A Claude Skill

You're building with Claude.
Now sell with it.

Forward Deployed Selling is a Claude skill that advises you on every stage — from first reply to closed deal — using an approach honed selling enterprise AI at AWS.

By Angel Armendariz · Author of Forward Deployed Selling™

Install the SkillHow it works
01 / What it does

What you can do with it.

01Get an advisor on every deal you're in.
02Build selling agents from your existing stack.
03Get to first revenue, faster.
04Plug it into any agent workflow.
05Sell without learning a methodology.
06Keep all your sales work inside Claude.
02 / Who it's for

Made for the seller in the AI era.

Solo founders augmenting their sales capabilities.
Account managers struggling to hit their targets.
Vibe-coders looking for product-market fit.
Sellers searching for the AI-native way.
03 / How it works

A 3x3 that builds.

It builds three things every sale needs.

→Your ideal customer profile (ICP).
→Your go-to-market strategy (GTM).
→The messaging that lands both.

The 3x3 is the surface. The method underneath does the work.

04 / The method

Why it works.

Every deal runs on all six — three principles for the seller, three things AI now does.

The three principles
→Make it easy to say yes.Lower the cost of every step the buyer takes — don't maximize the ask.
→Let them see the future.Show the world after the purchase, in their own numbers — not a generic case study.
→Show, don't tell.Demonstrate the outcome with real work, not a deck.
What AI makes possible
→Know more.Research that goes five layers deep on the account, from public data alone.
→Personalize every touch.Every artifact is one-of-one, sized to the situation, with sourced evidence.
→Come with a thesis.Arrive with a point of view the buyer reacts to. Discovery becomes validation.
05 / Inside the skill

What it actually does.

Targeting first. Then every task runs against a qualified target, and every output gets checked before it ships.

ICP qualificationMarket × Persona × Channel, locked before anything else runs.
GTM strategyMotion, channel, message, and qualification criteria, derived from the ICP.
Stage diagnosisPlaces any account on the Awareness → Familiarity → Value path from public data.
Thesis generationA one-page point of view on the account, sourced and labeled for your review.
Stakeholder profilingFive layers of context, plus who uses, buys, sponsors, and unblocks the deal.
Value framingCost of inaction and value of action, both sourced, both in the buyer's numbers.
Deal scoringStage, risk, and speed combine into a tier, and it won't let you skip a stage.
Live-deal coachingSpots what's stalling the deal and hands back a recovery plan.
DisqualificationNames a bad fit honestly and tells the buyer what would serve them instead.
Demonstration artifactsBuilds the work you'd otherwise write by hand.

Every output passes three checks: ethics, method, and honesty. Every number cites its source. Try to skip a step, and it warns you first.

06 / Install

Install it. Open Claude. Ask it anything.

Works in Claude Code, Cowork, and Claude chat. Claude auto-loads what it needs per question. You don't manage files.

Claude Code
$mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
$git clone https://github.com/vonarmen-wq/forward-deployed-selling ~/.claude/skills/forward-deployed-selling
Cowork & Claude chat
  1. Download the zip below.
  2. In Claude: Settings → Capabilities → Skills → Add.
  3. Upload the zip — no unzipping needed.
Download the skill →
Once installed, try

Free · Apache 2.0 license · v0.5

07 / Loaded & Layered

Where the work continues.

08 / About

Author

Angel Armendariz is a Principal at AWS in Business Innovation Advisory, the founder of Caerus Alpha, and the author of Forward Deployed Selling. He writes Loaded & Layered on Substack. Personal site at angelarmendariz.com.

09 / The standard

Beyond the skill.

The skill is free. Two paid tracks sit on top: certification, for individuals or teams that want to learn the framework, and the Powered by FDS mark, for products and delivery built on the method.

Certification

Available for individuals or teams that want to learn how to apply the full Forward Deployed Selling framework. Cohort-based curriculum, with a final demonstration on a real or simulated deal.

The Powered by FDS mark

For consultancies and software vendors whose delivery or product is built on the method. Apply, complete an audit, and license the mark for packaging, documentation, and marketing.

Apply for certification →License the mark →