---
name: sales-briefing-format
source: https://app.decimal.ai/s/sales-briefing-format@1/SKILL.md
source_sha256: 263f1694a897
---

# Sales Briefing Format

## Contract

Enforces the fixed structure of a sales-call prep briefing: an emoji-coded header,
a fixed six-bullet field set in a fixed order with verbatim bold labels, the
five extra follow-up fields, and the quick-reference cheat-sheet column schema.
Apply whenever the task is to produce or format a prospect briefing or an
at-a-glance call sheet.

## Rules

### R1 — Per-prospect header line

The first line of each prospect block is, EXACTLY:

```
**<priority emoji> Company Name** (Call Time) <status icon>
```

The company name and the leading priority emoji are inside the same `**bold**`
span. The call time is in parentheses. Immediately on the NEXT line, the priority
reason in `*italics*` — never inline, never a bullet.

### R2 — The six core bullets, fixed order, verbatim labels

Every briefing body is EXACTLY these six bullets, in THIS order, each opening with
the bold label spelled character-for-character as shown:

1. `- **What they do:** ` one-line company description
2. `- **Recent news:** ` key development (date)
3. `- **Key person:** ` Name (Title)—relevant note
4. `- **Pain point signal:** ` specific signal with its source
5. `- **Your angle:** ` recommended positioning
6. `- **Opening line:** ` suggested starter, wrapped in double quotes

Do NOT rename a label, pluralize it, or swap a synonym. The label is the K — it is
`Pain point signal:`, not `Challenges:`, `Pain points:`, or `Signals:`. It is
`Your angle:`, not `Positioning:` or `Approach:`. It is `Opening line:`, not
`Hook:`, `Icebreaker:`, or `Talking point:`.

### R3 — Priority emoji vocabulary (use the exact symbol)

The header emoji is drawn ONLY from this set, matched to the situation:

| Emoji | Meaning |
|-------|---------|
| ⭐ | high priority — strong signals (hot inbound, exec replied, demo/pricing request) |
| 🔄 | follow-up from a previous conversation |
| 🆕 | new prospect — full research done |
| ⚠️ | needs attention — action overdue / ball was dropped |

Never substitute another emoji (🔥, ✅, 📞, ❗) or a text tag like `[HIGH]`.

### R4 — Follow-up extension (only for 🔄)

When the prospect is a follow-up, append these FIVE bullets AFTER the six core
bullets, in this order, with verbatim labels:

1. `- **Last conversation:** ` Date—spoke with Name (Role)
2. `- **What happened:** ` brief summary
3. `- **Objection raised:** ` key concern
4. `- **What resonated:** ` what worked
5. `- **Status:** ` current state

### R5 — Quick-reference cheat sheet

When asked for a cheat sheet / at-a-glance / one-line-per-prospect sheet, output a
markdown table whose columns are EXACTLY, in this order:

```
| Time | Company | Key Person | One-Liner | Priority |
```

The `Priority` cell uses the R3 emoji. Header text is verbatim: `One-Liner` (capital
L, hyphenated), not `One liner` / `Summary` / `Note`.

### R6 — Writing style inside the fields

- **Opening line** references something specific (news, post, mutual connection),
  ideally asks a question, and is in double quotes. Never generic ("How are you?")
  and never an immediate pitch.
- **Your angle** is concrete positioning ("Position as force multiplier for the
  scaling ops team"), never vague ("They might like our product").
- Keep every field scannable in ~30 seconds: one line each, confident, actionable.

## Worked examples

### R1 + R2 — header and the six bullets

BEFORE (base default — prose, renamed fields, no emoji header):

> **Brightside Health — 10am**
> Brightside is a regional insurer. They recently announced a Blue Cross
> partnership. You'll be speaking with James, the COO. A good talking point is
> their growth. Suggested opener: ask about the partnership.

AFTER (conforming):

> **🆕 Brightside Health** (10am) 🆕
> *Newly researched regional insurer — fresh Blue Cross momentum.*
>
> - **What they do:** Regional health insurer covering the upper Midwest.
> - **Recent news:** Announced Blue Cross partnership (last week).
> - **Key person:** James (COO)—owns operational tooling decisions.
> - **Pain point signal:** Scaling claims ops post-partnership (press release).
> - **Your angle:** Position agent-monitoring as the control plane for their growing automation.
> - **Opening line:** "Congrats on the Blue Cross tie-up — how's the ops team absorbing the volume?"

### R3 — emoji vocabulary

BEFORE (hot inbound, base picks 🔥 or a text tag):

> **🔥 Helios Energy [HIGH PRIORITY]** (2pm)

AFTER:

> **⭐ Helios Energy** (2pm) ⭐
> *CTO replied personally to a demo request — strongest buying signal.*

### R4 — follow-up extension

BEFORE (base omits the follow-up block, just narrates history):

> **Vertex Systems** — we last talked March 3 with Priya. She worried about
> migration cost but liked the audit trail. They're still evaluating.

AFTER (six core bullets first, then the five follow-up bullets):

> **🔄 Vertex Systems** (call) 🔄
> *Re-engaging an evaluating prospect — audit trail already landed.*
>
> - **What they do:** Enterprise workflow software vendor.
> - **Recent news:** Continued platform expansion.
> - **Key person:** Priya (Director)—evaluation owner.
> - **Pain point signal:** Migration cost sensitivity (last call).
> - **Your angle:** De-risk migration with phased rollout + audit-trail proof.
> - **Opening line:** "Last time migration cost was the sticking point — want to walk through a phased path?"
> - **Last conversation:** March 3—spoke with Priya (Director)
> - **What happened:** Demoed audit trail; stalled on migration cost.
> - **Objection raised:** Migration cost too high.
> - **What resonated:** The audit-trail / compliance reporting.
> - **Status:** Evaluating.

### R5 — cheat sheet

BEFORE (base writes prose or a wrongly-columned table):

> 10am Acme (Tom), 11am Brightside (James), 12pm Lumen (Dana)

AFTER:

> | Time | Company | Key Person | One-Liner | Priority |
> |------|---------|------------|-----------|----------|
> | 10am | Acme Mfg | Tom (Proc) | Follow up on Q3 tool-consolidation timeline | 🔄 |
> | 11am | Brightside | James (COO) | Blue Cross growth angle | 🆕 |
> | 12pm | Lumen | Dana (Ops) | Shipment-tracking pain, fresh research | 🆕 |

### R6 — opening line quality

BEFORE: `- **Opening line:** How are you today?`

AFTER: `- **Opening line:** "Saw your post on shipment-tracking pain — is that still the team's biggest headache?"`

## Edge cases & exceptions

- **Overdue follow-up.** Use ⚠️ (needs attention), NOT 🔄, when the situation is "I
  dropped the ball / promised a call and never made it." 🔄 is a normal follow-up;
  ⚠️ flags the overdue recovery. If it is both overdue AND a prior conversation,
  ⚠️ wins in the header; still append the five follow-up bullets if there is history.
- **Sparse input.** If the prospect facts are missing (no news, unknown contact),
  still emit all six labels — fill the value with a best inference or
  `(to research)`. Never drop a bullet to "save space."
- **Status icon vs priority emoji.** The header has two emoji slots: the priority
  emoji inside the bold span and an optional status icon after the time. When only
  one signal exists, reuse the same priority emoji in both slots rather than
  inventing a new symbol.
- **Cheat sheet for follow-ups only.** Even a "follow-up calls" sheet keeps the
  exact five columns; the follow-up nature shows in `Priority` (🔄), not in extra
  columns.
- **Multiple prospects in one briefing.** Repeat the full per-prospect block for
  each; do not merge into a shared header or a table (that is the cheat-sheet shape,
  not the full briefing shape).

## Do / Don't

- DO put the priority emoji inside the bold company span; DON'T place it loose
  before the bold or as a trailing tag.
- DO use the verbatim labels `Pain point signal:`, `Your angle:`, `Opening line:`;
  DON'T substitute `Challenges:`, `Positioning:`, `Hook:`.
- DO wrap the opening line in double quotes; DON'T leave it as bare prose.
- DO keep the six bullets in the fixed order; DON'T reorder by importance.
- DO use only ⭐ 🔄 🆕 ⚠️; DON'T introduce 🔥 ✅ 📞 ❗ or `[HIGH]` text tags.
- DO name the cheat-sheet column `One-Liner`; DON'T write `Summary` or `One liner`.
- DO append the five follow-up bullets after the six; DON'T interleave them.

## Common mistakes (base's wrong defaults)

1. Writing the briefing as a paragraph narrative instead of the labeled bullet set.
2. Renaming labels to natural synonyms (`Pain points:`, `Approach:`, `Icebreaker:`).
3. Dropping the priority emoji or inventing one outside the four-emoji vocabulary.
4. Treating an overdue account as 🔄 instead of ⚠️.
5. Forgetting the five follow-up bullets, or putting them before the six core ones.
6. Leaving the opening line unquoted or making it generic ("How are you?").
7. Cheat sheet with the wrong columns/order or a mis-cased `One-Liner` header.

## Quick checklist

- [ ] Header: `**<emoji> Company** (Time) <icon>` + italic reason on the next line.
- [ ] Six bullets, fixed order, verbatim labels.
- [ ] Priority emoji ∈ {⭐, 🔄, 🆕, ⚠️}; overdue ⇒ ⚠️.
- [ ] Opening line in double quotes, specific, not a pitch.
- [ ] Follow-up ⇒ five extra bullets appended after the six.
- [ ] Cheat sheet ⇒ `Time | Company | Key Person | One-Liner | Priority`.