| name | close-plan-generator |
| title | Close Plan Generator |
| description | Generates comprehensive close plans for Epiphan Video deals. Maps stakeholders to MEDDIC
roles, identifies decision processes, assesses competitive position, and creates actionable
next-best-actions with a close confidence score (0-100). Outputs ASCII report + optional
mutual action plan for prospect outreach.
|
| version | 1 |
| author | Epiphan Sales Engineering |
| trigger_phrases | ["close plan [company]","build close plan","how do I close [company]","close strategy","deal close checklist","what's blocking [company]","close plan for","closing plan"] |
Help Epiphan AEs (Phil Sandler, Lex Evans) move deals to close by generating data-driven close
plans that surface stakeholder dynamics, decision blocks, competitive threats, and specific
this-week actions. Combines MEDDIC qualification, HubSpot deal data, Clari call intelligence,
and activity momentum to assign a deal confidence score and mutual action plan.
<quick_start>
- Say: "close plan for [Company Name]" or "build close plan [Deal Name]"
- Skill pulls deal stage, contacts, call history, and company context (parallel calls)
- Outputs: Close plan report + optional Gmail draft of mutual action plan
- Share report with BDR Tim Kipper and/or SE for final review before execution
</quick_start>
<success_criteria>
✓ Stakeholder map is complete (all contacts identified with MEDDIC roles + ATL/BTL)
✓ Close confidence score explains top 3 drivers (MEDDIC, momentum, competitive)
✓ This-week actions are specific (owner, prospect contact, deliverable, deadline)
✓ Risk register flags actual blockers (budget, legal, procurement, incumbent)
✓ Mutual action plan is ready to email or share in meeting
✓ Timeline aligns with target close date (reverse-engineered milestones)
</success_criteria>
<core_content>
Workflow
Stage 1: Deal Discovery & Data Collection
On trigger, gather parallel data:
- HubSpot Deal:
hubspot_search_deals / hubspot_get_deal
(stage, amount, close date, collaborators, notes, last activity)
- Contacts:
hubspot_search_contacts on deal company, extract all contacts with:
- Name, title, email, phone, engagement level
- Clari Calls:
clari_search_calls (rep_email) + clari_get_call_summary
(pull 3-5 most recent calls with sentiment, objections, next steps)
- Activity Timeline:
ask_agent question for deal momentum
(last 30 days: calls, emails, meetings, sentiment trend)
- Company Context:
apollo_organizations_enrich (industry, headcount, location, tech stack)
Parallel calls accelerate stage 1 from 2-3 min to <1 min.
Stage 2: MEDDIC Role Mapping & Stakeholder Analysis
For each contact, assign:
MEDDIC Roles (may overlap):
- Economic Buyer (EB): Budget authority, final approval
- Champion: Internal advocate, pushes deal forward
- User: Day-to-day operator, influenced by tool
- Coach: Insider ally, provides intel, unblocks internal process
- Blocker: Opposes or delays (incumbent vendor advocate, budget gatekeeper, skeptic)
ATL/BTL Classification:
- ATL (Above-The-Line): Visible, stakeholder map known to all
- BTL (Below-The-Line): Hidden, only coach/champion know, key for consensus
Engagement Scoring (0-10):
- 10 = Champion, multiple recent calls, driving momentum
- 8-9 = Engaged User, attended demo, asking questions
- 5-7 = Aware but passive (email only, single call)
- 1-4 = Blocker or unaware
Output: Stakeholder table with role, ATL/BTL, engagement, risk.
Stage 3: Decision Process Map
Document procurement/approval flow:
- Who signs PO? (EB name, title, typical SLA)
- Legal review required? (If yes, who, timeline, typical objections)
- Budget cycle alignment? (FY-to-date spend, remaining budget, next approval cycle)
- Vendor evaluation? (RFP process, incumbent incumbent, incumbent defense playbook)
- Competing alternatives? (Extron, Blackmagic, Crestron, vMix, Teradek—note which)
Source from: Clari call summaries, HubSpot deal notes, coach intel via activity timeline.
Output: Decision process flowchart (text-based, ASCII).
Stage 4: Competitive Landscape & Displacement Strategy
Incumbent/Alternative Assessment:
- Who is they comparing against? (Incumbent or alternatives?)
- Incumbent advantage: What are they protecting?
- Displacement angle: Why Epiphan Pearl + Epiphan Connect?
- Battlecard: Key differentiators (price, ease of use, cloud integration, customer support)
Epiphan Competitive Advantages (by vertical):
- Higher Ed: NDI + Kaltura/Panopto integration, multi-campus cloud
- Courts/Legal: SRT reliability, secure RTMP/S, compliance-ready
- Live Events: Pearl Nano portability, EC20 PTZ flexibility, low latency
- Corporate AV: Pearl Mini simplicity, Epiphan Connect for hybrid work
- Houses of Worship: Affordable Pearl Nano, YouTube Live + Vimeo streaming
Output: 1-2 sentence competitive summary + battlecard reference.
Stage 5: Close Timeline (Reverse-Engineered)
Given target close date, work backward:
- Close Date (T): When signature needed?
- T-5 days: Legal sign-off complete
- T-10 days: PO approved by EB + budget confirmed
- T-15 days: Final demo + SOW signed
- T-20 days: RFP response complete (if applicable)
- T-25 days: Procurement kick-off, champion secures budget
Map to: Clari call sentiments, activity momentum, deal stage velocity (from ask_agent).
Output: Milestone calendar (text-based).
Stage 6: Risk Register (Top 3)
For each risk:
- Risk: What could derail close?
- Probability: Low/Med/High
- Impact: Deal slip 30/60/90 days or lost entirely?
- Mitigation: Specific action (who, when, deliverable)
Common risks:
- Budget freeze / competing priority (mitigate: champion confirms budget with EB)
- Incumbent won RFP round (mitigate: battlecard demo vs. incumbent, customer reference call)
- Legal review delays (mitigate: pre-circulate SOW to counsel, coach escalates)
- EB disengaged (mitigate: AE calls EB directly, demo with EB + Champion together)
Output: Risk table (risk, probability, impact, owner, action, deadline).
Stage 7: Next-Best-Action (This Week)
Specific, time-bound actions for THIS WEEK:
For each action:
- Action: What to do (e.g., "Send competitive battlecard + customer reference to Champion")
- Owner: AE, BDR, or SE?
- Prospect Contact: Whom to reach (name, title, email)
- Deliverable: What to send/share (deck, reference, SOW, demo time)
- Deadline: Day of week (e.g., "Tuesday EOD")
- Success Metric: How to know it worked (reply received, meeting scheduled, objection surfaced)
Derive from:
- Clari call objections (unaddressed concerns → action items)
- Stakeholder engagement gaps (EB disengaged → schedule EB call)
- Decision process blockers (legal review pending → pre-circulate SOW)
- Competitive threats (incumbent advantage → battlecard demo)
Output: Numbered action list (format: "1. [Action] | Owner: [AE/BDR/SE] | Contact: [Name] | Deadline: [Day]")
Stage 8: Mutual Action Plan (Prospect Share)
Format as a shared document (can email or share in meeting):
MUTUAL ACTION PLAN: [Company] - [Product/Solution]
Date: [Today]
Close Target: [Date]
EPIPHAN COMMITMENTS:
1. [Specific deliverable] by [date] from [person]
2. [Second deliverable] by [date] from [person]
(etc.)
[PROSPECT COMPANY] COMMITMENTS:
1. [Budget confirmation] by [date] from [decision maker]
2. [Legal review / RFP response] by [date] from [approver]
(etc.)
OPEN ITEMS / RISKS:
- [Risk or open question]
- [Incumbent concern or budget question]
NEXT MEETING: [Date/Time/Format] with [stakeholders]
Output as Gmail draft (optional) or copy-paste ready.
Stage 9: Close Confidence Score (0-100)
Weighted scoring framework:
MEDDIC Completeness (25 pts):
- EB identified + engaged (8 pts)
- Champion identified + pushing (8 pts)
- Users identified (4 pts)
- Coach confirmed (3 pts)
- No major Blockers surfaced (2 pts)
Stakeholder Breadth + EB Engagement (20 pts):
- 4+ contacts identified (5 pts)
- 2+ recent calls/meetings (5 pts)
- EB attended demo or call (5 pts)
- EB sent email or question last 7 days (5 pts)
Activity Momentum (15 pts):
- 3+ activities last 14 days (5 pts)
- Upward sentiment trend in Clari (5 pts)
- Deal stage velocity on track (5 pts)
Competitive Position (15 pts):
- No incumbent advantage identified (5 pts)
- Clear Epiphan differentiator vs. alternatives (5 pts)
- Battlecard executed with Champion (5 pts)
Timeline Integrity (15 pts):
- Target close date reasonable (5 pts)
- Milestone dates achievable based on velocity (5 pts)
- Budget approval likely by target close (5 pts)
Champion Strength (10 pts):
- Champion actively pushing (engagement 9-10) (5 pts)
- Champion has EB ear (5 pts)
Score Interpretation:
- 80-100: High confidence, proceed with close
- 60-79: Moderate, address top 2 gaps
- 40-59: Cautious, needs work on MEDDIC/momentum
- <40: At risk, reassess or reset close date
Output Format
Full ASCII Close Plan Report template and email-ready Mutual Action Plan format: see reference/output-format.md.
Dependencies
HubSpot CRM Integration (Portal 21530819):
hubspot_search_deals — find deal by name or companyhubspot_get_deal — fetch deal details (amount, stage, close date, notes)hubspot_search_contacts — find all contacts at prospect companyhubspot_get_contact — contact details (title, email, phone, engagement)
Clari Call Intelligence:
clari_search_calls — find calls by rep email or attendeeclari_get_call_summary — sentiment, objections, action items (30-60 sec per call)
Epiphan CRM AI Agent:
ask_agent — activity timeline (calls, emails, notes, meetings, sentiment trend last 30d)
Apollo Database:
apollo_organizations_enrich — company context (headcount, industry, location, tech stack)
Gmail (Optional):
- Create draft mutual action plan for prospect outreach
Google Calendar (Optional):
- Check AE/prospect availability for next meeting booking
Integration with Other Skills
Cross-References:
-
deal-momentum-analyzer:
- Close Plan Generator references momentum score for "Activity Momentum" stage
- Use deal-momentum-analyzer output to populate Stage 1 deal health
-
meddic-call-prep-auto:
- Pulls MEDDIC roles + call questions from prior prep
- Close Plan extends MEDDIC qualification to full stakeholder map + decision process
-
ae-handoff-brief:
- Close Plan builds on AE handoff context (discovery, champion, use case, budget)
- BDR Tim Kipper uses ae-handoff-brief to qualify; AE uses close-plan-generator to close
-
epiphan-ai-mcp-guide:
- Product context (Pearl-2, Pearl Mini, Pearl Nano, Pearl Nexus, EC20, Epiphan Connect)
- CMS integrations (Kaltura, Panopto, YuJa, Echo360, Opencast)
- Protocols (RTMP/S, SRT, HLS, NDI, RTSP)
- Competitor profiles (Extron, Blackmagic, Crestron, vMix, Teradek)
Usage Examples
Three worked examples (Enterprise Higher Ed, Corporate AV, Courts/Legal competitive displacement) with full inputs and outputs: see reference/usage-examples.md.
Tips & Best Practices
Seven best practices for Phil Sandler & Lex Evans (run cadence, stakeholder mapping, Clari objections as actions, score interpretation, mutual action plan usage, BDR coordination, reference calls): see reference/tips-best-practices.md.
Troubleshooting & FAQs
Eight common questions (missing EB, low confidence score, sparse Clari data, mutual action plan timing, incumbent price matching, renewals/expansions, when to run): see reference/troubleshooting-faq.md.
Key Definitions
MEDDIC Roles:
- Economic Buyer: Controls budget, final signature authority
- Champion: Internal advocate, pushes deal forward, coaches you on process
- User: Day-to-day operator, influenced by product experience
- Coach: Insider ally, provides intel on decision process, unblocks obstacles
- Blocker: Opposes deal (incumbent advocate, risk-averse, budget gatekeeper)
ATL (Above-The-Line): Stakeholder visible to entire team, known to all
BTL (Below-The-Line): Stakeholder known only to Champion/Coach, key for consensus-building
Close Confidence: 0-100 weighted score across MEDDIC completeness, stakeholder engagement, momentum, competitive position, timeline, champion strength
This-Week Actions: Specific, time-bound, deliverable-driven actions (not vague tasks) to move deal forward in the next 5 days
Mutual Action Plan: Shared document with Epiphan and prospect commitments, used in meetings and follow-up emails to create accountability
Version History
- v1.0 (April 2026): Initial release for Epiphan AEs (Phil Sandler, Lex Evans)
- 9-stage workflow: discovery, MEDDIC mapping, decision process, competitive analysis, timeline, risk register, this-week actions, mutual action plan, confidence scoring
- ASCII report output + Gmail draft capability
- Integration with deal-momentum-analyzer, meddic-call-prep-auto, ae-handoff-brief, epiphan-ai-mcp-guide
- Example workflows for Higher Ed, Corporate AV, and Courts/Legal verticals
Support & Feedback
For questions or improvements:
- Slack: Reach out to Sales Engineering
- Bug reports: Note skill output, deal stage, which stage failed
- Feature requests: "Add X vertical battlecard" or "Add SE collaboration workflow"
License & Attribution
Internal Epiphan Sales tool. For authorized AE use only.
Built on: HubSpot CRM, Clari Intelligence, Apollo Database, Gmail, Google Calendar
END OF SKILL.MD
</core_content>
