If you’ve tried using AI for business tasks and gotten generic, unusable results, the problem isn’t the AI. It’s the prompt.
Most people use AI the same way they’d Google something: vague, open-ended, hoping it figures out what they need. That works for search engines. It fails spectacularly with AI.
In our recent video, we broke down why AI gives you garbage and the three principles that fix it. This post shows you what that actually looks like in practice.
Here are 10 common business tasks with side-by-side comparisons of prompts that fail and prompts that work.
1. Follow-Up Emails After Sales Calls
❌ What doesn’t work: “Write a follow-up email after a sales call.”
Why it fails: AI has to guess: What was discussed? Who’s the prospect? What industry? What’s the next step? You’ll get something so generic you’ll rewrite the entire thing.
✅ What works: “Write a follow-up email to Sarah Chen, owner of Chen Landscaping. We met yesterday to discuss their scheduling chaos during peak season (April-October). They’re currently using spreadsheets and missing 3-4 jobs weekly due to double-bookings. I proposed a scheduling system that syncs with their existing CRM. Email should: thank her for her time, recap the double-booking problem and its cost (estimated $15K in lost revenue per season), briefly describe the solution, and confirm I’ll send a proposal by Thursday. Tone: professional but friendly, like a peer. Under 150 words.”
What changed: Specific person, specific problem, specific numbers, specific next step, tone guidance, length constraint. AI now has one clear path instead of infinite options.
2. Job Descriptions
❌ What doesn’t work: “Write a job description for a marketing manager.”
Why it fails: Marketing manager at a Fortune 500 company looks nothing like marketing manager at a 10-person startup. AI defaults to the most common version, which probably doesn’t match your actual needs.
✅ What works: “Write a job description for a Marketing Manager at a 25-person B2B software company. This person will own our content strategy, manage one junior writer, and work directly with our sales team to create case studies and proposals. We need someone who can write, not just manage. Required: 5+ years B2B marketing, strong writing portfolio, experience with HubSpot. Salary range: $75K-$90K. Benefits: remote-first, unlimited PTO, health insurance. Tone: straightforward and honest about the role, not overly formal. Include what makes this role different from typical marketing manager positions.”
What changed: Company size, industry, actual responsibilities, reporting structure, required skills, compensation, tone guidance. The output will actually match the role you’re hiring for.
3. Meeting Preparation
❌ What doesn’t work: “Help me prepare for a meeting with a client.”
Why it fails: No context about the client, the meeting purpose, your role, or what success looks like. You’ll get generic meeting tips that apply to every meeting ever held.
✅ What works: “I have a 30-minute meeting tomorrow with the operations director of a 200-employee manufacturing company. They’ve asked us to present on how AI could reduce their quality control inspection time. Current process: manual visual inspection taking 2 hours per production run, 3 runs daily. I need to: explain how computer vision works in plain English, address their concern about accuracy vs. human inspectors, and show ROI within 6 months. Give me: 1) Five questions I should ask them in the first 10 minutes, 2) Three objections they’ll likely raise and how to address each, 3) One clear next step to propose at the end.”
What changed: Specific audience, their role, their problem, time constraints, goals, desired output format. AI can now give you meeting-specific preparation instead of general advice.
4. Social Media Posts
❌ What doesn’t work: “Write a LinkedIn post about AI.”
Why it fails: “About AI” could mean literally thousands of things. AI will generate the most probable, which is usually thought-leadership fluff that sounds like every other AI post on LinkedIn.
✅ What works: “Write a LinkedIn post for a business consultant explaining why most small business owners get frustrated with ChatGPT (they’re using vague prompts). Use this structure: start with a relatable frustration (‘You tried ChatGPT and got garbage’), explain the real problem in 2-3 sentences (vague prompts = generic outputs), give one specific before/after example using a business email, end with actionable takeaway. Tone: helpful and direct, not preachy. Around 150 words. No hashtag spam.”
What changed: Target audience, specific angle on AI, exact structure, example requirement, tone guidance, length, and format preferences. The output will actually sound like your voice addressing your audience.
5. Customer Service Responses
❌ What doesn’t work: “Respond to this customer complaint.”
Why it fails: No context about your company policies, the specific issue, or what outcome you’re aiming for. You’ll get a generic apology that doesn’t actually resolve anything.
✅ What works: “Write a customer service response to this complaint: [paste actual complaint]. Context: We’re a local HVAC company, the customer scheduled service for Tuesday but our tech arrived Wednesday due to an internal scheduling error. Our policy: we offer 15% discount for our mistakes. The customer is upset but reasonable based on their tone. Response should: genuinely apologize for our error, explain what happened without making excuses, offer the 15% discount, confirm we’ve fixed our process, and provide direct contact info (763-555-0123) for the service manager if they have concerns. Tone: professional but human, take full accountability. Under 100 words.”
What changed: Actual complaint, company context, policy specifics, customer tone assessment, desired outcome, contact info, accountability stance, and length limit. Now the response can actually resolve the situation.
6. Proposal Executive Summaries
❌ What doesn’t work: “Write an executive summary for my proposal.”
Why it fails: AI doesn’t know what’s in your proposal, who it’s for, what problem you’re solving, or what decision you need them to make.
✅ What works: “Write an executive summary for a proposal to ABC Manufacturing. Problem: Their customer service team spends 4 hours daily answering the same 20 questions via email, costing roughly $45K annually in labor. Solution: Implement an AI-powered FAQ system on their website that handles routine questions 24/7, reducing email volume by 60-70%. Investment: $8,500 one-time implementation. Expected outcome: System pays for itself in 2.5 months through labor savings, plus improved customer satisfaction from instant answers. Decision needed: Approve the project for Q1 implementation. Audience: CFO (cares about ROI) and Customer Service Director (cares about team workload). Tone: confident but not salesy. 150 words max.”
What changed: Specific problem with quantified impact, clear solution, investment amount, ROI timeline, decision ask, audience considerations, tone guidance. The summary will actually sell your proposal instead of just describing it.
7. Email Subject Lines
❌ What doesn’t work: “Write a subject line for my email.”
Why it fails: Subject lines work differently for cold outreach vs. follow-ups vs. internal communication vs. customer service. AI needs to know what kind of email and what action you want.
✅ What works: “Write 5 subject line options for a cold email to restaurant owners. Email content: I noticed their Google Business Profile has 47 reviews but no responses, which hurts their ranking. I’m offering a free analysis of how this impacts their visibility plus 3 quick wins they can implement today. Goal: Get them to open and read. Tone: helpful observation, not salesy pitch. Avoid: spammy words like ‘free,’ ‘urgent,’ all caps. 50 characters max to avoid mobile truncation.”
What changed: Email type, recipient type, email content summary, specific observation, goal, tone guidance, words to avoid, character limit. Now you get subject lines that actually match your strategy.
8. Performance Review Feedback
❌ What doesn’t work: “Help me write a performance review.”
Why it fails: Reviews need to balance specific achievements, areas for growth, and future goals while matching your company’s culture and this person’s role. Generic feedback helps no one.
✅ What works: “Write performance review feedback for Jamie Rodriguez, Customer Success Manager, 18 months in role. Strengths: Reduced customer churn from 8% to 4%, built strong relationships with top 10 accounts, proactively identifies upsell opportunities. Areas for development: Needs to improve documentation of customer conversations (currently inconsistent), sometimes avoids difficult conversations with underperforming accounts. Goals for next period: Take on mentorship of new CSM hire, develop playbook for customer onboarding. Tone: constructive and encouraging, focus on growth. Avoid: corporate HR language, be direct and specific. 250 words.”
What changed: Specific person, role, tenure, concrete achievements, specific improvement areas with evidence, clear future goals, tone guidance, length limit. The feedback will actually help this person grow.
9. Meeting Agendas
❌ What doesn’t work: “Create a meeting agenda.”
Why it fails: Meetings have wildly different purposes. A project kickoff looks nothing like a quarterly review or a problem-solving session. AI needs to know what you’re trying to accomplish.
✅ What works: “Create a 45-minute meeting agenda for our monthly operations review with 6 department heads. Purpose: Review last month’s performance, identify bottlenecks, assign ownership for improvements. Include: 5 min for wins/celebrations, 15 min for metrics review (we’ll share a dashboard), 20 min for open discussion on blockers, 5 min to assign action items. Attendees are familiar with each other, no need for introductions. Format: simple bullet points with time allocations, keep it scannable. End with clear next steps section.”
What changed: Meeting type, duration, attendees, specific purpose, time allocations, what materials exist, formality level, format preference. Now the agenda actually serves the meeting instead of being generic filler.
10. Competitive Analysis
❌ What doesn’t work: “Analyze my competitors.”
Why it fails: AI doesn’t know who your competitors are, what aspects matter to your business, or how you plan to use this information. You’ll get generic competitive analysis frameworks that don’t tell you anything actionable.
✅ What works: “Analyze these three competitors for my residential cleaning business in Eau Claire, WI: Sparkle Home Cleaning, Fresh Start Maids, and Premier House Care. I need to understand: 1) Their pricing (I found rates of $120-180 for a 3-bedroom home), 2) Their service differentiators based on their websites, 3) Their Google review themes (I’ll paste review summaries), 4) Gaps I could exploit. My differentiator: eco-friendly products and flexible scheduling. Format as a comparison table with a ‘Opportunities for Us’ section at the bottom. Focus on actionable insights, not obvious observations.”
What changed: Specific competitors named, geographic market, specific comparison points, data you’ve already gathered, your own differentiator, desired format, and focus on action. Now you get insights you can actually use to adjust your strategy.
The Pattern You Just Saw
Look back at every “what works” example. They all share three things:
- Zero ambiguity - Specific details instead of vague requests
- Full context - Who you are, who you’re talking to, what matters
- Clear output specs - Format, length, tone, and structure
This isn’t about writing longer prompts. It’s about being specific. Most of these prompts took 30-60 seconds to write and saved 10-20 minutes of editing generic output.
The question isn’t “Do I have time to write detailed prompts?” The question is “Do I have time to keep rewriting garbage AI outputs?”
What This Means for Your Business
Most business owners try AI once or twice, get frustrated with generic results, and conclude it doesn’t work for their industry or their specific needs.
The reality: They never learned how to control it.
At Eau Claire AI, we don’t just hand you AI tools and say “good luck.” We help you identify where AI actually solves real problems in your business, then show you exactly how to use it effectively. Not theory. Not generic advice. Specific, tactical guidance for your specific situation.
If you’re spending hours on repetitive business tasks that AI could handle in minutes, let’s talk.
Schedule a free discovery call to see what’s possible when you understand how to actually use these tools.
Your path to AI, made clear.