8. Sales & CRM

The Sales & CRM module is BOB's implementation of the lead-to-cash value chain — the full journey from a name on a list to a paid invoice. Every skill, record type, and workflow in this module exists to move deals forward and keep the pipeline honest.

You are the decision-maker at every gate. BOB handles the research, the drafting, and the reporting.

8.1 The lead-to-cash backbone

The chain runs in seven stages. Skills and playbooks are mapped to each one.

Stage	What happens	BOB's role
Prospect	Identify and reach potential buyers	Drafts outreach, scouts trigger events, builds target lists
Qualify	Assess fit, authority, need, timeline	Scores the lead, surfaces gaps, prepares discovery questions
Propose	Scope the work, price it, present it	Drafts proposals and quotes, models pricing
Close	Negotiate terms and sign	Prepares objection responses, tracks open items
Deliver	Do the work	Hands off to the delivery team (see chapter 11)
Invoice	Bill for completed work	Generates invoice descriptions, confirms amounts
Collect	Chase and confirm payment	Drafts reminders, escalates overdue accounts

This chapter covers Prospect through Invoice. Collection is handled by the Finance module — see chapter 10.

8.2 Lead records and the lead lifecycle

Every lead lives as a note in the vault under {lead.root}. The note holds contact details, qualification data, activity history, and the current stage tag.

Lifecycle stages

A lead moves through a defined set of states. You control the transitions; BOB updates the record when you confirm.

Stage tag	Meaning
new	Captured but not yet assessed
qualified	Meets your ICP; worth pursuing
nurture	Interesting but not ready — keep warm
disqualified	Poor fit or timing; archived with a reason
client	Deal won; promoted to a client record

When a deal closes, BOB promotes the lead note to {client.root} and creates the project folder structure. The original lead note is linked from the client record as provenance.

What "qualified" means

BOB qualifies against the criteria you configured during setup — typically industry, company size, role of the contact, budget signal, and timeline. The lead-qualifier skill produces a scorecard; you review it and confirm or override the outcome. Your override is logged.

8.3 Deal stages

Active deals carry a deal-stage tag distinct from the lead lifecycle. The deal stage tracks sales progress; the lead lifecycle tracks the prospect relationship.

Deal stage	Typical exit criteria
lead	ICP confirmed, contact identified
qualified	Pain confirmed, decision-maker engaged
proposal	Proposal sent, no objections pending
negotiation	Commercial terms under discussion
won	Contract signed or PO received
lost	Prospect chose another path — reason recorded

BOB never changes a deal stage automatically. You record the change; BOB updates the sales-pipeline-report on the next run.

8.4 Workflows

Capturing a lead

When a new prospect appears — from an inbound inquiry, a referral, a conference, or an outbound list — you create a lead note. You can do this manually or ask BOB:

1. Tell BOB: "Add a new lead — Acme Corp, contact Jana Hofer, CFO, referred by our accountant."
2. BOB creates the note in {lead.root} with the stage tag new and today's date.
3. BOB prompts you for any missing qualification fields.
4. You review and save.

Output: a lead note at {company.leads}/acme-corp/acme-corp.md.

Qualifying a lead

Run this after a first conversation or when enough information exists to score the lead properly.

1. Open the lead note or name the prospect to BOB.
2. Invoke lead-qualifier. BOB reads the lead note and your ICP configuration.
3. BOB returns a qualification scorecard: strengths, red flags, missing information, and a recommended stage.
4. If gaps remain, BOB can run prospect-audit to pull public information about the company and add it to the note.
5. You confirm the stage (qualified, nurture, or disqualified) and optionally add a note explaining your decision.

Output: updated lead note with qualification scorecard appended and stage tag set.

Scoping and proposal

Once a lead is qualified, the work shifts to defining the engagement and presenting a price.

1. Run proposal-writer. BOB interviews you about the deal: problem, scope, deliverables, timeline, investment.
2. BOB drafts the proposal document and saves a working draft to {client.sales}.
3. Run quotation-generator if the proposal requires a priced line-item quote. BOB reads your service catalog (configured in {company.root}) and builds the quote.
4. If pricing needs justification or competitive framing, run pricing-strategy. BOB models the options and notes the rationale.
5. Review all three documents together. Revise in Obsidian or send BOB targeted corrections.
6. When satisfied, mark the draft status: approved in the frontmatter. BOB does not send anything — distribution is your action.

Output: proposal note and optional quote note in {client.sales}, rendered PDF via branded-pdf if requested.

Outreach and sequences

For cold or semi-warm outreach, use the channel-appropriate skill.

Skill	Channel	What you provide
cold-email	Email	Target profile, your offer, any known context
linkedin-outreach	LinkedIn	Target profile, connection angle, tone preference
outbound-sequence	Multi-step email	Sequence length, goals, escalation logic

BOB drafts in your brand voice (as captured by brand-voice-generator — see chapter 9). Each draft lands in {company.marketing}/{channel}/ as a file you review before sending. BOB does not send messages.

For account-based or multi-channel campaigns, use the ABM multi-channel sequence playbook, which chains these skills with tracking checkpoints.

Pipeline reporting

Run sales-pipeline-report before any pipeline review meeting or at your cadence (weekly is typical).

1. Invoke the skill. BOB reads all active lead and deal notes.
2. BOB aggregates: deal count by stage, total pipeline value, average days in stage, deals past expected close date, win rate over the trailing 90 days.
3. The report is saved to {company.reports} and returned in the panel.
4. Stale deals (past expected close with no recent activity) are flagged. BOB surfaces them; you decide what to do.

Output: a dated pipeline report note. Key KPIs tracked: qualified_pipeline_eur, win_rate_90d, stale_pipeline_pct.

8.5 Skills in this module

Skill	Primary use
lead-qualifier	ICP scoring and stage recommendation
prospect-audit	Public research on a company or contact
crm-pipeline	Lead and deal record management
proposal-writer	Full proposal drafting
quotation-generator	Priced line-item quotes from your catalog
pricing-strategy	Pricing options and justification
cold-email	Cold outreach email drafts
linkedin-outreach	LinkedIn message drafts
outbound-sequence	Multi-step email sequences
sales-pipeline-report	Pipeline health and deal aggregation
objection-playbook	Objection response library
negotiation	Negotiation prep and tactics
sales-enablement	Battle cards, talk tracks, competitive positioning

8.6 Where records live

Record type	Vault path
Active leads	{lead.root}
Promoted clients	{client.root}
Proposals and quotes	{client.sales}
Outreach drafts	{company.marketing}/{channel}/
Pipeline reports	{company.reports}
Service catalog	{company.offerings}

8.7 Handoff to Finance

When a deal moves to won and delivery is underway or complete, the invoicing step begins. The trigger is yours — BOB does not auto-invoice.

1. Open the client project note and tell BOB: "Generate the invoice description for this engagement."
2. BOB runs invoice-description, reads the scope and agreed amounts from the proposal and quote, and drafts the invoice line items and payment terms.
3. You or your finance admin transfers the line items to your accounting system. BOB does not write directly to any external accounting platform.
4. The invoice record is saved to {client.invoices} and linked from the project note.

For collection follow-up after an invoice is overdue, see chapter 10, Finance.

8.8 Playbooks for this module

Playbook	When to use
Lead-to-Cash E2E	Run the full chain end to end for a new deal
Sales Call Prep	Prepare for a discovery or proposal call
MEDDPICC Qualification	Rigorous enterprise qualification
SPICED Discovery	Structured discovery for consultative sales
Gap Selling Discovery	Surface the prospect's current-state pain
Challenger Sale	Teach, tailor, take-control selling approach
Proposal from meeting	Fast proposal from a meeting transcript
Mutual Action Plan	Shared close plan with the prospect
Procurement to Signature	Navigate procurement and legal cycles
Win-Loss Review	Structured debrief on deals closed or lost
Sales conversion improvement	Diagnose and fix a dropping win rate

8.9 Good practices

• Keep lead notes current. BOB's pipeline report is only as accurate as the data in the vault. A note that hasn't been updated in three weeks will produce a stale report.
• Record disqualification reasons. "Not now — budget frozen until Q1" is more useful than disqualified. BOB uses these notes when you ask it to identify re-engagement timing.
• Don't skip the qualification scorecard. Running lead-qualifier takes two minutes and forces you to test your assumptions before spending time on a proposal.
• Mark drafts status: approved before distributing. This creates a clear audit trail of what was sent and when.
• Run a win-loss review after every closed deal. The Win-Loss Review playbook takes under 20 minutes and builds the pattern library BOB uses to improve future proposals.