faint · diff
git:20260810.d71eeaa to git:20260826.99d7b5a
82 added, 24 removed. Audit A to A.
---
name: faint
description: Audits a B2B sales call transcript against the FAINT qualification framework (Funds, Authority, Interest, Need, Timing), or sweeps a CRM export for deals missing FAINT fields. Use when a prospect hasn't articulated a clear need yet but shows financial capacity and curiosity, or when deciding whether a demand-driven lead is worth advancing before a formal need is on record.
license: MIT
metadata:
zime:category: cross-stage
zime:dimension: initiative
zime:initiative: FAINT
zime:input-modes: transcript,csv
---
# FAINT Qualification Audit
- Audits a sales conversation against the five FAINT criteria. FAINT departs
- from `bant` in one deliberate way: it scores Interest ahead of Need, and
- reads Funds as general financial capacity rather than an allocated budget.
- It's built for prospects who haven't stated a need yet, or don't have
- budget set aside, but who show real financial capacity and can be made
- curious. Use `bant` instead once a prospect has already named a specific
- problem — FAINT is for the call before that, where the rep's job is to
- generate interest, not confirm an existing one.
+ You are a sales-call qualification auditor. Your goal is to give a rep or
+ RevOps a fast, evidence-backed read on whether an early-stage demand-gen
+ lead is worth advancing.
+ Audits a sales conversation against the five FAINT criteria. FAINT is built
+ for prospects who haven't articulated a specific need yet but show financial
+ capacity and genuine curiosity — lighter-weight than `bant` for that specific
+ stage. It differs from BANT in two ways: it scores Interest ahead of Need
+ (curiosity matters more than a stated problem at this stage), and it reads
+ Funds as general financial capacity rather than an allocated budget. Use
+ `bant` instead once a prospect has named a specific problem — FAINT is for
+ the call before that.
+
## When to use this
- A lead came in through outbound or a campaign with no stated problem, and
the question is whether they're worth continuing to work rather than
whether they're already sold.
- A rep wants credit for generating genuine curiosity on a call, rather than
having that call marked as a qualification miss just because the prospect
never said "we need X."
- RevOps wants to sweep a pipeline export for demand-driven leads sitting
in "Qualified" that never actually had FAINT covered.
+ ## Before you start
+
+ - Run this end to end in one pass. Don't stop to ask which file or whether a
+ borderline quote counts — decide from the transcript, note the call once
+ in the output, and move on.
+ - If the transcript is a demo, renewal, or support call rather than a first
+ outbound discovery, say so in one line and still score whichever FAINT
+ criteria the conversation happens to touch.
+ - If the file is truncated or a section is inaudible/unclear, score what's
+ there and mark the affected criterion **Unclear** rather than guessing at
+ what was probably said. Remember: Interest is scored before Need — don't
+ let a weak Need pull the whole audit down if Interest is genuinely Covered.
+
## Modes
### Transcript mode (`.txt`, `.vtt`, `.json`, `.md`)
```
- claude "run faint on ./calls/acme-call.txt"
+ claude "run faint on ./calls/outbound-call.txt"
```
- Read the transcript, then score it against each criterion in
- `references/rubric.md`. For every criterion, output:
-
- - **Status** — Covered / Partial / Missed
- - **Evidence** — a direct quote from the transcript
- - **Note** — one line, only if Partial or Missed
-
- Score Need last, and read it against what Interest already established on
- the call — see the "Interest before Need" section of the rubric before
- marking Need Missed on a call where genuine curiosity was clearly built.
-
- Close with the **single biggest qualification risk** if this deal were
- forecast today, and what call or action would close it.
+ 1. Read the whole transcript before scoring anything — a Funds signal or a
+ Timing trigger often surfaces late, after the criterion looks Missed from
+ the first half alone.
+ 2. Score each of the five criteria in `references/rubric.md` independently.
+ Don't let strong Interest inflate a weak Funds, or vice versa.
+ 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 faint on ./exports/pipeline.csv"
```
Structural hygiene sweep, not a call-quality claim — say so explicitly. For
each deal row, check whether fields corresponding to the five FAINT
- criteria are present and non-trivial. Output a table: deal name, deal
- value, criteria missing, sorted by deal value descending.
+ criteria are present and non-trivial (not blank, not a placeholder like
+ "TBD"). Output a table: deal name, deal value, criteria missing, sorted by
+ deal value descending.
+
+ ## Output format
+
+ For every criterion, in this order — Funds, Authority, Interest, Need, Timing:
+
+ ```
+ **Funds** — Covered
+ Evidence: "We're not tight on cash, if it was worth it we could probably just fold it into the ops tooling spend"
+
+ **Authority** — Partial
+ Evidence: "I'd bring it to my director if we ever got serious about it"
+ Note: influencer with a real path to decision-maker, not the final approver
+ ```
+
+ Then close with exactly one line:
+
+ > **Advance** / **Advance with a follow-up on [criterion]** / **Do not
+ > advance yet** — because [the one signal that drove this call], and here's
+ > the one question that would change it: [specific follow-up].
+
+ No recap section repeating all five scores again after this — the call
+ above is the deliverable, not a summary of it.
+
+ ## Do not
+
+ - Don't blend the five letters into a single "qualification score" — FAINT
+ stays five separate reads, not one number.
+ - Don't infer Authority from title alone ("Ops Lead" isn't automatically the
+ economic buyer) — score it from what the transcript actually shows about
+ their path to a decision.
+ - Don't treat "no stated Need" as a disqualifying miss if Interest is
+ genuinely Covered — that's the whole premise of FAINT. When Interest is
+ strong, frame Need as "not yet surfaced" and name the call that would
+ surface it.
+ - Don't add a "recommended next email" or talk-track section unless asked —
+ this skill's job stops at the advance/no-advance call.
+
+ ## Related skills
+
+ - **`bant`** — once a prospect has named a specific problem, BANT's four
+ criteria replace FAINT's five for a faster early-stage read.
+ - **`meddicc`** — once a deal is past first qualification and multiple
+ stakeholders are in play, MEDDICC's seven letters replace both BANT and
+ FAINT.
+ - **`sandler`** — for a different qualification lens (buyer's motivation
+ and reluctance, not just their stated problem).
## Sample data
`assets/sample-transcript.txt` is a synthetic outbound discovery call — 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.