{"id":"sales-rfp-answers-from-knowledge-base","audience":"sales","category":"sales-work","technique":"grounding","track":"sales","level":"advanced","title":"Draft RFP answers only from the approved knowledge base","free":false,"task":"You're answering 3 questions from Marwick County's RFP using your company's knowledge base. Write exactly 3 numbered answers, each under 40 words. Use the current SLA, not the old marketing figure. If the knowledge base doesn't answer a question, write \"Needs SME input:\" and the name of the right expert instead of guessing. Plain text.","materialLabel":"The RFP questions and knowledge base (attached to your prompt automatically)","material":"RFP QUESTIONS (Marwick County, Section 4.2)\n1. State your guaranteed uptime and any service credits.\n2. Can all county data be stored only in the state of Ohio?\n3. Describe your accessibility compliance for the resident-facing portal.\n\nKNOWLEDGE BASE (approved answers, last reviewed Oct 2026)\n- Uptime: 99.9% monthly uptime SLA. Service credits: 5% of monthly fee per 0.1% below SLA, up to 25%.\n- Hosting: US-based data centers (Virginia and Oregon). Customers can choose US-East or US-West region.\n- Accessibility: Resident portal conforms to WCAG 2.1 AA, audited by an outside firm in June 2026. VPAT available on request.\n- Backups: daily, kept 35 days.\n\nOLD MARKETING DECK (2023): \"99.99% uptime, guaranteed!\"\n\nSME LIST\n- Hosting / data location questions: Priya Raman, Cloud Ops\n- Legal / contract terms: Daniel Osei, Legal\n- Accessibility: Mona Beck, Product Design","rules":[{"type":"numberedItems","count":3},{"type":"plainText"}],"mistakes":[{"title":"Not fixing the shape","why":"The AI picks its own structure: headings, extra bullets and more items than you need.","fix":"Give the shape: \"Exactly 3 numbered lines: one answer per RFP question.\"","checks":["numberedItems"]},{"title":"Using the marketing number","why":"The old deck's 99.99% sounds better, and the AI may use it.","fix":"Add: \"Use the approved SLA, 99.9%. Ignore the old deck.\"","checks":["r0"]},{"title":"Guessing a yes","why":"RFP answers from AI tend to say yes to everything; Ohio-only storage isn't in the knowledge base.","fix":"Add: \"If the knowledge base doesn't answer it, write Needs SME input: and the expert's name.\"","checks":["r1"]},{"title":"Long answers","why":"The AI writes paragraphs that blow the RFP's space limits.","fix":"Add: \"Each answer under 40 words.\"","checks":["r2"]},{"title":"Forgetting it's plain text","why":"AI adds bold labels and headings, which show up as stray symbols in the RFP portal.","fix":"Add: \"Plain text only. No bold, no headings.\"","checks":["plainText"]}],"promptHints":[{"label":"Sets 3 answers","patterns":["\\b(3|three)\\b.{0,20}(answers|numbered)"]},{"label":"Picks the approved source","patterns":["knowledge base","approved","not the (old )?(deck|marketing)","99\\.9"]},{"label":"Handles gaps","patterns":["sme","don'?t guess","not (in|covered)","needs"]},{"label":"Sets a size","patterns":["\\d+\\s*words"]},{"label":"Asks for plain text","patterns":["plain","no bold","no markdown","no formatting","no headings"]}],"hint":"RFP answers become contract promises. Tell the AI which source is approved, what to do when it's silent and how long each answer can be.","rubricLabels":["Answer 1 gives 99.9% monthly uptime (not 99.99%) and describes the service credits (5% per 0.1% below, up to 25%)","Answer 2 does not claim Ohio-only storage is possible; it writes \"Needs SME input:\" and names Priya Raman","Answer 3 states WCAG 2.1 AA conformance with the June 2026 outside audit and mentions the VPAT, and no answer is over 40 words"]}