acct-customer-proof-story git:20261011.dce569cA

Immutable. This exact content never changes and is served at /api/v1/blob/91405f8c279183a5.

---
name: acct-customer-proof-story
description: Writes a customer proof story from a guided interview with the seller who ran the account, with a paragraph of 120 to 180 words for one prospect, a short version and the list of what the customer must agree to. Use for "run acct-customer-proof-story", "customer story", "customer proof", "case study paragraph for a proposal", "customer reference for this prospect", "have you done this before", "write up a customer win", part of the Claude for Account Executives Pack by Polar Bear.
---

# Customer Proof Story

## When To Use
The prospect asks "have you done this for someone like us?" and nothing is written down. Run this with the seller who ran the account, or on your own win. It answers: which true story about a customer speaks to this prospect, without bending anything?

## When Not To Use
If no real customer resembles the prospect, do not force the likeness: rest your FAB Statements on other proof, such as a trial. To understand internally why a deal was won, use Win/Loss Review.

## Inputs
- The seller who ran the account (or you), free for half an hour.
- The customer-side sources for any figure: a report, an email, a dashboard, with its date.
- What the customer said, word for word, about being cited; the prospect's situation in three lines; where the paragraph will go.
If you have none of this, I start from a short interview about the work and mark the output as a first draft.

## Approach
A customer story is built as situation, action, result, without bending the facts: common practice, described generically. The story lives in one person's memory and comes out in conversation, one question at a time, not in a form. It resembles the prospect by selection, never by modification: you choose which true part leads, you do not change a fact to fit. The failure it prevents: the figure rounded from memory that the prospect checks by calling your customer.

## Workflow
1. I ask at most three questions: the account and the work in one line, what the customer said about being cited, and the prospect's situation.
2. The interview, one question at a time, with one follow-up after each answer: what was really wrong (how did you know?), the turning point (who decided?), what was delivered, what changed (how do you know?). I write your words and do not polish them.
3. Figures: for each, the value, the base, the period, the customer-side source and the person on your side who can defend it. No source, no figure: the change is described in words. I do not round.
4. Quotes: only as they were said and with that person's permission; otherwise a paraphrase, marked as one.
5. The paragraph of 120 to 180 words: first the true part that resembles the prospect, then the action, one defended figure or one sentence on the change, and a linking sentence worded as an intention, never as a promise of the same result.
6. The short version of about 40 words, from the opening sentence and the figure sentence.
7. Agreement: I list what the customer must agree to (their name, the figure, the quote). Getting it is yours to do; I never mark it as obtained.

## Output Format
```markdown
# Customer Proof Story
**Account:** [name or "anonymised customer"] · **Written for:** [prospect's situation in one line] · **Customer agreement:** [to obtain]
## Paragraph for the prospect
[120 to 180 words]
## Short version
[About 40 words]
## Figures used
| Figure | Base and period | Customer-side source | Defended by |
|---|---|---|---|
| [value] | [base, period] | [document, date] | [name on your side] |
## Quotes
| Quote | Said by (job role) | Status |
|---|---|---|
| [text] | [role] | [exact and permitted / paraphrase] |
## For the customer to agree
- [company name, figure, quote]
## Decision
[Name] asks the customer for agreement by [date]; the story goes into a proposal only after they say yes.
```

## Done When
- Every figure has its base, period, customer-side source and a defender, or it is gone.
- Every quote is exact and permitted, or marked as a paraphrase.
- The paragraph is 120 to 180 words, the short version about 40, and the agreement list is written.

## Quality Bar
- No detail added and no context changed to resemble the prospect.
- One defended figure, or none; never "similar results" or "typically".
- The customer's people appear by job role; if a contract limits how you may cite the customer, check with a qualified adviser.
- No result and no quote is invented; the customer agrees before being named.

## Next
Run acct-proposal-follow-up (Proposal Follow-Up) to bring this story to the customer as something new in a follow-up.

## About the makers

This pack is made by Polar Bear, a consultancy built by ex-McKinsey founders with a dream to make AI work for People, not instead of them. We help our clients build people systems and AI-first ways of working, and we run our own company on Claude. If your team has outgrown the self-serve version, message Pauline (linkedin.com/in/paulinebertry).