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Turn a prospect's About page into a 5-field research brief

  • For Sales and customer success
  • You practice Keeping the AI to your sources
  • Time about 5 minutes
  • Level Intermediate

About this exercise

You have a first call with Harbor & Pine Furniture tomorrow and want a quick research brief from their website. Get exactly 5 labeled lines in this order: Company, What changed, Likely pain, Who to ask for, Opening question. Use only what the page says, use the newest store count (the page has an older figure too), and leave out the forum rumor about a sale of the company. Plain text, under 90 words.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Asking for a generic summary. The AI writes a long profile with history, values and headings, not a brief you can scan before a call. Try: Give the fields: "Exactly 5 labeled lines: Company, What changed, Likely pain, Who to ask for, Opening question."
  • Grabbing the old number. The page says 6 showrooms (2019) and 11 (2026); the AI may pick the first one it sees. Try: Add: "Use the newest figures on the page."
  • Repeating the rumor. The AI treats your scribbles as facts and may mention a possible sale. Try: Add: "Leave out the unsourced rumor about a sale."
  • Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting and runs long when you only give a total like 90 words. Try: Cap each part instead, like "each line under 15 words," so the total lands well under 90.
  • Forgetting it's plain text. AI adds bold labels and headings, which show up as stray symbols in your notes app. Try: Add: "Plain text only. No bold, no headings."

What a strong prompt includes

  • Names the 5 fields
  • Says to use the newest figures
  • Drops the rumor
  • Sets a size
  • Asks for plain text

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