Prompts 101: How to Get Better Answers
The difference between a useless answer and a great one usually isn't the app — it's how you asked. Four simple moves that get you better answers today.
Same app, same question, completely different answers. The difference is almost never the app. It's how you asked. Here's how I ask when I want something good back.
Think of it less like a search box and more like a new hire who's fast and eager but knows nothing about your business. The more you tell them, the better they do. Same thing here.
Four moves turn a weak answer into a strong one:
- Give it the background. Don't just say "write a message to a customer." Say who they are, what happened, and what you want to happen. "A regular customer is 30 days late on a $400 invoice, and I don't want to lose them." Now there's something to work with.
- Show it an example. Paste one of your own past messages and say "match this tone." One real example does more than a paragraph of instructions.
- Say who it's for, and the shape you want. "This is for an upset customer. Keep it to three short sentences, warm, no corporate talk." Tell it the audience and the format — a list, a table, three options, whatever you need back.
- Push back until it's right. Too stiff? "Make it friendlier." Too long? "Cut it in half." The first answer is a starting point, not the final word. Go back and forth like you would with a person.
Here's the same request, weak then strong:
Weak: "Write a message about raising my prices."
Strong: "I run a small grocery. My costs went up, so I'm raising prices about 5% next month. Write a short, honest message to my regular customers — warm, not corporate. Here's how I usually talk to them: [paste one]."
Read those two again. The second one gets you something you can almost send as-is.
You don't need to memorize any of this. Just remember the four: background, example, who it's for, and push back. Do that and you'll get more out of it in a week than most people do in a year.
And if you'd rather stop typing these one by one — and have something built around your business that already knows your files, your customers, and how you talk — that's what I do. Let's talk.