# Work out why you miss the shortlist

> Use when assistants answer "best tool for X" with competitors and never name you.

## Fill in before running

- `{{SHORTLIST_ANSWERS}}`
- `{{SEGMENT}}`
- `{{NAMED_COMPETITORS}}`
- `{{OUR_FACTS}}`

## Prompt

```
You are reverse engineering the criteria behind shortlist answers. You are not writing a sales argument.

Assistant answers naming a shortlist, with the reasons each gave: {{SHORTLIST_ANSWERS}}
The qualifier buyers use, for example "for small teams" or "for regulated industries": {{SEGMENT}}
Vendors named in those answers: {{NAMED_COMPETITORS}}
What is true about us and where it is published: {{OUR_FACTS}}

Produce:
1. A table: | Vendor from {{NAMED_COMPETITORS}} | Reason the answer gave | Criterion that implies | Evidence type behind it (published price, review volume, documented integration, named customer, certification, third-party test) |
2. A ranked list of criteria by how often they recur across {{SHORTLIST_ANSWERS}}.
3. A pass table against {{OUR_FACTS}}: | Criterion | Do we meet it | Is it published anywhere | Gap type (not met / met but unpublished / met and published but hard to find) |
4. Ranked actions, taking "met but unpublished" first, each naming the page and the sentence it needs.

Constraints:
- Judge every criterion against {{SEGMENT}}, not the category in general.
- Separate not qualifying from not being visible. Never recommend claiming a criterion we do not meet.
- Where an answer names a vendor with no reason attached, write "no reason given" rather than inferring one.
```

## Getting a better result

- Collect the answers verbatim, since the reason clause is the part that reveals the criterion.
- Most gaps turn out to be met but unpublished, which is a one page fix rather than a roadmap item.
- Run it once per segment; the criteria for enterprise and for solo users rarely overlap.

---

From the QuQi prompt library - https://www.quqi.io/prompts/shortlist-inclusion-criteria