Purpose

Use this lesson to use customer facts to build a proposal without inventing promises. The aim is to produce work that a colleague can review and act on, not merely text that sounds convincing.

Lesson Explanation

Scenario: A prospect needs reporting automation and has a three-month target.

Better instruction: Create discovery questions and a proposal outline for reporting automation. Include only confirmed needs; label unconfirmed assumptions; do not promise a delivery date.

Sales prompts should distinguish facts from opportunities to discover. Capture the problem, stakeholders, success metric, budget signal, and timeline, then reserve commitments for approved scope and delivery teams. The proposal separates confirmed needs from assumptions and avoids an unapproved promise.

Work in a short cycle: provide the relevant input, state the result and limits, inspect the draft against the acceptance criteria, then revise the instruction when a requirement is missing. Keep the final human decision with the person responsible for the work.

Practice Questions

1. A prompt asks an AI to “write a proposal for this prospect” with almost no confirmed details. What does this lesson say sales prompts should distinguish?

   View Answer

   Facts from opportunities to discover – confirmed information versus things that still need to be asked about.

2. What five things does this lesson say a sales prompt should capture?

   View Answer

   The problem, stakeholders, success metric, budget signal, and timeline.

3. A generated proposal includes a specific delivery date that was never actually confirmed with the prospect. What does this lesson say about this?

   View Answer

   Commitments like a delivery date should be reserved for approved scope and delivery teams, not stated as unconfirmed promises in a proposal.

4. Write a prompt for a sales proposal on a marketing automation tool, following this lesson’s guidance on separating confirmed needs from assumptions.

   View Answer

   Something like: “Create discovery questions and a proposal outline for marketing automation. Include only confirmed needs; label unconfirmed assumptions clearly; do not promise a delivery date.”

5. A prospect mentions a rough budget range in passing, and this gets stated in the proposal as a confirmed, locked-in figure. What does this lesson say went wrong?

   View Answer

   A budget signal (an informal indication) was treated as a confirmed fact, when it should have been labeled as an unconfirmed assumption.

6. A completed proposal separates confirmed needs from clearly labeled assumptions and avoids stating any unapproved delivery promises. What does this reflect?

   View Answer

   A well-structured sales proposal following this lesson’s full guidance.

7. Why does this lesson caution against including an unapproved delivery date promise in a proposal?

   View Answer

   Commitments should be reserved for approved scope and delivery teams – an unapproved promise risks committing the business to something that hasn’t actually been validated as feasible.

8. A discovery conversation surfaces the prospect’s problem and stakeholders but not their timeline. What element from this lesson’s five-part list is still missing?

   View Answer

   Timeline.

9. A proposal states, “the prospect needs reporting automation” as a confirmed fact, when this was actually inferred rather than directly stated by the prospect. What does this lesson suggest should have happened?

   View Answer

   This should have been labeled as an assumption rather than presented as a confirmed need, since it wasn’t explicitly confirmed.

10. Why does this lesson recommend capturing a “success metric” specifically, as part of sales discovery?

    View Answer

    A defined success metric clarifies what outcome the prospect actually cares about, shaping a proposal that addresses their real need rather than a generic pitch.

11. A sales rep drafts discovery questions covering the customer’s problem, budget signal, and decision-making stakeholders before writing any proposal content. What does this reflect?

    View Answer

    Following this lesson’s guidance on capturing the necessary discovery information before drafting.

12. A proposal clearly marks one line as “Assumption: annual contract preferred, to be confirmed,” rather than stating it as settled. What principle does this reflect?

    View Answer

    Distinguishing facts from opportunities to discover, and clearly labeling unconfirmed assumptions rather than presenting them as confirmed.