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Break revenue growth into its three drivers in a table

  • For Finance and accounting
  • You practice Asking for a format you can use
  • Time about 5 minutes
  • Level Advanced

About this exercise

Your CFO asks what drove revenue growth. Make one markdown table with columns Driver, Prior, Current and Change %, with rows for Customers, Orders per customer, Average order value and Revenue, where the Revenue cells show the multiplication. Then one last line 'Biggest driver:' naming the driver with the largest change in either direction. Percents to one decimal with a sign, plain text apart from the table, under 110 words.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Skipping the multiplication. The AI states revenue without the product of the three drivers. Try: Add: "Revenue cells show 4,000 x 2.5 x $50 = $500,000."
  • Dropping the sign. The AI hides that orders per customer fell 4.0%. Try: Add: "Change % with a sign: -4.0% counts."
  • Naming the wrong driver. The AI picks the driver that sounds most interesting. Try: Add: "Biggest driver = largest absolute change: Customers +10.0%."
  • Leaving the format to chance. The AI picks its own length and layout unless told the exact shape. Try: Add: "Plain text, no bold or headings."
  • Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting. Ask for a total word limit and it often lands over it. Try: Cap each part instead, for example "each line under 15 words."

What a strong prompt includes

  • Names the columns
  • Shows the product
  • Asks for a sign
  • Asks for the biggest driver
  • Cuts extras

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