Guide
ChatGPT prompts for sales reps, and how to stop pasting them
The prompts sales reps get most from are four: account research before a call, a first email built on one specific observation, discovery call prep, and call notes turned into CRM fields. Copy them below, add your own examples, and save each where your AI reads it on its own: your role and product in custom instructions, one account's notes in a project, and a task you repeat across accounts as a skill. Then you ask for "a first email to Harbor Dental" instead of pasting a prompt.
Short answer
- Four prompts: research, first email, call prep, call notes.
- Make them yours: your product, your best emails, your CRM fields.
- Save them: custom instructions, a project per account, a skill per task.
- Check before sending: every fact and every name.
The four prompts
1. Account research
"I sell [product] to [type of company]. Research [company] using only public information. Give me three facts that matter for what we sell, each with where you found it, and one question to open the call with. If you can't find something, say so."
2. First email
"Write a first email to [name, role] at [company]. Use one specific observation from this research: [paste]. One problem we solve for companies like theirs, one low-effort ask. Under 90 words, no 'I hope this finds you well'. Here are two emails of mine that got replies: [paste]."
3. Discovery call prep
"I have a discovery call with [company] in an hour. From my notes below, list the five questions I should ask in order, what answer would disqualify them, and what I need to learn to book a demo. Notes: [paste]."
4. Call notes to CRM
"Turn these call notes into our CRM fields: stage, pain, decision maker, budget, next step with a date. Use only what's in the notes; mark anything missing as 'unknown'. Notes: [paste]."
Where to save each
| What | Where | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Your role, product, tone | Custom instructions (ChatGPT) or profile preferences (Claude) | True in every chat |
| One account's notes and files | A project for that account | Every chat about them starts with the history |
| A task you repeat for every account | A skill | Loaded when you ask for the task, in any chat |
More on the three places: custom instructions vs Projects vs skills.
A worked example
Illustration: a made-up business. Priya sells scheduling software to physical therapy clinics in the US. She'd been pasting the first-email prompt about 20 times a week, each time hunting for her two best emails to paste in after it. She moves things around in one afternoon:
- Custom instructions: "I sell clinic scheduling software to physical therapy practices in the US. American English. Short sentences."
- A project per hot account with the research and call notes, so follow-ups start with the history.
- The first email as a skill, with her two best emails inside it and the rule "one specific observation, under 90 words".
Now she types "first email to the practice manager at Riverside Physical Therapy, research below" and gets her structure and tone without pasting. Before sending, she checks the one fact the email rests on. In the US, CAN-SPAM applies to business-to-business email too: the message is identified as an ad and carries her company's postal address and an opt-out. Her sales-engagement tool adds the last two; she checked that it does before relying on it. Selling to UK clinics instead? PECR applies there, and sole traders and some partnerships count as individuals who need consent or the soft opt-in.
Save your first prompt
- Pick the prompt you paste most this week.
- Add your examples: two emails that got replies, your CRM fields, your disqualifiers.
- Split it: lines about you to custom instructions, the task to a skill.
- Test it on three real accounts without pasting anything.
- Delete the old copy from your notes.
Next step: the whole sales team on the same prompts
Your best prompt helps the team only if everyone uses the same version. The sales team AI playbook covers agreeing four shared jobs and the rules around customer data. For skills built from these prompts, see Claude skills for sales.
Skills for this
- AI practiceTurn a prompt into a skillTurns a prompt that works into a skill the whole team can reuse, with a valid name, a when-to-use description, steps, an output template, an example, and checks.
- SalesCold outreach emailWrites a first-touch cold email under 90 words from your research: one specific observation, one problem, one easy ask, and 2 subject lines.
- SalesDiscovery call prepBuilds a one-page discovery call prep from the prospect's website, LinkedIn and notes: hypotheses, 8 ranked questions, what to qualify, red flags.
- SalesCall summary to CRM notesTurns a call transcript into CRM-ready plain-text fields: pain, impact, budget, authority, timeline, next step, stage suggestion and risks.
Questions
What are the best ChatGPT prompts for sales reps?
The ones for tasks you repeat weekly: researching an account before a call, a first email with one specific observation, preparing discovery questions, and turning call notes into CRM fields. Each works better with your own examples than with a generic template.
How do I save a ChatGPT prompt so I don't paste it every time?
Put what's true for every chat (your role, product, tone) in custom instructions, put one account's files and notes in a project, and turn a task you repeat across accounts into a skill, which the AI loads when you ask for that task.
Can I paste CRM data into ChatGPT?
Only into a company account whose plan doesn't train on your data by default, such as ChatGPT Business, and within your contracts. Keep personal accounts to public information.
AI skill
Have your AI turn a prompt that works into a skill your team can reuse
Put this skill in AI Skill Pod and everyone on your team gets it in their Claude, Cursor or ChatGPT (Pro, Business, Enterprise): one invite link, free to start. Once one of these prompts works for you, Turn a prompt into a skill has your AI turn it into a skill with your examples, so you ask for 'a first email to Harbor Dental' instead of pasting.
14 days free · No card needed
Sources
- Claude Docs: Prompting best practices — context, examples and clear instructions improve results (read 2026-11-05)
- OpenAI Help: Projects in ChatGPT — project instructions and files; read through search-result text (read 2026-11-05)
- OpenAI Help: ChatGPT custom instructions — applied across chats; read through search-result text (read 2026-11-05)
- Claude Help Center: personalization features — profile preferences apply to all chats; read through search-result text (read 2026-11-05)
- Claude Help Center: Using skills in Claude — every plan with code execution on (read 2026-11-05)
- FTC: CAN-SPAM Act compliance guide for business — no exception for business-to-business email; identify the message as an ad, include a postal address and an opt-out (read 2026-11-05)
- ICO: the rules on direct marketing by electronic mail (PECR) — sole traders and some partnerships are individual subscribers, who need consent or the soft opt-in; read through search-result text, the page blocks automated reads (read 2026-11-05)