You give the “homeowner” something real to hide. Probing drills work when the partner holds a genuine situation in reserve — a surface problem, a history, a why-now, a hot button, a concern — and releases it only in response to good questions, the way a real homeowner does. The rep's grade is the playbook's own test: at the end, can he explain the sale?
The short answer
Before the round, the partner builds the household on a card: the stated problem (“the roof is old”), the history (two leaks, one bad repair), the trigger (the stain reached the bedroom), the primary hot button (the worry, or the pride), one hidden concern (the last contractor), and the desired outcome. None of it is volunteered; all of it is discoverable. Then the drill runs pure discovery — no presenting, no solving — and the debrief compares the rep's final picture against the card. Every gap between them is a question that wasn't asked, made visible.
How it runs
The mistakes list is the drill's rubric: did the rep accept the first answer? Assume a meaning? Interrupt the story? Lead when he should have discovered? Layer the positive answers or only mine the pain? Score the drill against the list and the same two or three habits surface every time — which is the point. Probing is the highest-leverage drill in the camp because every later step spends what probing collects; an hour spent here improves the presentation, the closes, and the objection handling that follow it.
Everything in these guides points at the same act: run the round before the appointment. Round 1 is free. Spar before you knock.