quote-desk

name	quote-desk
description	The pricing-math owner — CPQ quotes, discounts, ramps, tiers, approval routing. Trigger: 'what should I quote', 'can I give X% off', 'what needs approval'. Other skills defer here for any number.
origin	ESCC

Quote Desk

The canonical pricing-math owner for ESCC. Every discount calculation, packaging decision, ramp structure, and approval-routing step lives here. Skills that need a number — proposal-builder, business-case, negotiation-prep — defer to this skill rather than deriving pricing independently.

Governing rules: rules/approval-matrix.md — the source of truth for all approval-tier thresholds (rep/manager/VP/CRO+Finance). This skill reads and applies that matrix; it does not duplicate the thresholds inline as its own source of truth. rules/targets.md — quota and ramp targets inform deal sizing and coverage math. rules/common/selling-principles.md — pricing and packaging facts come only from approved product-knowledge entries; no fabricated list prices or capacity limits. rules/common/forecasting-definitions.md Currency-correctness clause (v1.8.0) — every quote states its currency; a multi-currency ramp or comparison normalizes through the workspace locale config (rate + as-of stated), never by mixing units.

When to Activate

Activate this skill when:

• A rep needs to build or sanity-check a CPQ quote — list price, discount, net ACV, payment schedule, or contract term.
• A discount is being requested or negotiated and you need to know (a) whether it is self-serve or requires approval, and (b) who the approver is.
• Structuring a ramp deal (Year 1 / Year 2 / Year 3 step-up), a multi-year commitment, or a free-period arrangement and you need the revenue-recognition and approval implications.
• Packaging or SKU selection is unclear — which tier fits the buyer's seat count, use-cases, or segment (segment overrides: rules/segments/enterprise.md, rules/segments/mid-market.md, rules/segments/smb.md).
• proposal-builder, business-case, or negotiation-prep ask for a concrete price or discount figure — they must route here first, not derive their own number.
• A non-standard term (custom legal, unusual payment schedule, MFN clause) needs to be flagged for the correct escalation tier.

Do not activate for pure proposal prose (that is proposal-builder), ROI narrative (that is business-case), or negotiation tactics without a pricing question (that is negotiation-prep). This skill is the number layer; the other skills own the narrative around it.

The quote model

A quote has five components, each computed in order:

Component	What it represents
List price	The published / catalog price for the selected SKU at stated volume. From product-knowledge (approved SKU/pricing entries only).
Discount	% off list, by discount type (volume, competitive, strategic, etc.). Constrained by tier rules below.
Net ACV	list_price * (1 - discount_rate) annualised. The number that drives approval routing.
Ramp schedule	Year-over-year step-up if applicable. Must reflect contracted commitment, not aspirational upsell.
Payment terms	Annual-upfront / quarterly / monthly. Non-standard schedules escalate per the matrix.

State each component explicitly in the quote output. Do not collapse them into a single "here is the number" — the approver and the buyer both need the breakdown.

The discount-tier model (sourced from rules/approval-matrix.md)

Read the current thresholds from rules/approval-matrix.md at run-time. The shape is:

• Tier 0 (rep self-serve): discount at or below the rep-autonomy ceiling — logged, no additional approver required.
• Tier 1 (Sales Manager): mid-range discount or the ACV crosses the lower ACV band.
• Tier 1+ (Sales Manager + RevOps): same discount band but ACV crosses the upper band — RevOps join because the deal size has P&L visibility.
• Tier 2 (VP Sales): high-discount band, any ACV.
• Tier 3 (CRO + Finance): above the VP ceiling, or any non-standard term — revenue recognition routes to Finance.

When a ramp deal or multi-year commitment is involved, escalate one tier beyond what the plain discount% would suggest, per the matrix non-standard-terms rule.

Workflow

A. Build a quote from scratch

1. Pull approved SKU / list-price facts from product-knowledge. Never state a list price that is not in an approved entry. If the entry is missing, surface the gap and pause — do not invent a number.
2. Establish the deal parameters: seat count (or consumption unit), term length, start date, and any agreed ramp or free-period.
3. Compute list ACV: seats (or units) x unit price x term fraction = annual list ACV.
4. Apply the requested discount: compute net ACV = list ACV x (1 - discount%). Flag: does this discount fall in Tier 0, Tier 1, Tier 1+, Tier 2, or Tier 3?
5. Check non-standard triggers: ramp, multi-year, custom payment, free period, non-standard legal. Each adds one escalation tier.
6. State the required approver(s) from the matrix. Do not offer the term to the customer before confirming the approval step is recorded.
7. Produce the quote output (see Examples below): each component listed explicitly, approval tier named, next action stated.
8. Route to crm-operator for any CRM logging. A quote summary is logged against the deal record; governance-capture records approval_requested when an approval is needed. No CRM write happens outside crm-operator.

B. Evaluate an incoming discount request

1. Take the discount% and net ACV as stated (verify the math — recalculate from first principles if you have list price and seats).
2. Look up the tier from rules/approval-matrix.md.
3. Check for non-standard escalators (ramp, custom legal, etc.).
4. Return the verdict: self-serve / needs approval (with named approver) / needs escalation (with reason). Include the re-routing instruction if escalation is needed.

C. Structure a ramp deal

1. Define Year 1 net ACV — the contracted (not aspirational) seat/unit commitment at the agreed Year 1 discount.
2. Define Year 2 and Year 3 step-ups — either a fixed seat-count growth or a percentage uplift, tied to a commercial trigger (e.g. seat expansion, usage threshold). Ramp schedules must be contractually binding, not a "we expect to grow" note.
3. Compute TCV (total contract value) = sum of all year ACVs.
4. Identify the approval tier using the highest single-year net ACV, then escalate one further tier because the deal is a ramp (non-standard term).
5. Flag revenue-recognition implications to Finance if any year's billing deviates from standard annual-upfront. Route to CRO + Finance if so.

D. Select the right packaging / tier

1. Map buyer's stated use-case and seat count to the SKU options in product-knowledge.
2. Apply segment overlay from rules/segments/enterprise.md, rules/segments/mid-market.md, or rules/segments/smb.md — segment rules may specify minimum tiers, bundled modules, or preferred packaging.
3. Prefer the tier the buyer can actually consume on Day 1 — over-tiering for upsell potential is a friction risk and a trust risk. Note the natural expansion path without baking it into the contract.
4. Return the recommended SKU + rationale, with the list ACV, ready for step A above.

Examples

Standard quote, Tier 1 approval required:

Deal: Example Co Corp, 50 seats, Professional tier, 12-month term.
List price (from product-knowledge, SKU PRO-50): $1,200/seat/year
List ACV: 50 x $1,200 = $60,000
Requested discount: 18%
Net ACV: $60,000 x 0.82 = $49,200
Approval tier (rules/approval-matrix.md):
  Discount 18% (10-20 band), Net ACV $49,200 (< $50k band) -> Sales Manager approval.
Non-standard escalators: none (standard annual-upfront, no ramp).
Required approver: Sales Manager.
Next action: Rep submits approval request via deal-desk before sharing pricing with Example Co.
CRM log: routed to crm-operator — deal record updated, governance-capture records
  approval_requested.

Ramp deal, escalated to VP Sales:

Deal: Sample Co, 80 seats Y1 / 120 seats Y2 / 160 seats Y3, Enterprise tier.
List price (SKU ENT-80+): $1,800/seat/year
Year 1 net ACV: 80 x $1,800 x (1 - 20%) = $115,200
Year 2 net ACV: 120 x $1,800 x (1 - 15%) = $183,600
Year 3 net ACV: 160 x $1,800 x (1 - 10%) = $259,200
TCV: $558,000
Discount 20%, highest-year ACV $259,200.
Base tier: 20% discount -> VP Sales (Tier 2, rules/approval-matrix.md).
Non-standard escalator: ramp deal -> escalate one further tier -> CRO + Finance.
Required approvers: CRO + Finance.
Revenue-recognition flag: staggered billing years -> Finance must confirm recognition.
Next action: VP Sales sponsors the CRO + Finance approval request.

Discount request, Tier 0 (self-serve):

Inbound request: can I give 8% off to close Demo Co this quarter?
List ACV: $22,000. Requested discount 8%.
Net ACV: $20,240.
Tier check (rules/approval-matrix.md): 8% <= rep-autonomy ceiling -> Tier 0, self-serve.
Verdict: Rep may offer this discount. Log the discount reason to HubSpot via crm-operator.
No additional approver required.

Missing list price — blocked:

Request: quote for the Analytics Add-on at 15% off.
product-knowledge check: no approved SKU entry for "Analytics Add-on". List price unknown.
BLOCKED. Do not fabricate a list price.
Next action: Rep confirms the correct SKU with their SE or PM, then re-runs quote-desk.

Packaging selection — SMB segment:

Buyer: 8-person RevOps team, needs pipeline reporting, no advanced forecasting yet.
Segment: SMB (rules/segments/smb.md).
SKU options (product-knowledge): Starter (1-10 seats, core reporting) / Professional
  (advanced forecasting, custom dashboards).
Segment overlay: SMB preferred entry-point is Starter where use-case fits.
Recommendation: Starter tier — fits Day 1 use-case; natural expansion trigger is when
  they need custom dashboards (note in deal record, not in contract).
List ACV at 8 seats: [pull from product-knowledge SKU STR-8 entry].

Anti-patterns

• Deriving a price from memory or a plausible estimate. List prices and SKU limits come only from approved product-knowledge entries. A fabricated list price corrupts the entire quote — if the entry is missing, block and surface the gap.
• Other skills computing discount math independently. proposal-builder, business-case, and negotiation-prep must pass through quote-desk for any number. Cross-skill pricing drift creates contradiction and compliance risk.
• Offering a term before the approval is recorded. The approval sequence in rules/approval-matrix.md is a pre-condition, not a formality after the fact. No number goes to the buyer before the required approver is notified and on-record.
• Ramp optimism. Year 2 and Year 3 seat counts in a ramp must be contractually committed or clearly labelled as non-binding forecasts. A growth expectation presented as a committed step-up is a false representation.
• Treating a discount-approval acknowledgement as a CRM write. CRM writes go through crm-operator. A verbal or Slack acknowledgement is not a logged approval.
• Skipping the non-standard escalator. Ramps, free periods, custom legal, and unusual payment schedules each escalate one tier beyond the plain discount% tier. Forgetting this undersells the approval requirement and creates legal exposure.
• Hardcoding approval thresholds. The thresholds live in rules/approval-matrix.md and may be calibrated per workspace. Quote-desk reads the rule; it does not carry its own duplicate copy that can drift.

Related

• Pricing source of truth: product-knowledge (approved SKUs + list prices).
• Approval thresholds: rules/approval-matrix.md (the sole source — read, do not copy).
• Deal sizing context: rules/targets.md (quota and coverage targets for deal sizing).
• Proposal narrative wrapping this output: proposal-builder.
• ROI / business-case narrative: business-case.
• Negotiation framing: negotiation-prep.
• CRM write for quote logging and approval record: crm-operator.
• Stage gate that quote-desk serves: stage 4 "Proposal / Negotiation" in rules/lifecycle-stages.md.
• Segment packaging overrides: rules/segments/enterprise.md, rules/segments/mid-market.md, rules/segments/smb.md.