Request or Build a Missing Sales Skill

The user needs a sales, marketing, or GTM capability that doesn't have a skill yet. Help them contribute it or request it.

This skill always ends with a concrete action on GitHub:

Path A (Build): Create the skill files, commit, push, and open a pull request to sales-skills/sales
Path B (Request): File a GitHub issue on sales-skills/sales describing what's needed

Do not stop at "here's what the PR/issue would look like" — actually create it using gh pr create or gh issue create.

Step 1: Confirm the gap

If $ARGUMENTS is provided, use it. Otherwise ask: "What sales, marketing, or GTM capability do you need that isn't covered by an existing skill?"

Verify the request fits the sales/marketing/GTM domain. If it's outside scope entirely (e.g., "build a database migration tool"), say so and suggest appropriate tools instead.

Check the existing skills by reviewing the routing table in skills/sales-do/SKILL.md and listing installed skills in ~/.claude/skills/ to make sure there isn't already a skill that covers this. If there's a close match, suggest it instead.

Summarize back to the user:

What they need: one sentence
Closest existing skill: what's close but doesn't quite fit
Category: which section it would belong in (Prospecting & Pipeline, Active Deals, Strategy & Content, Marketing & GTM, Research & Data, Creative & Design, etc.)

Step 2: Choose a path

Ask the user:

Would you like to:

Build the skill — I'll help you create it with proper structure and prepare a PR

Request the skill — I'll file a GitHub issue so the maintainers know it's needed

Path A: Build the skill

Use skill-creator if available

Check whether the /skill-creator skill is available. If available, delegate to it for the full create-test-iterate workflow.

When delegating to /skill-creator, provide this sales-specific context:

Repo conventions for this skill:

Naming: sales-<problem> for sales skills, descriptive names for marketing/GTM skills (e.g., cold-email, launch-strategy)

Descriptions should use phrases salespeople and marketers actually say — "write a cold email", "prep for a discovery call", "handle this objection"

Description must end with negative triggers: Do NOT use for X (use /alternative)

SKILL.md is the only required file — keep it focused and actionable

Skills should ask clarifying questions before acting (audience, stage, constraints)

Skills route through /sales-do — the description field determines when the router matches

Skill structure:
skills/<skill-name>/
├── SKILL.md        # Main instructions (required)
├── scripts/        # Deterministic operations (data fetching, validation, formatting)
├── references/     # Large reference material (>500 words — API docs, data models)
├── assets/         # Templates, examples, configuration files
└── evals/
    └── evals.json  # Test cases (optional, generated by skill-creator or manually)
SKILL.md body pattern (follow what other skills in this repo do):

Step to gather context (ask 2-4 questions about the user's specific situation)

Implementation steps with actionable output

Templates or frameworks relevant to the problem domain

Gotchas section with 3-5 common Claude failure points for this domain

Output formatting guidance

Next steps pointing to related skills

Key principles:

Don't state the obvious: Focus on info Claude wouldn't know — internal conventions, domain gotchas, non-obvious patterns

Avoid railroading: Use "typically" instead of "always". Give Claude flexibility to adapt to the situation.

Scripts: If the skill involves deterministic operations (data fetching, formatting, validation), include scripts in scripts/

Progressive disclosure: Move reference material >500 words to references/ directory

Then let skill-creator run its workflow.

If skill-creator is NOT available

Build the skill manually following the conventions above.

Write the SKILL.md

---
name: <skill-name>
description: "<What problem it solves>. Use when <trigger phrases the user would say>. Do NOT use for <X> (use /alternative)."
argument-hint: "[brief hint about expected arguments]"
license: MIT
metadata:
  author: sales-skills
  version: 1.0.0
---

Read 2-3 existing skills in skills/ to match the tone and structure. Key things to get right:

Description field — This is how the /sales-do router and Claude decide whether to use the skill. Be specific about trigger phrases. Include both what the skill does AND when to use it:

# Bad: too vague
description: "Help with sales emails"

# Good: specific triggers, covers edge cases
description: "Write and optimize cold outbound email sequences. Use when writing first-touch cold emails, building multi-step outreach sequences, A/B testing subject lines, or improving reply rates on existing campaigns."

Body — Should follow the question-first pattern: gather context about the user's situation before producing output. Include templates, frameworks, or examples that make the output immediately useful.

Test the skill

Generate an evals/evals.json file inside the new skill directory with 2-3 realistic test cases. Each eval should represent a prompt a salesperson or marketer would actually say, with assertions describing what a good response looks like.

{
  "skill_name": "<skill-name>",
  "evals": [
    {
      "id": 0,
      "prompt": "realistic user prompt a salesperson or marketer would say",
      "expected_output": "description of what a successful response looks like",
      "assertions": [
        {"name": "assertion_name", "description": "specific thing to check in the output"}
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Run the eval prompts with the skill active and verify the outputs pass the assertions. This matches the schema that /skill-creator uses, so evals work the same regardless of which build path created the skill.

Submit the PR

After creating the skill files, submit a pull request. Do all of these steps — don't stop at "here's what to do":

Update skills/sales-do/SKILL.md — add a row to the appropriate routing table
Update README.md — add a row to the appropriate catalog table
Create a branch: git checkout -b add-<skill-name>
Stage and commit: git add skills/<skill-name>/ evals/ skills/sales-do/SKILL.md README.md && git commit -m "Add <skill-name> skill"
Push: git push -u origin add-<skill-name>
Open the PR:

gh pr create \
  --repo sales-skills/sales \
  --title "Add <skill-name> skill" \
  --body "$(cat <<'EOF'
## Summary
- **Problem**: <what the user is solving>
- **Category**: <which section it belongs in>
- **Example invocation**: `/<skill-name> <example prompt>`

## Files
- `skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md` — main instructions
- `skills/sales-do/SKILL.md` — routing table updated
- `README.md` — catalog table updated
EOF
)"

Return the PR URL to the user when done.

Path B: Request the skill

File a GitHub issue on the repo. Do not just draft it — actually submit it:

gh issue create \
  --repo sales-skills/sales \
  --title "Skill request: <skill-name>" \
  --body "$(cat <<'EOF'
## Problem
<What the user is trying to do, in their words>

## Category
<Which section this fits in: Prospecting, Active Deals, Strategy, Marketing, Research, Creative, etc.>

## Example use case
<A concrete scenario where this skill would help>

## Suggested trigger phrases
<2-3 phrases a salesperson or marketer might say that should route to this skill>
EOF
)"

Return the issue URL to the user when done.

Quality checklist

Before submitting a new skill (via PR or skill-creator), verify:

Related skills

/sales-do — Not sure which skill to use? The router matches any sales objective to the right skill. Install: npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skills sales-do

sales-request-skill