Write better prompts. Get better results.
Whether you're guiding AI to update Salesforce fields, extract insights from calls, or generate sales assets, strong prompts are key.
This guide walks through how to craft clear, specific prompts that improve accuracy, reduce errors, and deliver consistent output across your team - starting with how to test your prompt and troubleshoot common issues to get it working just right.
Test and troubleshoot
Use the Test Prompt feature in Scratchpad to validate your instructions. Try different deal types, call structures, and field edge cases. Watch for consistency, clarity, and alignment with your intended output.
If your prompt isn’t working as expected, use the links below to troubleshoot common issues and improve results:
Best practices
1. Clarify what to include and exclude
Avoid ambiguity by defining exactly what should be captured and what should be left out. This improves precision and reduces errors.
Instead of a vague instruction like:
Capture the next step.
Use a more complete structure:
What to include:
Action and owner (e.g. rep will send revised proposal)
Timing (e.g. by 5/30)
Avoid including:
Action items owned by the prospect
Past events
Vague phrases like "follow up"
2. Provide specific examples
Prompts work better when you show - not just tell - what the output should look like.
Use examples (like good vs. bad) as shown below within your prompt to guide the AI toward the tone, structure, and level of detail you expect.
Field: Next Step
Good: Send revised proposal to Anji by 7/30/25
Bad: Follow-up next week
Field: Decision Criteria
Good: Needs to integrate with Salesforce, support Slack notifications, and have strong mobile UX for field reps
Bad: Wants something easy to use
Field: Pain
Good: Reps are wasting 2+ hours/week updating Salesforce manually; pipeline reviews lack consistent data quality.
Bad: Salesforce is annoying
3. Define output format and limits
Set constraints so the AI produces information in a consistent and usable format.
Examples of helpful constraints:
Limit to one sentence
Maximum of 200 characters
Use 2–3 bullets
If nothing is mentioned, respond with: Not discussed
Follow this format:
[MM/DD] - [Initials] - [Update]Example:
08/04 - AP - Send pricing follow-up
4. Focus on what the prospect said
Prompts should reinforce that you're only capturing what the prospect explicitly stated - not the rep’s interpretation or assumptions.
Instead of a prompt that allows for rep assumption:
Capture the decision criteria for choosing a vendor, including important
features and requirements.
Use a prompt that enforces prospect-stated context only:
Capture the specific, prospect-stated benchmarks or decision criteria they'll use to choose a vendor.
What to include:
Concrete Metrics: Explicit thresholds (e.g. "<5% data sync errors," "<2-second page load")
Required Features: Must-have capabilities the prospect named (e.g. "real-time reporting," "API integration with our ERP")
Business Outcomes: Outcomes they linked to success (e.g. "20% reduction in processing costs")
Avoid including:
Sales-rep promises or recommendations: Don't list features that the selling team (1) plans to deliver or (2) encourages the prospect to consider
Unstated Assumptions: Never infer criteria the prospect didn't explicitly mention
5. Add context when needed
Help AI understand your internal language and structure by embedding helpful background.
Examples of useful context:
Definitions for field labels like “Economic Buyer”
Picklist value explanations like "Upsell" or "Expansion"
Call timing cues like “Decision Criteria is often discussed during pricing or evaluation conversations”
Example prompts
Field | Prompt |
Next Step | Description:
Enter the specific, sales-rep–owned action required to advance this deal.
Avoid capturing:
Output format:
|
Pain / Challenge | Description:
The prospect’s core business challenges driving their evaluation of our solution.
Avoid capturing:
Output format:
|
Economic Buyer | Description:
Identify the person(s) with ultimate budget authority and contract-signing power discussed on the call.
Avoid capturing:
Output format:
|
Decision Process | Description:
Document the concrete evaluation steps the prospect’s team will follow to choose a vendor.
Avoid capturing:
Output format:
|
Decision Criteria | Description:
Capture the specific, prospect-stated benchmarks or requirements they’ll use to choose a vendor.
Avoid capturing:
Output format:
|
Common issues and fixes
Seeing this issue? | Try this |
Incorrect info or misinterpretation like "this was not their pain point" | Add explicit field definitions and counter-examples: |
Missing key information from calls | Add prompts for multiple passes: |
Incorrect dates or timing | Add temporal anchors: |
Vague or generic outputs | Ask for specificity:
Tell AI to ban generic phrases in your prompt. |
Rep and prospect actions are mixed up | Add ownership clarity: |
Incorrect picklist values selected | Provide context on each of the picklist options, including explanations of any internal vocabulary or how topics are discussed:
“Upsell - select this option if the prospect shows explicit interest in a new product when presented by the sales team member. Products include…” |