Build a Skill as a Sales Engineer
Role guide — Sales & Pre-Sales
Who this is for: Red Hat sales engineers, account managers, and pre-sales specialists who repeat the same prep work before every customer demo — and want to stop doing it manually.
The Problem
Before every OpenShift demo, you probably do some version of this:
- Look up the customer’s industry and current infrastructure
- Pick the right catalog item from RHDP (or guess)
- Write a briefing doc or slide bullets
- Draft a “here’s what you’ll see today” intro for the customer
- Prepare follow-up talking points
That’s 30–60 minutes of prep for every demo. A skill automates it down to a single command.
What You’re Building
A skill called /sales:demo-brief that takes a few inputs and generates:
- A 1-page customer briefing doc (customer name, pain points, recommended demo path)
- A recommended catalog item from RHDP with rationale
- An intro script for the opening 2 minutes of the demo
- Follow-up talking points tailored to the opportunity
The end result:
> /sales:demo-brief
Claude asks you 4 questions (customer, industry, opportunity type, deal stage), then generates everything above in under 2 minutes.
Phase 1 — Document Your Current Process
Before writing any skill file, get your mental process into text. Claude is your interviewer.
Open Claude Code and paste this:
I'm a Red Hat sales engineer. I want to automate my pre-demo prep workflow.
Here's what I currently do before each demo:
1. Research the customer's current infrastructure (VMware, bare metal, cloud)
2. Decide which RHDP catalog item to use based on their primary pain point
3. Write a 1-page briefing doc for my account team
4. Prepare a 2-minute intro script for the customer call
5. Draft 3-5 follow-up talking points
Can you interview me about each step so we can capture every decision,
default, and edge case? Start with the research step.
Let Claude interview you. It will surface things you do automatically:
- “What if the customer is already using Kubernetes?”
- “Do you approach financial services differently than manufacturing?”
- “What’s the minimum info you need to pick a catalog item?”
Ask Claude to write up each section as a .md file as you go:
Good. Now write that up as docs/sales-workflow/01-customer-research.md
Already have documentation? Point Claude at it instead:
"Read the sales playbook at docs/sales-playbook.md and restructure it as step-by-step reference files."
Phase 2 — Convert Your Docs into a SKILL.md
Once you have reference files, point Claude at an existing RHDP skill to use as a pattern, then generate yours:
Read the existing skill at showroom/skills/create-lab/SKILL.md — understand
the format and structure.
Now read my reference files:
- docs/sales-workflow/01-customer-research.md
- docs/sales-workflow/02-catalog-selection.md
- docs/sales-workflow/03-briefing-doc.md
- docs/sales-workflow/04-intro-script.md
- docs/sales-workflow/05-followup.md
Generate a SKILL.md for a skill called /sales:demo-brief that:
1. Asks the user 4 key questions (customer name, industry, opportunity type, deal stage)
2. Generates a customer briefing doc using my 01-customer-research format
3. Recommends a RHDP catalog item using my 02-catalog-selection logic
4. Generates an intro script using my 04-intro-script format
5. Generates follow-up talking points using my 05-followup format
Follow the same frontmatter structure as create-lab/SKILL.md.
Phase 3 — The SKILL.md (Example)
Here is what a complete sales skill looks like. Use this as your starting template and replace the content with your actual workflow.
---
name: sales:demo-brief
description: Generate pre-demo preparation materials for a Red Hat customer
demo. Invoke when a user needs a customer briefing, catalog recommendation,
demo intro script, or follow-up talking points before a customer call.
context: main
model: claude-opus-4-6
---
# Sales Demo Brief
## Purpose
Generate complete pre-demo prep materials in a single workflow.
Ask questions sequentially — one at a time, wait for each answer.
## Step 1 — Gather Context
Ask these questions one at a time:
1. "What is the customer name and industry? (e.g., Acme Corp — Financial Services)"
2. "What is their primary pain point? (e.g., VMware cost, app modernisation, edge computing)"
3. "What type of opportunity is this? (New logo / Expand / Renew)"
4. "What stage is the deal? (Discovery / Demo / Proof of Concept / Close)"
## Step 2 — Select the Right Catalog Item
Based on the primary pain point, recommend one of these catalog items:
| Pain Point | Recommended Catalog Item |
|---|---|
| VMware migration / cost | OCP Virtualization — VM Migration from VMware |
| App modernisation | OpenShift Dev Spaces |
| AI/ML workloads | OpenShift AI (RHOAI) |
| Edge computing | MicroShift / Single Node OpenShift |
| Ansible automation | AAP Self-Service Intro |
| Hybrid cloud management | RHACM Multi-Cluster |
Provide a 2-sentence rationale for the recommendation.
## Step 3 — Generate Customer Briefing Doc
Use this format:
---
**Customer:** [name] | **Industry:** [industry] | **Date:** [today's date]
**Opportunity:** [opportunity type] — [deal stage]
**Primary Pain Point:** [in customer's words, not Red Hat's]
**Recommended Demo:** [catalog item name]
**Why This Demo:** [2 sentences connecting their pain to what they'll see]
**Key Metrics to Mention:**
- [relevant Red Hat proof point for their industry]
- [relevant customer story if applicable]
**What NOT to Demo:** [anything out of scope or likely to confuse]
---
## Step 4 — Write the Intro Script
Write a 2-minute verbal intro (approx. 200 words) that:
- Opens by reflecting their pain point back to them
- States what they will see and do today
- Sets the expectation that they'll have hands-on access (if sandbox)
- Does NOT open with "So let me tell you about Red Hat..."
## Step 5 — Draft Follow-up Talking Points
Write 4–5 bullet points for after the demo:
- Each addresses a likely objection or question
- Each connects to a Red Hat proof point or reference customer
- Keep each under 30 words
Phase 4 — Package It as a Plugin
Create the directory structure:
mkdir -p my-sales-skills/.claude-plugin
mkdir -p my-sales-skills/skills/demo-brief
Create my-sales-skills/.claude-plugin/plugin.json:
{
"name": "sales",
"version": "1.0.0",
"description": "Red Hat sales engineering skills for pre-demo preparation",
"author": {
"name": "Your Name",
"email": "you@redhat.com"
}
}
Save your SKILL.md as my-sales-skills/skills/demo-brief/SKILL.md.
Phase 5 — Test Locally
# Load your plugin without installing it
claude --plugin-dir ~/my-sales-skills
# In Claude Code, test it:
> /sales:demo-brief
Verify that:
- Claude asks questions one at a time (not all at once)
- The briefing doc uses your format
- The catalog recommendation matches your selection logic
- The intro script doesn’t start with “Let me tell you about Red Hat…”
Fix any issues by editing SKILL.md and reloading:
> /reload-plugins
What’s Next
Share it with your team. Push your plugin to a GitHub repo and share the install command — your whole sales team can install it in one command:
claude --plugin-dir github:yourhandle/my-sales-skills
More skills you can add to the same sales namespace:
/sales:objection-prep— Generate likely objections and responses for a given customer profile/sales:sow-draft— Draft a Statement of Work outline based on deal type/sales:competitive-brief— Pull together a competitive comparison for a specific deal