A model has read more text than any person could, so it knows how a job ad, a status update or a sales follow-up usually goes. It knows nothing about your company, your customer, yesterday’s call or the number in cell B14. Whatever you do not give it, it fills in with something plausible.
Plausible is the problem. Ask for a follow-up after a sales call without the call notes and you get a confident email about “the challenges you shared” and “the solution we discussed.” Ask for a job ad without the salary and you may get a salary. The writing is smooth, so the invented parts are easy to miss.
This is the gap our study found most often. Of 319 one-line work requests, almost none gave the model the facts it needed to do the job.
What counts as material
Material is anything the model needs for the job and has no way to know:
- The source itself, such as the email you are answering, the report or the data.
- What already happened, such as last week’s decision or the promise you made on the call.
- The numbers that matter, such as prices, dates, counts and deadlines.
- Your situation, such as who you are, what your company sells and what the customer bought.
It also includes what you have already ruled out. If your manager turned down an option last week, say so, or the model may suggest it again as its best idea.
Write a job ad for a customer support role.
Write a job ad for a customer support role. Details: we're a 40-person company that sells accounting software to small firms. The job is full-time and remote within the US, pays $52,000 to $58,000, and covers email and chat support from 9am to 5pm Eastern. We need a year of support experience and good writing. A degree is not required. Use only these details, and don't add benefits we haven't listed.
The details give the model facts to use instead of facts to invent, and the last sentence stops it adding any of its own.
Paste it, label it, fence it off
Paste the material into the prompt and label each piece so the model knows what it is: “Call notes:”, “Their email:”, “Last quarter’s figures:”. Put long pasted text between triple quotes or inside tags. That keeps it apart from your instructions, so a line in a customer’s email such as “please forward this to your manager” is more likely to be read as part of the email than as a request to the model. The fence off pasted text pattern shows how. For long documents, put them before your instructions.
Then tell the model to stay inside what you gave it: “Use only the notes below. Do not add figures that are not in them.” That one line does a lot for accuracy. Lesson 9 adds the other half, what to do when the notes run out, and the guide to reducing AI hallucinations goes further.
Before you paste, take out what should not leave your company, such as customer names, account numbers and salaries. Safe Paste swaps them for placeholders in your browser and puts them back in the answer.
Your turn
You sell scheduling software. On yesterday’s call, a 12-person architecture firm said they lose about 5 hours a week to manual timesheets and asked for pricing on 15 seats. You promised a case study, and a demo is booked for Thursday at 2pm.
Done when your prompt covers what to make, who it's for and background facts, and scores 3 or more out of 10. Edit the prompt below; the score changes as you type.
A hint
Add the facts from the call that only you know, with a label so the model can tell they are your notes.
Show one good answer
Write a follow-up email to a prospect after yesterday's sales call. Call notes: they're a 12-person architecture firm and lose about 5 hours a week to manual timesheets. They asked for pricing on 15 seats; I'll attach our price sheet. I promised a case study from another architecture practice, which I'll also attach. We have a demo booked for Thursday at 2pm. Use only these facts. Don't add features or prices that aren't in the notes.
It scores 5 out of 10. Yours does not need to look like it: any prompt that passes is right.
More practice
The same idea in 2 other kinds of work. Each one is scored the same way, and each is saved in this browser once it passes.
Practice 1
You handle accounts payable. A supplier asked why invoice 4471 for $3,200, due on June 30, was paid on July 9. The delay came from a change to their bank details that you had to confirm first, and their next invoice will be paid on time.
Done when your prompt covers what to make, who it's for and background facts, and scores 3 or more out of 10. Edit the prompt below; the score changes as you type.
A hint
Add the facts only you know, such as the invoice, the dates and the reason, under a label so the model can tell they are your details.
Show one good answer
Write a reply to a supplier who asked why we paid them late. Details: invoice 4471 for $3,200 was due on June 30, and we paid it on July 9. The delay happened because they changed their bank details, and we had to confirm the change before paying. Their next invoice will be paid on time. Use only these facts. Don't add a reason or a promise that isn't in the details.
It scores 5 out of 10. Yours does not need to look like it: any prompt that passes is right.
Practice 2
You coordinate onboarding. A new account manager starts on Monday, March 9. They should arrive at 9:30am, ask for you at the front desk and bring photo ID for payroll. IT will have their laptop ready that morning, and lunch with the team is at noon.
Done when your prompt covers what to make, who it's for and background facts, and scores 3 or more out of 10. Edit the prompt below; the score changes as you type.
A hint
Add the first-day details only you know, under a label, and tell the model to stick to them.
Show one good answer
Write a welcome email for a new account manager who starts on Monday, March 9, so they know where to go and what to bring on their first day. First-day details: arrive at 9:30am and ask for me at the front desk. Bring photo ID for payroll. IT will have their laptop ready that morning, and lunch with the team is at noon. Use only these details, and don't add any other plans for the day.
It scores 5 out of 10. Yours does not need to look like it: any prompt that passes is right.
Quick check
3 questions. Pick an answer to see whether it is right, and why.
-
You ask for a follow-up email after a sales call but paste in no notes from the call. What is the most likely result?
Without the notes, the model fills the gap with something plausible, and the writing is smooth, so the invented parts are easy to miss. It leaves blanks only when you ask it to.
-
Which line most helps the model stay with your facts?
It says where the facts must come from and names the kind of detail not to add. Asking for accuracy, or calling the model an expert, gives it no facts and no boundary.
-
You paste a customer’s email into your prompt. Why label it and put it between triple quotes?
A label and a fence tell the model what the text is. A line such as “please forward this to your manager” is then more likely to be read as part of the email than as an order.
Remember. The model knows the world but not your work: paste the facts, label them, and tell it to use only those.