sharkitect-solutions/hq-revenue-ops

HQ Revenue Operations — Deal Governance & Client Tiering

File Index

| File | Load When | Do NOT Load | |------|-----------|-------------| | references/client-tiers.md | Every deal evaluation, pricing decision, or client classification task | General financial analysis unrelated to specific deals | | references/pricing-psychology.md | Building proposals, structuring pricing options, planning upsells, or framing discounts | Quick tier lookups, pipeline stage checks, or deal approval routing |

Paired Agents

Launch these agents (Task tool) for execution:

• sales-researcher — Lead qualification, prospect research, outreach strategy
• customer-success-manager — Client health scoring, retention strategy, upsell identification
• financial-analyst — P&L analysis, cash flow, unit economics (when deal-level analysis needs financial context)

The smb-cfo skill provides the financial modeling layer. This skill provides the deal governance layer. They complement but don't overlap — smb-cfo answers "can we afford this?" while hq-revenue-ops answers "should we do this deal?"

Use this skill directly (without agent) for:

• Quick client tier classification
• Deal approval routing (who needs to sign off)
• Pricing guardrail checks

Scope Boundary

| Request | This Skill | Use Instead | |---------|-----------|-------------| | "Evaluate this deal" | YES | - | | "Check client tier" | YES | - | | "Validate pricing against guardrails" | YES | - | | "Route deal for approval" | YES | - | | "Build a pricing model" | NO | smb-cfo skill | | "Research competitor pricing" | NO | competitive-intelligence-analyst agent | | "Write a proposal document" | NO | copywriting skill | | "Forecast revenue for next quarter" | NO | financial-analyst agent | | "Create a discount strategy" | NO | pricing-strategy skill | | "Run a sales outreach campaign" | NO | sales-researcher agent |

Deal Evaluation Decision Tree

Routes by v3.2 architecture mechanics. Branches lead to the K1 SoT decision; this skill does not encode the decision values.

NEW DEAL OR PRICING DECISION
  |
  +-- Wrapper choice clarified?
  |     Standard Partnership Wrapper  -->  continue (advisory layer = Chris)
  |     AIOS Wrapper                  -->  continue (advisory layer = AIOS agent;
  |                                          mechanics inherit aios-pricing.md v1.5)
  |     Mutual exclusivity: client picks ONE wrapper. See pricing-structure.md v3.2 § 2.
  |
  +-- Sub-threshold engagement (client below typical Partnership tier)?
  |     YES -->  Sharkitect Growth Essentials: $2,500 setup, $250/mo,
  |              Partnership Wrapper fee WAIVED, 12-month minimum, upgrade path at month 12+.
  |              See sharkitect-growth-essentials.md v1.1 + pricing-structure.md v3.2 § 13.
  |     NO  -->  continue with Wrapper + Project Lines.
  |
  +-- Project Lines required (per v3.2 § 7)?
  |     VDR (VoiceDesk AI Receptionist) -- Capacity-Tiered (coverage band)
  |     RLR (RapidLead Response)         -- Capacity-Tiered (email sends/mo)
  |     SLW (SystemLink Workflow Sync)   -- Scope-Built (Complexity Scorecard per slw-pricing-calculator.md v1.0)
  |     PPM (PresencePulse Marketing)    -- Capacity-Tiered (three independent axes)
  |     CPS (ContentPulse Social Engine) -- Capacity-Tiered, ADD-ON ONLY
  |       Gate: NEVER entry point; requires >= 1 core service live 90+ days
  |       (90-day waiver allowed for vendor transitions). See v3.2 § 15 Rule #1.
  |
  +-- Founding Partner Rate eligibility?
  |     First 5 signed clients only -->  $1,500/mo Standard wrapper, 24-month lock
  |                                       (anchor in v3.2; numbers refined in pricing sub-step).
  |     Client #6+                  -->  Standard non-FP rate (placeholder pending pricing sub-step).
  |     Terminology rule: ALWAYS "Founding Partner Rate" / "partnership evolution review".
  |                       NEVER "grandfathered" / "legacy pricing" / "price increase".
  |     See v3.2 § 11.
  |
  +-- Multi-system expansion sequence (Partnership Progression Pricing, setup only)?
  |     2nd system within 12 months of prior go-live  -->  25% off SETUP
  |     3rd+ system within 12 months of prior go-live -->  40% off SETUP
  |     $2,500 setup minimum floor enforced regardless of discount (v3.2 § 9 + § 15 Rule #12).
  |     NEVER applies to monthly recurring (v3.2 § 15 Rule #4). Frame as efficiency saving,
  |     NOT a discount.
  |
  +-- Annual commitment?
  |     15% off MONTHLY recurring -->  Wrapper + Scope-Built (flat-fee) project lines ONLY.
  |     Capacity-Tiered project lines have NO annual discount (capacity flex IS the value lever).
  |     See v3.2 § 10.
  |
  +-- Approval routing & payment-term thresholds
        Canonical decision rules live in financial-operations-guide.md (HQ knowledge-base/governance/)
        and sales-enablement-playbook.md (HQ knowledge-base/revenue/). This skill routes to
        those K1 SoTs rather than encoding the thresholds.

Pricing Guardrails (Quick Reference -- v3.2-sourced)

Quick checks. Full details and authoritative values live in pricing-structure.md v3.2. This skill cites; it does not duplicate.

| Guardrail | Rule | K1 source | |-----------|------|-----------| | Setup fee floor | $2,500 minimum on every setup -- no setup drops below this regardless of discount or tier | v3.2 § 9 + § 15 Rule #12 | | Partnership Progression Pricing | 0% on 1st system, 25% off SETUP on 2nd, 40% off SETUP on 3rd+ (efficiency saving, never framed as discount) | v3.2 § 9 | | Expansion window | Progression discount applies only if next system added within 12 months of prior go-live | v3.2 § 9 | | Annual Commitment | 15% off MONTHLY recurring -- Wrapper + Scope-Built lines ONLY (NOT capacity-tiered) | v3.2 § 10 | | Multi-service monthly discounts | NONE -- only setup fees receive progression pricing | v3.2 § 15 Rule #4 | | CPS entry rule | NEVER entry point; requires >= 1 core service live 90+ days (90-day waiver only for vendor transitions) | v3.2 § 15 Rule #1 | | Capacity tiers | Volume only -- NEVER feature gating; every client at every tier gets standard inclusions | v3.2 § 15 Rule #3 | | Lead notification destinations | Cap 2 per service (CRM / email / Slack); additional = a la carte | v3.2 § 15 Rule #13 | | Founding Partner eligibility | First 5 signed clients only; 24-month lock; "Founding Partner Rate" terminology mandatory | v3.2 § 11 | | Implementation fees | Never discounted -- only setup/build fees receive Partnership Progression Pricing | v3.2 § 9 | | Platform costs | Absorbed into project monthly fee -- never passthrough line items | v3.2 § 15 Rule #9 | | Verbal pricing | NEVER given -- always present in written proposal format (see Anti-Patterns below) | Sharkitect operations standard |

Margin floors, payment-term thresholds, and approval-authority brackets live in knowledge-base/governance/financial-operations-guide.md. Cite, don't encode.

Pipeline Governance

| Stage | Required Before Moving Forward | |-------|-------------------------------| | Lead | Contact info + source identified | | Qualified | Budget confirmed + decision-maker identified + timeline established | | Proposal | Scope document + pricing validated against guardrails | | Negotiation | All terms documented + approval chain completed for tier | | Closed Won | Signed contract + payment method on file | | Closed Lost | Loss reason documented + competitive intel captured |

Anti-Patterns

1. Undercutting for Volume: Dropping below 40% margin to win deals destroys the business model. One bad deal at 20% margin requires three good deals at 50% to recover.
2. Scope Ambiguity: "We'll figure it out as we go" in proposals leads to scope creep. Every deliverable must be listed. What's NOT included matters as much as what IS.
3. Lifecycle-Tier Mismatch: Treating a Tier 1 Lead (no meeting yet) with Tier 3 Active Client attention (full custom card, dedicated Slack, monthly KPI reports) OR treating a Tier 3 Active Client with Tier 1 Lead service level (still on generic card). See client-journey-tier-framework.md v1.0 for the canonical lifecycle tiers (T0 Anonymous → T1 Lead → T2 Prospect → T3 Active Client → T4 Advocate). Over-servicing pre-qualified leads burns capacity; under-servicing active clients signals "we stopped caring." Service level must match lifecycle state, not deal size.
4. Skipping Qualification: Jumping to proposals without confirming budget, authority, need, and timeline. Unqualified proposals have a <10% close rate and waste 8+ hours each.
5. Verbal Agreements: "They said yes on the call" is not a closed deal. Nothing is real until it's signed and payment method is on file.
6. Making It Up Next Phase: Discounting Phase 1 assuming Phase 2 will be at full price. Recovery rate is only 30% — 7 out of 10 clients who got a discounted Phase 1 expect the same discount on Phase 2 or walk. A $1,000 Phase 1 discount turns into $3,000+ in lost margin across a 3-phase engagement.
7. Revenue Concentration Blindness: Letting one client exceed 25% of total revenue without a mitigation plan. If that client churns, expect 3+ months to recover the revenue gap. During recovery, cash flow strain forces you to accept below-margin deals, creating a downward spiral. Check revenue concentration monthly.
8. Handshake Pricing: Quoting prices verbally before running margin math against guardrails. 40% of verbal quotes end up below minimum margin because they skip the pricing validation step. Once a number is spoken, the client anchors to it, and walking it back damages trust. Always run the deal through the pricing guardrails table BEFORE any number leaves your mouth.