What you'll get
- 9 copy-ready blocks
- 5 min read
- Prompt 1: Source-only rule
- Prompt 2: The year in ten lines
- Prompt 3: Stated priorities
- Prompt 4: Where the money goes
- Prompt 5: Risks in their own words
- Prompt 6: People and structure
- and 3 more
How to use it
- Step 1: Download the latest annual report from the company's investor or "About" pages. If there is none, use the most recent results statement or the chief executive's letter.
- Step 2: Attach the file, or paste the chief executive's letter, the strategy section and the risk section.
- Step 3: Run prompt 1 once, then prompts 2 to 6 in the same conversation.
- Step 4: Run prompt 7 and open every page it cites. Delete anything you cannot find.
Do not paste confidential documents. Use published reports only, and follow your company's rules on AI tools.
An annual report is the one document where a company says, in its own words, what it plans to do and what worries it. These prompts get the useful parts out in ten minutes. They work in ChatGPT, Claude or any assistant that accepts a file or a long paste.
Part 1: Set the rules
Prompt 1: Source-only rule
I have attached [company]'s annual report for [year]. For this whole conversation, use only this document. Do not use anything you remember about the company. After every statement, give the page number in brackets. If the report does not say something, answer "not in the report". Confirm you understand, then tell me how many pages you can read.Part 2: Five reading prompts
Prompt 2: The year in ten lines
Summarise the report in ten lines for someone who sells to this company: what the business does, where it operates, what changed this year and what leadership says comes next. Page number after every line.Prompt 3: Stated priorities
List every priority, programme or investment that leadership commits to for the coming year or beyond. For each: the exact wording in quotation marks, the page, and who is named as responsible, if anyone. Do not include general statements of intent.Prompt 4: Where the money goes
Where does the report say the company is increasing spending, and where is it cutting or holding? List each with the exact wording and page. Include new sites, systems, acquisitions and headcount if mentioned.Prompt 5: Risks in their own words
List the risks the report names that relate to [your area, e.g. supply chain, data, compliance, customer service]. For each: the exact wording, the page, and any action the company says it is taking.Prompt 6: People and structure
List every executive and board member named, with title and what the report says they are responsible for. Then describe how the business is organised (divisions, regions, sites), with pages.Part 3: Turn it into a brief
Prompt 7: One-page brief with fact check
Using only your answers above, write a one-page account brief with these headings:
1. What they have committed to (three points at most, with pages)
2. What it probably means for [role you sell to]. Mark this section "inference".
3. Three questions I could ask that person. Questions only, no claims.
4. Who else is likely to be involved, from the people named.
Then list every factual statement in the brief with its page number, so I can check each one.Part 4: The ten minutes
Timetable
0:00 Find and attach the report (2 min)
2:00 Prompts 1 and 2: read the ten lines yourself (2 min)
4:00 Prompts 3 to 6: skim, mark what matters (3 min)
7:00 Prompt 7: brief (1 min)
8:00 Open the cited pages and check the three points (2 min)Worked example (illustrative, not a real company)
The brief Quaywise, a warehouse-software seller, kept after running the pack on the invented "Northfield Logistics" report. Every line is made up for illustration.
Account brief, checked
NORTHFIELD LOGISTICS: ACCOUNT BRIEF (from annual report, checked by SC)
1. Committed to
- Second distribution centre to open next spring (p. 14) CHECKED
- "One planning process across all sites" (chief executive's letter, p. 6) CHECKED
- Hiring for the new site begins this year (p. 22) CHECKED
2. Inference for the VP Supply Chain
- Planning that worked for one site must now cover two. INFERENCE, not stated.
3. Questions
- Will planning for both sites sit with one team?
- What has to be ready before the new site opens?
- Who decides what runs beside the warehouse system?
4. Also involved: Head of IT Applications (named p. 31); site manager not yet named.
Removed after checking: a line about "cost pressure in transport". Not on the cited page.Check before you send
- Every fact in my message has a page I opened myself.
- Inferences are phrased as questions, not statements.
- I have quoted the company's wording, not the assistant's summary of it.
- The report is the latest one, and I checked the date.
- Nothing in the message could only have come from a private source.
Why this works on named accounts
Common questions
Can AI read an annual report accurately?
It can find and quote passages well when it is told to use only the file and cite pages. It still makes mistakes, which is why prompt 7 lists every fact for you to check.
What if the company is private and has no annual report?
Use what it does publish: the chief executive's letter, press releases, a sustainability report or filings at the company registry. Prompt 1 works on any document.
Which part of an annual report matters most for sales research?
The chief executive's letter and the strategy section for priorities, and the risk section for problems the company admits to in public.
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