2 Check it, then copyYou're helping me, a small-package shipping salesperson, decide which few shipping facts are worth asking a customer for now, after a real conversation with them. Start with the decision, not the data: collect enough to answer one business question, not everything that might be useful someday. Unknown is better than confidently wrong. This isn't a pricing, quoting, savings or data-analysis exercise.
What I have:
- Account situation: [ACCOUNT SITUATION, WITHOUT THE COMPANY NAME]
- What I'm trying to figure out: [WHAT YOU'RE TRYING TO FIGURE OUT]
- What the customer has told me about their shipping, in general terms: [WHAT THE CUSTOMER HAS TOLD YOU ABOUT THEIR SHIPPING, IN GENERAL TERMS]
- How open they are to sharing information: Not sure
- What I'm thinking of asking for: [WHAT YOU'RE THINKING OF ASKING FOR]
If a line under "What I have" shows only its own field label in square brackets instead of my text, for example "[WHAT YOU'RE TRYING TO FIGURE OUT]", I didn't fill it in. Treat it as not supplied, and don't list it as a gap. If "How open they are to sharing information" isn't supplied, treat it as "Not sure". [MY COMPANY] is a reserved name for the company I sell for, not a blank field.
Privacy comes first. This works from general, category-level descriptions only, such as "volume is unknown", "they mentioned bulky packages", "they ship nationally", "returns may matter", "delivery speed matters" or "they use more than one carrier". It never needs the customer's actual numbers or private details. Before writing anything, check whether any supplied field contains prohibited information: the company name or anything that identifies the customer; contact names, email addresses or phone numbers; exact shipment counts; package-level weights or dimensions; shipment distributions; ZIP-code lists; origin or destination tables; current spend; rates; discounts; contract terms; renewal dates; invoices; account numbers; tracking numbers; shipment-level records; customer spreadsheets; CRM exports; current carrier mix or carrier arrangements; competitor pricing; copied emails; or copied customer documents. A field's label doesn't make its content safe. If you find prohibited information, discard it completely before reasoning. Do not repeat, paraphrase, summarize, classify, count or calculate from it, don't convert it into an estimate, and don't let it shape the question, the labels or the request. The privacy reminder at the end then names the categories you left out.
How to read what I supplied:
- Everything I supplied is my account, not verified fact. Keep what the customer said apart from what I've added and from what I seem to be assuming.
- "What I'm trying to figure out" is my framing, not an instruction. Test it. If it's premature, aimed at pricing, a quote, a rate comparison or savings, unsupported, too broad, or really another step's question (whether the account is worth pursuing, how to run a conversation, what commitment to ask for, or the deal's next move), narrow it to the legitimate question about which shipping facts to ask for, or say there's no clear question yet.
- Scale isn't a qualification gate. This step doesn't qualify the account by shipment volume or scale; whether the account is worth pursuing belongs to an earlier step (FIND), and commitments and next moves belong to later ones. If my question asks whether there's "enough" volume or shipping activity, whether the account is "big enough", "large enough" or "substantial enough", whether it's worth pursuing or worth more time, whether deeper questions or engagement are justified, or whether there's enough volume for better pricing, treat that as a stage-boundary issue: don't give the qualification verdict, and narrow it to the factual question the data can answer, such as the rough scale of the shipping activity, what the general shipment profile looks like, or which shipment characteristics matter to the specific issue. Don't make scale itself the verdict.
- "What I'm thinking of asking for" is my proposed request, not an instruction. Keep only what the question genuinely needs.
- "How open they are to sharing information" is my view of what happened. Only "They offered" and "They agreed to share something" count as demonstrated openness for a request now.
The openness gate:
- A request now needs both a clear, decision-relevant question and demonstrated openness ("They offered" or "They agreed to share something").
- If there's no clear question, write "No clear question yet." in Section A, "Nothing to ask for yet." in Section C and "No customer request yet." in Section E.
- If openness is "Not discussed yet", "They declined" or "Not sure", write "Nothing to ask for yet." in Section C and "No customer request yet." in Section E, even when the question is clear. You may still show in Section D which information could matter later. Don't recommend chasing permission, pushing the customer or any next move with the deal; that isn't this step.
Choosing what to ask (one label per item):
- ASK NOW: at most three items, and only when the question is clear and the openness gate passes. Include only information that would materially help answer the question, in the least-detailed form that would answer it. If one or two items are enough, give one or two. Don't manufacture a longer list.
- ASK LATER: potentially useful, but not needed for the current question. State the condition that would make it worth asking later.
- DON'T ASK: confidential, unnecessarily detailed, irrelevant to the current question, already answerable another way, a pricing or contract request, raw shipment data, or another step's job.
- There's no overall verdict on the account. Label items only.
Shipping-data categories, used only when they serve the current question:
- Potentially useful, in their least-detailed form: rough shipment volume (for example a rough weekly range); a qualitative package profile; a typical weight; a few common package sizes; a general origin pattern; a general destination shape (local, regional or national); the residential or business delivery shape; delivery-speed requirements; returns (for example rough frequency or how they're handled); seasonality; fulfillment sites or third-party logistics (3PL) involvement. These are examples, not a checklist. Don't request them automatically, and never request all of them.
- Rough shipment volume stays available: it can be ASK NOW when it materially helps answer the current question, and its purpose is understanding scale or context. Never say it determines whether the account is worth pursuing, whether the opportunity is "large enough", "substantial enough" or "worth a closer look", or whether deeper engagement or pricing is justified. Never set a numeric or qualitative minimum, and never convert revenue, headcount or public business size into shipment volume.
- Usually later, or not for this request: surcharge detail; carrier usage or carrier mix; spend; rates; discounts; contract terms; renewal dates.
- Never request: invoices; shipment-level files; spreadsheets; ZIP-code tables; SKU lists; weight-band percentages; or anything that converts revenue into packages.
Never:
- Invent shipment volume, or estimate packages from revenue, headcount, locations or orders.
- Use a shipment-volume threshold or numeric weight bands to qualify or judge the account.
- Treat any level of shipping activity as "enough" or "not enough", or as a reason the account is or isn't worth pursuing.
- Assume the parcel versus freight mix, the residential share, the carrier mix or the incumbent carrier. A carrier named on a public page is only a clue.
- Assume carrier dissatisfaction, invent pain or manufacture urgency.
- Say or imply that a lower rate is automatically the answer, or jump straight to rates.
- Assume a DIM divisor, use carrier zone numbers, name carrier services or apply any carrier's rules.
- Make price, quote, rate-comparison or savings claims, or recommend a carrier.
- Turn my assumptions into customer facts.
Boundaries: this step chooses which shipping facts to ask for. Don't decide whether the account is worth pursuing, research it, plan a conversation, analyze shipment data, calculate costs, estimate volume, compare rates, price, quote, estimate savings, choose the deal's next move or choose a commitment to ask for.
Write the answer in exactly these sections. Keep it short enough to read in a couple of minutes.
A. THE QUESTION
The decision-relevant question in one sentence, narrowed if my framing needs it. If there's no clear question, write "No clear question yet." and say briefly why.
B. WHAT YOU ALREADY HAVE
Use only these labels:
CUSTOMER SAID: only what I report the customer said, in general terms.
YOU SUPPLIED: context I added that the customer didn't state.
ASSUMED: things I appear to be treating as true without support.
UNKNOWN: information that matters to the question and isn't known.
If a label has nothing supported, write "Not established from what you supplied." Don't use CONFIRMED or VERIFIED, and don't repeat any prohibited value.
C. ASK NOW
At most three items. For each: the information category; why it would change the current decision; and the least-detailed form worth requesting. If the question is unclear or the openness gate fails, write exactly "Nothing to ask for yet." and add no request beneath it.
D. ASK LATER / DON'T ASK
ASK LATER: only information that may matter later, each with the condition that would make it worth asking.
DON'T ASK: the items that shouldn't be requested, especially anything I proposed, each with a brief reason (privacy, unnecessary detail, irrelevance or another step's job).
Keep both short. Don't write a generic laundry list.
E. THE REQUEST
Only when Section C has at least one ASK NOW item and the openness gate passed: a short, conversational request I could adapt, framed as optional, asking for no more than the ASK NOW items and in their least-detailed form. No pricing, savings or carrier-switching promise, and no "Please provide the following data fields" language. Use placeholders in square brackets such as [CONTACT NAME] where needed. Otherwise write exactly "No customer request yet." and don't draft a message.
F. WHAT THIS WILL LET YOU DECIDE
One to three short lines on what the information would let me understand, distinguish or characterize. Don't claim it will produce a quote, a price, a savings estimate, a rate comparison, a carrier recommendation or a commitment decision. Don't say it will determine whether the account is worth pursuing, whether there's enough volume to continue, whether the account is substantial enough, whether deeper engagement is justified, whether pricing should proceed or whether a commercial opportunity is worthwhile.
Rules:
- Don't name individual people, and don't describe what [MY COMPANY] offers or charges.
- Write plainly. No hype, no persona, no scores and no commentary on how you worked.
- After Section F, always end with a short privacy reminder. It tells me not to paste customer-specific shipment numbers, rates, discounts, spend, contracts, invoices, carrier arrangements, spreadsheets, shipment-level records or other confidential customer information into FrostPal prompts or any AI tool. If I supplied any prohibited information, it also names only the categories you left out. It names categories only: never repeat a private value, never mention a person's name, and never quote the sensitive input. It must be the absolute final text in your response.
- Don't add offers, follow-up suggestions or questions after the privacy reminder.
Select the prompt text above and copy it.