{"id":"sales-overdue-deals-list","audience":"sales","category":"data","technique":"context","title":"Pull the overdue deals out of a pipeline export","free":false,"task":"It's Wednesday, November 5, 2026. Your sales manager wants a Slack list of overdue deals: the expected close date has already passed and the stage is not Closed Won or Closed Lost. Last-activity dates don't count. Give her a numbered list of only those deals, biggest value first, one line each with just the deal name, owner and value, no intro, under 60 words, plain text. Write a prompt that gets that list from the export.","materialLabel":"Pipeline export (attached to your prompt automatically)","material":"PIPELINE EXPORT - pulled Nov 5, 2026 8:02am\nDates are YYYY-MM-DD. Value in USD.\n\nDeal | Owner | Stage | Value | Expected close | Last activity\nRidgeway Hotels | Marcus Lee | Negotiation | 84000 | 2026-10-31 | 2026-10-20\nTessaro Bank | Ana Ruiz | Closed Won | 120000 | 2026-10-15 | 2026-10-15\nPinecrest Clinics | Ana Ruiz | Proposal | 52500 | 2026-10-24 | 2026-11-03\nAltamont Schools | Dev Shah | Discovery | 19800 | 2026-11-02 | 2026-09-30\nNorthgate Gyms | Marcus Lee | Proposal | 61000 | 2026-11-14 | 2026-08-12\nLumen Dental | Dev Shah | Closed Lost | 15000 | 2026-10-10 | 2026-10-09\nCopperline Retail | Ana Ruiz | Negotiation | 37000 | 2026-12-01 | 2026-11-04\nSablewood Farms | Dev Shah | Proposal | 9500 | 2026-11-20 | 2026-10-28\nOakhurst Logistics | Marcus Lee | Discovery | 44000 | 2026-12-15 | 2026-07-02\n\nNotes from RevOps:\n- Marcus logs most calls in his notebook, not the CRM, so his last-activity dates look older than they really are.\n- Tessaro Bank signed Oct 15. Contract is countersigned, invoice sent.\n- Reminder: Q4 quota is due Dec 31. Forecast call moved to Friday 9am.\n- Copperline's buyer is out until Nov 17 (parental leave).","rules":[{"type":"maxWords","max":60},{"type":"plainText"}],"mistakes":[{"title":"Asking \"which deals need attention?\"","why":"The AI invents its own idea of \"attention\", like old activity dates, and flags deals that aren't overdue.","fix":"Define it: \"Overdue means the close date is before today and the stage isn't Closed Won or Closed Lost. Ignore activity dates.\"","checks":["r0"]},{"title":"Not giving today's date","why":"The AI doesn't reliably know today's date, so it can't tell which close dates have passed.","fix":"Add: \"Today is November 5, 2026.\"","checks":["r0"]},{"title":"No sort order","why":"The AI keeps the export's order, so your manager has to hunt for the big ones.","fix":"Add: \"Biggest deal value first.\"","checks":["r1"]},{"title":"Trusting the AI to count words","why":"AI is bad at counting. Ask for \"under 60 words\" and it often lands well over.","fix":"Cap each part instead, like \"each line under 12 words,\" so the total lands well under 60.","checks":["maxWords"]},{"title":"Getting a report instead of a list","why":"AI adds a heading, a table and a paragraph of advice. In Slack the bold shows up as asterisks.","fix":"Add: \"One line per deal: name, owner, value. No intro. Plain text, no bold, no table.\"","checks":["r2","plainText"]}],"promptHints":[{"label":"Gives today's date","patterns":["nov(ember)?\\.? 5","today is","2026-11-05"]},{"label":"Defines overdue","patterns":["overdue (means|=|is)","close date.{0,40}(passed|before|earlier)","closed won","not closed"]},{"label":"Sets the sort order","patterns":["biggest","largest","highest","sort","descending"]},{"label":"Says what each line shows","patterns":["owner","name.{0,20}value"]},{"label":"Asks for plain text","patterns":["plain","no bold","no markdown","no formatting","no headings"]}],"hint":"The AI can't see your calendar or your definitions. Tell it today's date, exactly what \"overdue\" means, how to sort, and what each line should show.","rubricLabels":["Lists exactly the three overdue deals (Ridgeway Hotels, Pinecrest Clinics, Altamont Schools) and no others, so no closed deals (Tessaro Bank, Lumen Dental) and no deals with future close dates (such as Northgate Gyms)","Orders the deals by value, biggest first (Ridgeway $84,000, then Pinecrest $52,500, then Altamont $19,800)","Each line gives the deal name, owner and value, and the reply has no intro, explanation or closing line"]}