All levels
Your Focus: Workspace Setup
Tell AI who you are once, in a place every chat can see.
Workspace setup is what AI already knows about you, your product and your buyers before you type a word. To move up one level, move that background out of your head and into one saved document, then put it where every chat loads it without a paste. This page shows what each answer looks like, how to tell which one is yours and a 30 day plan to move up one step.
In 30 seconds
- The question: "When you open an AI tool for work, what does it already know about you?" Four answers, scored 0 to 3.
- Your results tip: "Write a one page seller context file: what you sell, your ideal customer, key personas, your voice and your rules. Save it in a Project so every chat starts with it."
- What moves you up is where your background lives: in your head, then in one note, then in a workspace that loads it for you.
- The plan: one step up in 30 days, about 30 minutes a week, then retake the assessment.
The four levels of workspace setup
Each answer word for word, what it looks like in a real week and what keeps people there.
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| Score | Your answer | What a week looks like | What usually keeps you here |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 of 3 | "Nothing. I start a fresh chat each time and don't explain much." | Every chat starts from zero. AI guesses your product, buyer and tone, and you rewrite or give up | AI knows nothing about your company until you tell it, so generic output looks like a tool problem |
| 1 of 3 | "I type or paste a bit of background about my product when I remember." | Some chats know your product and some don't. The background differs each time, so the output does too | The background lives in your head and old chats. Retyping two lines feels quicker than writing a page once |
| 2 of 3 | "I keep a saved note with my product, ideal customer and voice, and paste it in." | Most chats start from the same note, but you paste it by hand and skip it for "quick" tasks | The note usually has no personas and no rules, so AI still guesses about each buyer and what it must never say |
| 3 of 3 | "I work in a Project (or similar workspace) with a context file covering my product, best fit customers, personas, voice and rules, so every chat starts informed." | You open the workspace and start the task. When AI gets your product wrong, you fix the file | Nothing yet. The risk here is a stale file: last quarter's facts, repeated with confidence |
What changes between levels isn't AI skill. From 0 to 1, you start telling it anything at all. From 1 to 2, the background moves from memory to one written version, so every chat gets the same facts. From 2 to 3, that version gains personas and rules and moves to where it loads by itself, so there's no paste step to skip.
Where you probably are
- Check your results screen. Every area shows a bar with your score, such as "1 of 3." That number is your level here.
- Use the tie rule. When scores tie, Workspace setup comes third of ten, after Fact checking and Data safety. It may be in your three because it wins ties, not because you scored lowest here: if your answer here matches your lowest answer anywhere, it always makes the three. At a 3, it shows up only when every area except those two also scored 3, with its advanced tip.
- Match your profile. Each plan page describes this area at its level.
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| Your profile | Likely answer here | What your plan page says about it |
|---|---|---|
| Curious Starter (0 to 9) | 0 | "Tell AI who you are," then week 3: "Write a short seller context file. Half a page is fine." |
| Occasional Experimenter (10 to 17) | 1 | "You've already typed most of this across old chats. Gather those pieces instead of starting blank." |
| Capable Practitioner (18 to 24) | 2 | Next point: from "a saved note you paste in" to "a Project with a full context file" |
| AI Power Seller (25 to 30) | 3 | "Context files go stale and prompts drift." With a perfect score, this area's advanced tip is one of your next three moves |
If Workspace setup is one of your three, trust the bar over the profile. Because it wins ties, it often shows up even when your answer here matches your profile.
Your move up one level
Aim for one step, not the top.
From 0 to 1: tell it something
Target answer: "I type or paste a bit of background about my product when I remember." Start every work chat, in your company approved tool, with three lines: your role, what you sell in one sentence and who you're writing to. How AI Assistants Actually Work explains why a fresh chat fills gaps with generic guesses.
From 1 to 2: write one version
Target answer: "I keep a saved note with my product, ideal customer and voice, and paste it in." Collect the background from your last few chats. Where versions disagree, settle which is right before you save. One checked note beats five remembered ones.
From 2 to 3: complete it, then stop pasting
Target answer: "I work in a Project (or similar workspace) with a context file covering my product, best fit customers, personas, voice and rules, so every chat starts informed." Add Personas and Rules, the two sections a saved note usually lacks. Save the file in a Project or similar saved workspace (names differ by tool; check its current documentation). How to Build a Seller Context File has the full template and tests.
Already at 3: keep it true
Your advanced tip: "Update your context file once a month with new objections, recent wins and phrases that landed with buyers." Add a win only once it's approved for external use. Your AI Plan: AI Power Seller covers sharing what you've built.
Example: Kai, prospecting rep at Ramplight (fictional rep and company from the course labs)
Kai answered 1 here: a few lines about Ramplight, typed from memory. In week 1, Kai pasted the background from four old chats into one prompt and asked AI where they disagreed. Two things did: who Ramplight sells to, and which customer story Kai may mention. Kai checked both with the manager, then saved one note. Your conflicts will differ. Settle yours before you save.
Your 30 day plan
Your results screen gives this area one tip. This page turns it into a month, so the file is complete and loads by itself.
Sort what goes in the file
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| In the file (true for every task) | In the prompt (true for this task only) |
|---|---|
| Your role and what you can't commit to | This account's trigger and source |
| What you sell, in one sentence, plus use cases | This buyer's name and title |
| Your best fit customer profile and who is a bad fit | Notes from this call |
| Personas: priorities, pains, objections | The goal of this task |
| Voice rules, 3 best emails and your hard rules | The length and format you want this time |
If you'd paste it into most chats, it belongs in the file.
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| Week | Focus | What to do | Done when | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Write version 1 | Write a one page seller context file: who you are, what you sell, your best fit customer profile, 3 of your best emails and your rules. Start from your note or old chats. Save it in your workspace | One page, saved where every chat sees it | About 30 minutes |
| 2 | Add personas and test | Add Personas for the 3 titles you sell to most. Run the three tests from the guide and fix the file for each failure | All three tests pass | About 30 minutes |
| 3 | Work inside it | Do every AI task inside the workspace, quick ones too. Add approved reference files (one pager, battlecards, case studies). When AI gets your product, buyer or voice wrong, fix the file that day | No task started in a blank chat, and a list of fixes | A few minutes per fix |
| 4 | Compare, date and retake | Run one regular task in a blank chat and in your workspace. Compare and time both. Date your master copy, set a monthly update reminder and retake the assessment | Two outputs compared, a dated file and a reminder | About 30 minutes |
Prompts for workspace setup
Run these in your company approved AI tool. Each matches a step up or a week of the plan.
Prompt
From 0 to 1: see what AI guesses without you
I'm a {prospecting or closing rep} at {company}. We help {who} do {outcome}. I usually write to {titles} at {type of company}.
Before I give you any task, tell me in 5 bullets what you would assume about my buyers, my product's strengths and how I like to write if I gave you nothing more. Mark each bullet as a guess. Then list the 3 facts I should add that would change your guesses the most.Prompt
From 1 to 2: settle your versions before you save
Below are {number} versions of the background I've typed into AI chats about my product and my buyers. I wrote them from memory, so they may disagree.
1. List every place they conflict, such as company size, titles, use cases or claims. Quote each version.
2. For each conflict, ask me which is right. Don't pick for me.
3. List any customer name, result or number that may need approval before I save it.
Wait for my answers. Then combine everything into one note with these headings: About me, What we sell, Ideal customer profile, My voice.
<old_backgrounds>
{paste each version, separated by a line}
</old_backgrounds>Prompt
Week 2, or from 2 to 3: add the two missing sections
Below is the saved note I paste into AI chats. It covers my product, my ideal customer and my voice. It has no Personas or Rules section yet.
1. Ask me about the 3 titles I sell to most, one title at a time: their priorities, their pains, the KPIs they're measured on and the objection I hear most from them.
2. Then ask me what you must never do for me. Suggest these to start: invent customer names, metrics or features; promise pricing, discounts or dates; use a proof point that isn't approved.
3. Write both sections as short bullets in the same style as my note. Write [to confirm] wherever I'm unsure.
<my_note>
{paste your note}
</my_note>Prompt
Week 4: blank chat versus workspace
Below are two answers to the same task: {task, for example "a first line for a VP of Finance at a midsize distributor"}. Answer A came from a blank chat. Answer B came from my workspace, with my context file loaded.
1. For each real difference, tell me which section of my context file most likely caused it.
2. List anything Answer B still guessed or got wrong, and the section of my file where the fix belongs.
3. Tell me which section of my file did the least work and whether it needs more detail or less.
<answer_a>
{paste}
</answer_a>
<answer_b>
{paste}
</answer_b>Prompt
Every month at 3: refresh the file
Here's my context file and my notes from the last month: new objections I heard, deals I won or lost and the reason, and phrases from my emails or calls that got a good response. Customer names and results appear only if they're approved for external use, and I'm running this in my company approved workspace.
1. Suggest additions to Personas (new objections), What we sell (only proof points I've marked approved) and My voice (phrases that landed).
2. Flag any line in the file that my notes contradict, so I can check whether it's out of date.
3. Show your changes as a short list of lines to add, change or remove. Don't rewrite the file, and keep it to one page.Try it now
Your first 15 minutes
- Open your company approved AI tool. Not sure which it is? Ask your manager, and keep to public information until you know.
- Gather what you have: your saved note, background from your last few chats and one email you're proud of.
- Put it in one document and save it in a Project or similar saved workspace (names differ by tool; check its current documentation).
- In a new chat inside that workspace, run this starter prompt: "Using my context file, describe our product to a CFO in 3 sentences. Then tell me what's missing from my context that would make your answers better." Fill the top gap now. Put the rest in week 1.
Your workspace setup checklist
0 of 9 done
Ticks are saved in this browser only.
Key idea
Workspace setup is the one AI task you do once and use every time after: write it down, save it where every chat can see it and keep it true.
Related focus areas
Each will get its own page; until then, the guide next to it covers the same ground.
- Prompt structure: once context loads by itself, the context part of every prompt shrinks to "use my context file." Guide: AI Prompts for Sales.
- Data safety: every chat reads a standing file, so what goes in it matters more than any single paste. Guide: AI Policy for Sales Teams.
- Everyday use: a file pays off only if you use AI often. Run three weekly tasks inside your workspace.
Want your drafts to sound like you? I Want My Emails to Sound Like Me builds the "My voice" section in depth.
Retake the assessment
Retake it at day 30. Answer from where your background actually lived this month, not your plan: if you still pasted it by hand, that's a 2. One step up here adds one point to your total.
Free assessment
What's next
Everything on this page is free, and so is the guide from your results: AI for Sales: A Practical Guide. For the full build, use How to Build a Seller Context File. For all ten areas, Session 2 of the AI for Sales Certification builds your context file, a sales workspace and a read only connector, then tests them on your own accounts. Lead a team? See team options.
Frequently asked questions
Why is Workspace setup a focus area when I scored the same here as elsewhere?
Because it wins ties. On equal scores, the assessment ranks Workspace setup third of ten, after Fact checking and Data safety, so it beats seven other areas with the same score. Your score here may not be your lowest.
Doesn't AI remember my product between chats?
Not reliably, unless you save it where your tool loads it. Some assistants offer memory or saved instructions, and they work differently in each tool, so check its current documentation. A context file in a workspace is the version you control and can check.
I paste my saved note every time. Why isn't that a 3?
Because the top answer adds two things a saved note usually lacks: personas and rules, and a workspace that loads the file by itself, even on tasks where you'd skip the paste.
Do I need to connect my CRM to get the top answer?
No. The top answer is about a workspace with a full context file. Connectors come next: the course turns on one read only connector in Session 2 and adds write access only later, one approved action at a time.
Not sure which reading order fits you? Find your path.
AI for Sales Certification
Save your context once today
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