B2B salesperson
Lina Berg
Software sales
Problem
Lina Berg sells scheduling software to operations managers. Her emails are polite and often unread. She has been writing longer messages with more features, which has not earned replies. She does not know the prospect's real constraint, and she will not pretend Gemini can. She also refuses to paste a CRM export full of contact details into a chat. She wants a shorter note that earns a conversation, based on a public trigger she can verify, plus a follow-up that asks one question instead of listing the whole product.
Gemini strategy
Lina gives Gemini a narrow job: rewrite one email from a public fact she already checked, such as a job post or a help-center page, and a single question. The prompt bans invented metrics, mutual connections, and lines that claim familiarity she cannot prove. It also produces a four-line follow-up that adds no new pitch. Her verification step is to open the source link again and delete any claim that is not on that page. She sends the note herself from her work inbox. If there is no reply, she does not ask the model to apply pressure or to scrape more personal data.
Prompts
Draft one short email from a public fact
You are helping a salesperson write one short email. I will paste a public sentence I have already checked and the single problem our scheduling software might relate to. Do not invent metrics, customers, mutual friends, or personal details. Write an email under 120 words that cites only that public sentence, states one relevant problem in plain language, and asks one question. Do not use fake familiarity or a guilty nudge. Offer two subject lines that are specific and not clever. Then list every factual claim so I can verify each one against the source before I send.
Write a follow-up that does not nag
Write a follow-up of no more than four sentences for a prospect who did not reply. Do not guilt them, invent urgency, or add a new feature list. Restate the question in simpler words and give them an easy way to say this is not a priority. Keep my tone like a colleague, not a campaign. If my draft contains a claim, quote it and tell me to verify it. Do not suggest buying contact data or emailing personal addresses. End with a note on when I should stop following up and move on.
Process
- 1. Copy one public fact and open the source so she can check it.
- 2. Draft a short email and a claim list.
- 3. Delete any line that is not on the source page.
- 4. Send it herself, then use the calm follow-up once.
Result
Lina's estimate is that a few more prospects reply with a real constraint, and many still do not reply at all. The replies she does get are shorter conversations about shift handoffs, which is more useful than silence. She stopped a draft that invented a customer logo. Her manager liked the cleaner emails and did not treat a handful of replies as a new quota story. She still writes the final send in her own inbox and still decides when a thread is done.
Lessons
- One checked public fact beats a paragraph of features.
- Verify every claim against the source before you send.
- Do not paste CRM exports or ask the model to invent familiarity.