Library › Agents & Automation AI › Sales and customer success

Brief an agent to build a follow-up automation with stop rules

  • For Sales and customer success
  • You practice Setting limits and rules
  • Time about 5 minutes

About this exercise

You want an AI agent to build a post-demo follow-up automation in your CRM. Write its brief: trigger when a deal's stage changes to Demo Done, send emails on day 1, 4 and 10, stop the sequence if the prospect replies, books a meeting, or the deal is marked Lost, skip anyone marked Do Not Email, and never activate it: ask you to review first. Output exactly 10 numbered plain-text lines: trigger, 3 steps, 4 conditions, ASK_HUMAN, DONE.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Not showing the log format. Left alone, the AI writes a friendly report with headings instead of a checkable action log. Try: Show it literally: "Format every line like 1. ACTION: tool(args), then ASK_HUMAN: and DONE: lines. Plain text."
  • Leaving the schedule open. The notes float days 2, 5 and 12, so the AI uses those or invents its own. Try: Say: "Steps on day 1, 4 and 10, triggered when stage changes to Demo Done."
  • No stop conditions. Automations keep emailing people who already replied or said no. Try: Add: "Stop on reply, meeting booked or Lost. Skip do_not_email contacts."
  • Letting it go live. Given activate_workflow, the AI turns it on as soon as it's built. Try: Add: "Never activate. Ask me to review, then DONE."

What a strong prompt includes

  • Names the trigger
  • Sets the schedule
  • Adds stop conditions
  • Respects do-not-email
  • Forbids activating

Practice this now ↑

Related exercises