── SKILL
forecasting-model✓ APPROVED

Forecast a defensible range, not a hero number.

Category definitions, coverage math, historical conversion, and a low / likely / high range vs quota.

Inside: The category rules, the coverage math, and the range.

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 the live pipeline and category assignments automatically, across every rep.

a data warehouse

it pulls historical close rates by category and stage so the model runs on your numbers, not a benchmark.

a BI tool

pushes the range and coverage into a dashboard leadership can watch move.

SET IT TO YOUR MOTION

This was built for a B2B SaaS org forecasting a quarter on a staged pipeline. Set these to your stack:

Pin your category rules first. A commit that means "rep feels good" and a commit that means "verbal yes, paper in legal" produce very different forecasts from the same pipeline.

Set thisWhat it isDefault / Example
CRMyour CRM connectora CRM (SalesforceHubSpotPipedrive)
WAREHOUSEoptional history sourcea data warehouse (SnowflakeBigQuery)
CATEGORIESyour forecast categoriesCommitBest CasePipelineOmitted
CATEGORY ruleswhat qualifies a deal for eachyour entry criteria per category
TARGETthe number for the periodquotaper rep and rolled up
PERIODthe forecast windowcurrent quarter
HISTORY windowhow far back conversion is drawntrailing 4 quarters
03 / THE FULL SKILL

Everything the skill does, in full.

── WHAT THIS DOES

Reads your open pipeline and builds a forecast that survives scrutiny. It pins what each category actually means, computes coverage against the number you have to hit, applies your own historical conversion instead of a hopeful guess, and reports a range with a low, likely, and high case rather than one number that is wrong to the dollar. The output tells you not just what you will close but how much to trust it.

── THE METHOD
  1. 1
    Category definitions

    State what each category means as an entry rule, not a vibe. Commit is deals meeting the commit criteria. Best Case is upside that could close with things breaking right. Pipeline is everything else still live. Omitted is out. Every deal lands in exactly one, and the rule is printed.

  2. 2
    Coverage math

    Divide open pipeline for the period by the target to get coverage. Report it overall and per rep. A team needing the number with 1.5x coverage is in a different reality than one with 4x, and the forecast should say which. State the coverage ratio, do not bury it.

  3. 3
    Historical conversion

    Apply your own trailing close rate by category and stage, not a benchmark and not 100 percent of commit. If commit historically closes at 85 percent, the model says so. Where history is too thin to trust, widen the range instead of pretending precision.

  4. 4
    The range, not the number

    Report three cases. Low is roughly commit at its historical rate. Likely blends commit and a slice of best case at their rates. High is commit plus best case landing well. A single number is a false promise. A range with its assumptions printed is a forecast.

  5. 5
    Gap to target

    Set the range against the target and name the gap or the cushion. If the likely case lands short, say by how much and what category would have to overperform to close it. That is the sentence leadership actually needs.

── QUALITY GATES
  • Every category prints its entry rule. No undefined commit.
  • Conversion rates are historical and sourced, never assumed at 100 percent.
  • The forecast is always a range. Any single number is labeled as one case within it.
  • Thin history widens the range. The model never fakes precision it has not earned.
── OUTPUT (EXAMPLE)
EXAMPLE OUTPUT
FORECAST · current quarter · target $2.40M · coverage 2.8x
Category     Open $      Hist. close   Weighted
Commit       $1.10M      85%           $0.94M
Best Case    $0.90M      42%           $0.38M
Pipeline     $1.80M      14%           $0.25M

Range for the quarter:
  Low     $0.98M   commit at rate, best case misses
  Likely  $1.55M   commit + partial best case at historical rates
  High     $2.05M   commit + best case land well

Gap: likely case is $0.85M short of target. Best Case would need to nearly double its close rate to close it.
── WHERE THE NUMBERS COME FROM

The history window (trailing 4 quarters) and the blend that builds the likely case are defaults, not laws. They suited a mid-market SaaS quarter. If your cycle is longer or your volume thinner, widen the history and the range. The category rules and close rates are yours.

── EXAMPLE CHAT
EXAMPLE CHAT
You
Build the forecast for this quarter, target is $2.4M, here's the open pipeline.
CLAUDE
Ran it against your trailing close rates, not a benchmark. Category Open $ Hist. close Weighted Commit $1.10M 85% $0.94M Best Case $0.90M 42% $0.38M Pipeline $1.80M 14% $0.25M Likely case: $1.55M. Gap to target: $0.85M short. Coverage is 2.8x, which looks healthy on its own, but the likely case is still short because Best Case would need to nearly double its close rate to close the gap. That's the number leadership needs, not the coverage ratio. One sharpener: connect the warehouse so history pulls trailing 4 quarters automatically instead of the single quarter you gave me.
04 / GO FURTHER

Where an operator takes this next.

The model works from a pasted pipeline snapshot. Here is where it stops being a one-time build.

A forecast that updates itself is one nobody has to defend from memory.

01
Refresh it weekly, not once a quarter

A scheduled Claude task rebuilds the range every Monday from Salesforce so the gap-to-target number is never more than a week stale.

02
Ground it in real history

Connect Snowflake or your warehouse so category-to-stage conversion is computed from actual closed deals, not a single quarter's snapshot.

03
Push the range where leadership already looks

Send the low/likely/high case into a BI dashboard so the range updates live instead of living in a slide that's out of date by the next standup.

05 / PART OF A BIGGER PLAY

One skill is the on-ramp.

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