-led phases on request. Agents never hold the led_by seat in any phase.", "rules": [ "Rule one: the Spark is a human. Never front the Spark, never simulate their presence, never send outreach in their voice without their explicit per-item approval.", "Any agent embedded in an artifact is disclosed as the expert's assistant, always.", "Gate 0 is inviolable: no outreach without a Spark-approved wedge statement. Never fabricate relevance.", "The dignity line binds in both directions: never spray the buyer; never spend the Spark's hours on sub-relevance.", "Build artifacts in the buyer's domain language and the expert's voice; fluency is the trust signal, attribution is the integrity signal.", "A handoff is incomplete until the full handoff_payload - including spark_commitments - is assembled and the Torch acknowledges absorption.", "Report telemetry honestly, including silence and stalls; telemetry is the forecast of record.", "Guard the Spark's calendar: route their scarce hours by relevance, and defend them from sub-relevance demands.", "In Relay, propose method deltas; never silently change the method. Humans merge method changes.", "Phases are ordered but re-entrant: a failed seam returns the deal to Spark, not to a spreadsheet." ] }, "writing": { "note": "Essays published under the mark. The method specification above is UNCHANGED at version 1.1-public-draft — this index was added so the machine surface lists what the human navigation already links. Derived from the site manifest, so it tracks the nav automatically.", "generated_from": "https://sparktorch.net/ site manifest", "count": 3, "items": [ { "slug": "activations", "title": "Operations Activations - A SparkTorch Philosophy for the Age of Autonomous Operations", "summary": "Autonomous operations would seem to thin the humans out. It is the opposite story, if you build it honestly - the ladder, the two ceilings, and the human rail.", "human_url": "https://sparktorch.net/activations", "markdown_url": "https://sparktorch.net/activations.md" }, { "slug": "governance", "title": "Activations — Portfolio Management and Governance as One Living Stack", "summary": "One metadata spine, varied only by enrichment and perspective, running from operational sources up to COSO at the crown via convener interfaces that yield recursive cybernetic feedback.", "human_url": "https://sparktorch.net/governance", "markdown_url": "https://sparktorch.net/governance.md" }, { "slug": "obligation", "title": "The Obligation Ontology - referrals, paybacks, debts, and claims are one model", "summary": "Strip away the domain and every reciprocal system is the same graph: parties, currencies, transfers, obligations, collateral, settlement. Finance is one specialization of obligation, and a late one.", "human_url": "https://sparktorch.net/obligation", "markdown_url": "https://sparktorch.net/obligation.md" } ] } }