Can strong sales skills HURT your custdev? (incentives, traps, lukewarm signals, "no" as the goal)

Love Rob Fitz. In the beginning, you shouldn't even be telling the people you're talking to about your idea. Instead, ask "how" and "have you" questions:

"How do you currently do X?"
"How long does X take your team?"
"Have you looked at software that automates these for you? If so, what software?"

From there, you'll get a good understanding of whether your idea lines up with reality.