Commercial Workflow Brief

Item This lesson
Decision Use AI to prepare commercial documents and structured handoffs without allowing it to invent scope, price, capability, or commitment.
Output A controlled proposal and CRM handoff specification.

Workflow Problem

Proposal work combines repeated structure with high-consequence details. AI can help assemble approved language, summarize discovery, and identify missing fields. It should not decide discount authority, legal terms, delivery capacity, security claims, or customer commitments.

The workflow must preserve the difference between draft preparation and commercial approval.

Approved Inputs

A proposal workflow should draw from controlled sources:

  • approved service descriptions and capability statements;
  • discovery notes confirmed by the account owner;
  • current pricing and discount rules;
  • legal and security language approved for reuse;
  • delivery assumptions confirmed by the responsible team;
  • customer-specific requirements and exclusions.

Anything missing should become a question or placeholder, not generated certainty.

Proposal Output Contract

{
  "customer_problem": {"text": "", "source": "confirmed discovery"},
  "proposed_scope": [],
  "assumptions": [],
  "exclusions": [],
  "commercial_items": [{"item": "", "approval_required": true}],
  "claims_requiring_evidence": [],
  "delivery_dependencies": [],
  "open_questions": [],
  "approval_status": "draft|commercial_review|legal_review|approved"
}

CRM and Delivery Handoff

After a decision, AI can prepare structured notes, but the account owner must confirm:

Handoff field Why it matters
Decision and date Prevents ambiguous verbal status
Approved scope Protects delivery from proposal drift
Commitments Makes promised dates, reports, or integrations visible
Assumptions and exclusions Prevents hidden expectations
Stakeholders and owners Supports implementation governance
Risks and unresolved questions Preserves uncertainty instead of deleting it
Next action and due date Creates an operational handoff rather than a narrative archive

Failure Modes

  • inserting unsupported capability or performance claims;
  • using outdated pricing or legal language;
  • smoothing over unresolved customer requirements;
  • converting a salesperson’s hypothesis into a contractual statement;
  • creating CRM notes that omit objections or delivery dependencies;
  • treating proposal approval as a writing-quality review.

Practice: Build the Proposal Control Sheet

For one proposal, list every material statement and classify it as:

  • approved reusable claim;
  • customer-confirmed fact;
  • commercial decision;
  • legal or security statement;
  • delivery assumption;
  • unresolved question.

Name the approver for each category. Then create the structured CRM handoff that would remain if the account owner changed tomorrow.

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