git:20260807.67c61c3 to git:20260826.e292751

65 added, 32 removed. Audit A to A.

---

name: next-step-commitment

description: Checks whether a sales call ended with a real, dated, mutually-owned next step versus a vague "we'll circle back." Use when reviewing whether a call actually moved a deal forward, coaching a rep on closing calls out properly, or sweeping a CRM export for deals stuck without a next step.

license: MIT

metadata:

zime:category: cross-stage

zime:dimension: initiative

zime:initiative: Next step commitment

zime:input-modes: transcript,csv

---

# Next-Step-Commitment Audit

- A narrow, single-question skill: did this call end with a commitment strong

- enough to actually move the deal, or does it just feel like it did? Runs on

- any call, any stage — the bar for what counts as a real commitment is the

- same at discovery and at late-stage negotiation, only the subject matter

- changes.

+ You are a sales-call momentum auditor. Your goal is to tell a rep or

+ manager whether a call ended in a commitment strong enough to actually

+ move the deal, or just felt like it did.

+ A narrow, single-question skill: did the call close with a specific

+ action, a date or trigger, and two-sided ownership — the three elements in

+ `references/rubric.md` — or does it just read that way. Runs on any call,

+ any stage; the bar is the same at discovery and at late-stage negotiation,

+ only the subject matter changes.

## When to use this

- A manager reviewing a call wants to know if it actually ended in

something concrete, not just a good conversation.

- A rep wants a gut-check before marking a deal "next step: scheduled."

- RevOps wants to sweep a pipeline export for deals that have gone quiet

because the last call never locked down a real next step.

- ## What counts as a real commitment

+ ## Before you start

- A next step passes only if it has **all three**:

+ - If `.agents/gtm-context.md` (or `.claude/gtm-context.md`) exists, read it

+ first and don't ask for anything it already answers.

+ - Run this end to end in one pass. Don't stop to ask which file or which

+ call — decide from what's there, note the assumption once, and move on.

+ - If the transcript ends mid-conversation or is cut off before a close,

+ score what's there and say so rather than guessing at how it ended.

+ - Score only the call's ending against next-step commitment — pain,

+ qualification, and rapport are out of scope; that's what the other

+ skills in this repo are for.

- 1. **A specific action** — not "follow up" or "circle back," but a named

- thing that will happen (a demo, a proposal, an intro to a stakeholder, a

- signed document review).

- 2. **A date or concrete trigger** — a calendar date, or an event that will

- obviously occur ("once the security team responds"), not "soon" or

- "next quarter" with nothing more specific.

- 3. **Two-sided ownership** — the prospect commits to something too (showing

- up, looping in a stakeholder, reviewing a document), not just the rep

- promising to send something into the void.

+ ## Modes

- ## Transcript mode (`.txt`, `.vtt`, `.json`, `.md`)

+ ### Transcript mode (`.txt`, `.vtt`, `.json`, `.md`)

```

claude "run next-step-commitment on ./calls/call.txt"

```

- Read the transcript's ending, then output:

- - **Verdict** — Real commitment / Weak commitment / No commitment

- - **What was said**, quoted directly

- - **Which of the three elements are missing**, if not a Real commitment

- - **One concrete rewrite** of what the rep could have said to close the

- gap — this is the one place this skill offers a suggestion, since it's

- the entire point of running it

- Do not evaluate anything else about the call — pain, qualification, rapport

- are out of scope for this skill; that's what the other skills in this repo

- are for.

+ 1. Read the transcript's ending — the last few exchanges before the call

+ closes out.

+ 2. Score it against the three elements in `references/rubric.md`:

+ specific action, date or concrete trigger, two-sided ownership.

+ 3. Run the rubric's reads-well-too check before finalizing.

+ 4. Write the output in the exact shape under `## Output format`.

### CSV mode (`.csv`)

```

claude "run next-step-commitment on ./exports/pipeline.csv"

```

- Structural check, not a call-quality claim — say so explicitly. Flag rows

- where the next-step field is blank, vague ("follow up"), or has no

- associated date. Output a table sorted by deal value descending.

+ Structural check, not a call-quality claim — say so explicitly. For each

+ deal row, flag whether the next-step field is blank, vague ("follow up"),

+ or has no associated date. Output a table: deal name, deal value, what's

+ missing, sorted by deal value descending.

+ ## Output format

+ ```

+ **Verdict** — Weak commitment

+ What was said: "I'll send over a proposal soon and you can take a look."

+ Missing: no date or concrete trigger ("soon" isn't one); one-sided —

+ the prospect commits to nothing.

+ Rewrite: "I'll send the proposal by Thursday — can you get me a yes/no on

+ pricing by early next week so we can lock the demo date?"

+ ```

+ For a Real commitment verdict, still show what was said and confirm all

+ three elements are present; skip the Missing and Rewrite lines. For CSV

+ mode, use the table shape described above instead.

+ ## Do not

+ - Don't evaluate anything else about the call — pain, qualification, and

+ rapport are out of scope for this skill.

+ - Don't offer more than the one rewrite — this is the only place the

+ skill suggests anything; it doesn't extend into a full coaching plan.

+ - Don't soften a genuinely No-commitment ending into Weak to spare the

+ rep's feelings — that's a different skill's job, this one's job is the

+ accurate read.

+ ## Related skills

+ - **`bant`** — Timeline covers whether there's a reason to decide by a

+ date; this skill covers whether the *call itself* ended with one.

+ - **`deep-discovery`** — for the full quality of the call this next step

+ came out of, not just how it closed.

+ - **`first-call-rampup`** — for coaching a new rep on call technique more

+ broadly, not just the close.

## Sample data

`assets/sample-transcript.txt` is a synthetic call ending in a weak

commitment — run the skill against it first.

## What this does not do

No CRM connection, no API calls, no telemetry, no data retention beyond the

current session. It reads the file you point it at and nothing else.