A generic assistant gives generic answers because it knows nothing about you. The fix is not a cleverer question. It's context: a short page about who you are, how you talk and what you never promise, saved where the assistant starts every conversation.
What's inside
- A one-page business brief template
- How to capture your own voice
- Where to save it so you only write it once
- What to leave out, and when it's outgrown
Context beats clever wording
Compare asking a stranger to reply to your customer with asking someone who has worked beside you for a year. The second one already knows your tone, your limits and what you'd never say. A business brief gives the assistant that year of background in a page.
Write your business brief
Fill this in plainly. Short sentences are fine.
Business brief template
ABOUT US We are [business name], a [kind of business] serving [who] in [area]. We have [number] people. WHAT WE DO [the main services, one line each] What we don't do: [things people ask for that we decline] HOURS AND AREA [days, hours, and where we work] HOW WE SOUND [three or four words, e.g. warm, plain, direct] Words we avoid: [hype, jargon, anything that isn't us] HOW WE HANDLE New inquiries: [what we do, how fast] Complaints: [what we do first] Late payments: [our approach] NEVER SAY OR PROMISE [prices we haven't confirmed, dates we can't guarantee, anything legal or medical] WHO'S WHO [roles and who to hand things to]
Show it your voice
- Find three real emails you wrote that sounded like you at your best.
- Paste them in and ask: describe this writer's voice in five sentences, including what they avoid.
- Paste that description into the HOW WE SOUND part of your brief.
Save it where it will be used
| Where you work | What to do |
|---|---|
| An assistant with saved instructions, projects or similar | Paste the brief into the standing instructions so every conversation starts informed. Names for this vary by product. |
| A one-off chat | Paste it at the top of the conversation. |
| An automation | It becomes the opening instructions of the AI step. See how the prompts on the automation pages are built. |
| Your own records | Keep one master copy in a shared document so there's a single version to update. |
What to leave out
- Passwords, keys and anything secret.
- Customer details. Those belong in your records, not in standing instructions.
- Facts that change often, like this month's schedule. That's what Stage 4 is for.
If your brief keeps growing past a page or two, that's the signal it's time for a knowledge base rather than a longer brief.
Next: put it to work on repeat jobs →