Chapter 10 – Precision in the Pitch

Wednesday, June 25, 2025 – Day 10

Officina 22 wasn't designed to be an office. It was a bar with attitude—industrial lighting, espresso machines that hissed like old trains, and a backroom that smelled faintly of paint thinner and ambition.

But Leo's team had claimed the side office, wedged between Luca's stockroom and the bathroom with the loose sink. It wasn't glamorous, but it was theirs. The whiteboard was now a mosaic of arrows, crossed-out regions, stickers, and a quote Giulia had added in Sharpie: "We're not the best—yet." Sofia added beneath it:"…but we're not charging for the coffee, either."

9:06 AM – Officina 22, Side Office

Leo sat in front of his laptop, tweaking the main page of their new landing site, while looking also at the compagnies website to prepare his pitch.

vitesse-procure.com/de

Germany was the focus now. Lorenzo's LinkedIn post had triggered a mild spike in visibility, especially among EU procurement managers. But visibility wasn't traction. They still had to earn trust from clients who were naturally skeptical of outsiders, especially ones without a DAX-registered address.

Sofia looked up from a call log. "Leo, the SKF parts dealer in Cologne just opened the last email. No reply yet."

"Mark it," Leo said. "If they don't respond by noon, we follow up in German. Shorter, friendlier, and drop the buzzwords."

"We don't know German," she replied.

Leo spun his laptop around. "Now we do. AI-checked."

9:58 AM – Luca's Office, Wall Adjacent

Luca sat at his desk, half-listening to a supplier on the phone and half-listening to the trio next door. He swirled his espresso slowly, eyes scanning an old procurement audit while one ear tuned into Leo's team.

"…skip the sustainability claim," Leo said through the thin wall. "They don't care until Q4. Right now, it's price, reliability, and onboarding speed. That's all."

Giulia chimed in. "We should lead with the Tier 2 access line. It's weirdly impressive to them."

Luca smirked. They were learning. Not through lectures—through necessity.

He scribbled a note on the edge of his invoice sheet:

Don't advise. Let them swim. They're finding the current.

11:34 AM – Officina 22, Side Office

The spreadsheet was alive. Sofia had created a live-updating tracker: Germany, Austria, Switzerland. The focus was on German parts resellers with aging inventory and lagging B2B systems.

"Next round of cold calls starts now," she said. "Let's hit Stuttgart and Hamburg. Munich already bounced us once."

Giulia leaned over. "Want me to try one in Italian-German hybrid? That always goes well." 

Leo smiled. "Stick to English. Confused buyers don't buy."

1:27 PM – Officina 22, Bar Counter

The trio took their lunch break under Luca's watchful gaze. He was restocking the Campari shelf while keeping half an eye on their posture, tone, and mood.

"You're running a little lean on optimism," he said casually, tossing a lemon into the prep sink.

Giulia replied without looking up from her sandwich. "Running lean on email replies too."

"Then get used to silence. Silence means you're real. It means they're reading."

He didn't wait for a thank-you. He rarely did.

2:40 PM – Side Office

The landing page was cleaner now. Leo had simplified the structure:

Headline: Procurement You Can Actually Trust

Sub: Multi-tier inventory access. No middlemen. No mystery.

CTA: Request full parts index (Germany only)

Underneath, a map of Germany shaded in soft greys and blues, with the regions they'd contacted marked in yellow.

Sofia was now working two screens—live call tracking on the left, CRM contact scoring on the right.

"I think this one's live," she said, tapping her AirPods. "Hold on—yes, Stuttgart, warehouse manager. He's asking about our Tier 2 flow."

Leo's face lit up. "Tell him our vendor index is modular. They don't need to onboard fully to trial access. Focus on frictionless testing."

She nodded, already sliding into her pitch voice: calm, clipped, confident.

From the other room, Luca heard it—and made no comment. But he didn't hang up his own call either. He listened.

3:51 PM – Officina 22, Quiet Hour

Giulia updated the whiteboard.

New Column:✅ Warm Leads – DACH Region

Stuttgart (B-class warehouse)

Cologne (email opened, call pending)

Hamburg (callback Friday)

She added a new sticker beside the "COLD" lead column: a cartoon penguin with sunglasses.

Sofia laughed. "Too much."

Giulia shrugged. "It's German-cool."

Leo stared at the whiteboard for a moment. It looked like chaos. But it was beginning to feel like momentum.

4:42 PM – Luca's Office

Luca poured himself a quiet whiskey, looking out the back window. He had a delivery coming in and a Friday event to prep. Still, the wall between his office and theirs felt thinner every hour.

He scribbled one more line under his earlier note:

They don't need a lecture. They need a win. One more callback. One close. That'll do more than any advice.

Then, as if summoned by thought, Sofia's voice cut through the wall.

"Leo—it's Cologne. He wants a test batch quote."

A beat.Then:"No NDA. Just wants the numbers."

Luca closed his notebook.

"That's your crack in the door," he whispered to himself. "Now kick it open."

End of Day 10: Team Board Update (As Seen by Giulia)

Warm Leads– Stuttgart– Cologne– Hamburg

Follow-Ups Needed– Munich– Leipzig– Frankfurt

Funny But Useless Sticker Count: 6– Penguin– "Procure or Die"– A fake ISO-9001 badge with a smiley face

Without them realizing, by focusing on the European lead instead of the Italian one, they cut off Gianluca's influence.