{"id":"sales-follow-up-deal-decider","audience":"sales","category":"sales-work","technique":"audience","track":"sales","level":"intermediate","free":true,"title":"Follow up before the budget freeze that decides a $48K deal","task":"This is the last week before Larkspur's budget freezes, and a cheaper competitor is in the final round. Write the follow-up that Maria Okafor can forward as-is to her CFO before Friday's budget meeting. It is from you, Sam, plain text, under 130 words. Open with Maria's pain in her own words and what waiting costs. Answer the CFO's switching-cost worry with only what is confirmed. End with ONE ask: a 20-minute call with the CFO on Thursday, Nov 12. Leave out internal notes and anything about the competitor. No opener like \"Thanks for your time\" or \"Hope you're well\".","materialLabel":"Your call notes (attached to your prompt automatically)","material":"CALL NOTES - Larkspur Logistics, Thu Nov 5. Deal: $48,000/year. Their budget freezes after Fri Nov 13; nothing new until March.\n\nMaria Okafor (Finance Ops Manager, our champion), her words: \"We lose 6 hours a week reconciling invoices by hand, and every month-end we find mistakes.\" Her boss is pushing her toward Brightline, which is about $9,000 a year cheaper.\n\nCFO Greg Haldane joined the last 10 minutes. He asked: \"What does switching cost us? Last system took 3 months.\" He also won't sign before security review: we return the questionnaire within 2 business days of receiving it.\n\nConfirmed: we run the whole migration for them, live in 2 weeks.\nNot confirmed: auto-approval of invoices, \"maybe Q2\", product hasn't committed.\n\nNext: Maria forwards my follow-up to Greg before Friday's budget meeting. I want 20 minutes with Greg on Thu Nov 12.\n\nINTERNAL ONLY:\n- Discount ceiling is 15%, only if Greg pushes\n- Brightline's uptime is probably worse than ours\n- I need this closed this quarter\n- Greg seems old school, probably hates software demos","rules":[{"type":"maxWords","max":120},{"type":"plainText"}],"mistakes":[{"title":"A fluff opener","why":"The AI starts with \"Thank you for your time today\" and wastes the line the CFO reads first.","fix":"Say: \"Open with Maria's pain in her own words and what waiting costs. No thanks opener.\"","checks":["r0"]},{"title":"Promising the roadmap","why":"The AI grabs the Q2 auto-approval idea because it sounds persuasive.","fix":"Add: \"Answer the switching worry with only what is confirmed: we run the migration, live in 2 weeks.\"","checks":["r1"]},{"title":"Leaking internal notes","why":"The AI uses everything in the notes, including the discount ceiling and the uptime opinion.","fix":"Add: \"Leave out everything internal and say nothing about the competitor.\"","checks":["r2"]},{"title":"Several asks, no date","why":"The AI offers a demo, a trial and a call, or says \"let me know a time\".","fix":"Add: \"End with one ask: a 20-minute call with the CFO on Thursday, Nov 12.\"","checks":["r2"]},{"title":"Trusting the AI to count words","why":"AI runs long when you only give a total, and adds markdown.","fix":"Say \"under 90 words, plain text\" and cap the parts, like \"5 short sentences\".","checks":["maxWords","plainText"]}],"promptHints":[{"label":"Opens with her pain","patterns":["pain","her (own )?words","6 hours","open(s)? with","start with"]},{"label":"Uses the cost of waiting","patterns":["freeze","waiting","deadline","cost of"]},{"label":"Answers the CFO with confirmed facts","patterns":["cfo","switching","migration","confirmed","only what"]},{"label":"Asks for one dated next step","patterns":["one (ask|next step)","thursday","nov 12","20[- ]minute"]},{"label":"Leaves out internal notes","patterns":["internal","discount","competitor","leave out","don'?t (mention|include)"]}],"hint":"Maria will forward this to her CFO. Say who reads it, what goes first, which worry to answer with what is confirmed, the one next step, and what to leave out.","mission":"Write the follow-up Maria forwards to her CFO before the freeze.","musts":["Open with her pain, in her words","Answer the CFO with confirmed facts only","One dated ask; no internal notes or rivals"],"rubricLabels":["The email's first two sentences use Maria's own words about her pain (6 hours a week reconciling invoices by hand) and say what waiting costs (for example the budget freezing after Nov 13), and it does not open with thanks or \"hope you're well\"","It answers the CFO's switching-cost worry by saying we run the whole migration and they are live in 2 weeks, and does not promise auto-approval or any Q2 feature","It makes exactly one ask, a 20-minute call with the CFO on Thursday, Nov 12, and does not mention a discount or 15%, Brightline or any competitor, uptime, quota, or any comment about Greg"]}