── SKILL
forecast-call-prep✓ APPROVED

Walk into the forecast call with a number you can defend.

Sorts each deal into commit, best-case, or pipeline by evidence, flags one risk, and scripts what to press each rep on.

Inside: The evidence-based sort, one risk per deal, and the press question.

01 / HOW TO USE

Install it in one line, or paste it in.

1
In Claude Code (one command)
Copy the install line, paste it into your terminal, and restart Claude Code. The skill installs itself to ~/.claude/skills/ and runs automatically when it is relevant.
2
In Claude, ChatGPT, or a Project (no terminal)
Open the file, then upload it to your chat or paste its contents in. A skill is just a markdown file of instructions, so any capable AI can follow it.
New to skills? A skill is a plain-text file that teaches your AI a workflow. Point any capable assistant at it and it follows the steps, on your data.
02 / MAKE IT YOURS

Connect your context. Set it to your motion.

CONNECT YOUR CONTEXT · AND WHY IT HELPS
a CRM

it reads all of the above automatically, plus category history so it can see what moved.

a meeting or email tool

confirms the last real touch and who is actually engaged.

a product-analytics tool

adds trial usage momentum on deals that ride on a pilot.

SET IT TO YOUR MOTION

This was built for a B2B SaaS org running a staged pipeline and a weekly forecast call. Set these to your stack:

Run any qualification method you like. The skill checks "does the evidence support the category this deal claims," so point it at your fields, not anyone else's.

Set thisWhat it isDefault / Example
STAGE fieldthe opportunity stageOpportunity.StageName
FORECAST fieldcommit / best-case / pipeline categoryForecastCategoryName
AMOUNT fieldthe number that rolls upOpportunity.AmountARR
CLOSE fieldthe committed close dateOpportunity.CloseDate
ACTIVITY sourceswhere "last touch" livesAccountOpportunityTaskEvent dates
PERIODthe forecast windowthis monththis quarter
THIN_DAYSno-activity days that make a commit soft10 (re-tune to your cycle)
03 / THE FULL SKILL

Everything the skill does, in full.

── WHAT THIS DOES

Takes your open deals and builds the forecast call for you, deal by deal. It sorts each one into commit, best-case, or pipeline based on what the evidence supports, not what the category says. It flags the single biggest risk on each deal. Then it hands you the exact question to ask the rep so the call moves the number instead of narrating it.

── THE METHOD
  1. 1
    Category sort (three buckets, evidence-based)

    Every deal lands in COMMIT, BEST_CASE, or PIPELINE based on what the evidence supports, then that is compared to the category the rep set.

    • COMMIT: close date in the period, recent two-way activity, more than one contact engaged, next step set. A deal missing any of these is a soft commit and gets called out.
    • BEST_CASE: real but not locked. A credible path to close in the period with at least one open risk.
    • PIPELINE: possible, not this period. Named as upside, not counted on. The gap between the evidence bucket and the rep's category is the whole point. A COMMIT the evidence rates BEST_CASE is where the number breaks.
  2. 2
    One risk per deal

    Every deal gets exactly one flagged risk, the one most likely to sink it: single-thread, no next step, close date already slipped once, champion quiet, thin activity, or legal/procurement not started. One risk, named, so the call is about that risk and nothing else.

  3. 3
    The question to press

    Each deal gets one scripted question for the rep, aimed at the flagged risk. Not "how's it going." Something like "who besides your champion has said yes, and when did they say it?" The question is designed to surface the truth, not confirm the hope.

  4. 4
    Soft-commit watch

    Flag any COMMIT where the evidence is thin: no activity in THIN_DAYS, a single thread, a close date that already moved, or a next step that is blank. These are the deals that quietly miss. Surface them before the call, not after the quarter.

── QUALITY GATES
  • No deal called a soft commit without naming the specific thing that is missing.
  • Every deal carries exactly one scripted question, tied to its one flagged risk.
  • Close-date slips are shown with the prior date, never asserted.
  • The number is presented three ways: rep-committed, evidence-supported, and the gap between them.
── OUTPUT (EXAMPLE)
EXAMPLE OUTPUT
FORECAST CALL PREP · 6 deals in the period
Account     Category   Evidence     Amount   Risk               Press the rep on
Acme Corp   Commit     Commit       $45K     Clean              Confirm signature date
Vertex      Commit     Best-case    $67K     Single-thread      Who else has said yes?
Blend Labs  Best-case  Best-case    $28K     No next step       What is the next date?
Northwind   Commit     Pipeline     $112K    Close slipped 2x   Why is this month real?

Number three ways:
  Rep-committed:      $224K
  Evidence-supported: $73K
  Gap to defend:      $151K (Vertex, Northwind)

Walk in with:
  1. Vertex. Get a second yes on record or move it to best-case.
  2. Northwind. Third slip. Make the rep prove the date or push it out.
── WHERE THE NUMBERS COME FROM

THIN_DAYS (10) and the "more than one contact engaged" cutoff are defaults, not laws. They suited a mid-market SaaS cycle with a weekly call. If your deals run longer or your call is monthly, raise them. The buckets do not change. The thresholds are yours.

── EXAMPLE CHAT
EXAMPLE CHAT
You
Forecast call is in an hour, here's my pipeline export. [pastes CSV]
CLAUDE
Sorted all 6 deals against the evidence, not the category the rep set. Account Category Evidence Risk Press on Vertex Commit Best-case Single-thread Who else has said yes? Northwind Commit Pipeline Close slipped 2x Why is this month real? Rep-committed number is $224K, evidence-supported is $73K. The whole gap sits on two deals. That's the real story for the call, not a recap of all six. One sharpener: connect your CRM so I can pull category-change history and see exactly when Vertex got downgraded and re-upgraded.
04 / GO FURTHER

Where an operator takes this next.

The prep works from a pasted export the morning of the call. Here is where it stops being a scramble.

The call stops being a status update and starts being where the number gets defended.

01
Run it before every call, automatically

A scheduled Claude task pulls the pipeline export from Salesforce every Monday morning and has this prep waiting before the call starts.

02
Flag the drift as it happens

Connect Slack so a deal that slips from Commit to Best-case mid-week posts to the deal channel the moment it happens, not at the next call.

03
Score the pressing question's answer

Log the rep's answer back into the CRM against the flagged risk, so next quarter you can see which risks actually predicted a miss.

05 / PART OF A BIGGER PLAY

One skill is the on-ramp.

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