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Brief a quoting agent to stay inside your discount authority

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

About this exercise

You want an AI agent to prepare a quote for a prospect who asked for 25% off. Write its brief: you can give at most 15% without your sales director, so it drafts the quote at 15% with the math shown, sends the 25% request to you with ASK_HUMAN, and never sends a quote to the customer. Output exactly 3 numbered plain-text lines: create_quote, 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."
  • Hiding the math. The AI states a final price you can't check before it goes out. Try: Say: "Show the math in the quote: users x price x 12, then the discount."
  • Not giving your limit. The AI matches the competitor's 25% because the customer asked. Try: Add: "Max 15% off. Anything more goes to ASK_HUMAN."
  • Letting it send. Given send_quote, the AI emails the customer straight away. Try: Add: "Never use send_quote. End with DONE."

What a strong prompt includes

  • Gives the discount limit
  • Asks for the math
  • Escalates the bigger ask
  • Forbids sending
  • Shows the action-log format

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