Guide to Prompt Engineering: How To Make AI Agents Do Exactly What You Want

Introduction: Think of Your AI Like a New Team Member

When setting up AI agents like those at virtuans.ai, imagine you're training a new employee who needs clear instructions and guidance.

One of our customers put it perfectly: "This AI is a baby - it's our job to train the baby!"

This guide will help you master the best practices required to get AI agents to follow your instructions and get the job done!

1. Creating Your AI's Character

Think of your AI agent like a character in a movie – it needs a clear identity:

Who Is Your AI? (The Basics)

• Name and Background: Give it a name and simple backstory (like "Sarah, who has helped customers find the right software for 5 years")
• Job Title: What exactly is its job? (appointment setter, lead qualifier, product explainer)
• Personality: Pick 3-5 simple traits (friendly, helpful, patient, energetic)
• How It Talks: Casual or formal? Brief or detailed? Serious or light-hearted?

Fill-in-the-Blank Example:

Name: Alex

Background: Helped customers find the right software solutions for 5 years
Job: Starts conversations with new customers and books demo meetings
Personality: Friendly, patient, helpful, focuses on solving problems
Speaking Style: Professional but warm, avoids complicated tech terms

2. Setting Safety Boundaries (Guardrails)

Think of guardrails like parental controls – they keep your AI from saying or doing things it shouldn't.

Four Types of Safety Boundaries:

• Off-Limit Topics: What subjects should your AI avoid completely?
• No-Promise Zone: What promises or claims should it never make?
• Hand-Off Moments: When should it transfer the conversation to a real person?
• Rule-Following: What business or legal rules must it always follow?

Simple Example:

Off-Limit Topics:
- Don't mention competitor companies by name
- Don't talk about exact pricing unless asked directly
- Stay away from politics or controversial issues

No-Promise Zone:
- Don't promise features our product doesn't have yet
- Don't guarantee specific results (like "this will double your sales")
- Keep technical explanations simple and non-technical

Hand-Off Moments:
- When someone asks about custom pricing for large companies
- When they ask complicated technical questions
- Whenever someone specifically asks to speak to a human

Must-Follow Rules:
- Always mention we'll protect their contact information when collecting it
- Never claim our product has health benefits
- Always follow our privacy policy rules

3. Creating a Conversation Roadmap

Think of this like creating a GPS route for your AI – it needs to know where the conversation should go.

What's the Point of Talking?

• Main Goal: What's the #1 thing you want to happen? (Book a meeting, qualify if they're a good fit)
• Side Goals: What extra information do you want to collect?
• Success Signal: How will you know if the conversation worked?

The Conversation Journey Map:

• Hello Part: How to start the conversation and make a good first impression
• Question Part: What to ask to understand the customer's needs
• Solution Part: How to explain how your product helps them
• Handling Concerns: What to say when they have doubts or objections
• Next Steps: How to end the conversation with clear action items

Real-World Example:

Main Goal: Figure out if they're a good fit and book a product demo

Side Goals:
- Find out what problems they're trying to solve
- Learn basic details about their company (size, industry)
- Understand what solution they're using now

Hello Part:
1. Introduce as an AI agent (be upfront about being AI)
2. Thank them for their time
3. Briefly explain how we help companies like theirs
4. Ask first question to get conversation flowing

Good Questions to Ask:
- "What's your biggest challenge with [problem your product solves]?"
- "How are you handling [relevant task] right now?"
- "What would make your life easier in this area?"

Handling Common Concerns:
- If they say "it's too expensive": Acknowledge their concern, talk about value and return on investment, mention we have different packages
- If they say "not ready yet": Offer helpful information and suggest checking back in later

Wrapping Up Options:
- If they're a good fit: Help schedule a demo meeting
- If they need time: Offer to send helpful resources and check back in later
- If they're not a good match: End politely and leave the door open for the future

4. Giving Your AI Helper Tools

Think of this like giving your AI agent various apps on its phone – tools it can use to help customers.

Useful Tools to Connect:

• Customer Database: Looking up or saving contact information (like a digital address book)
• Calendar Tools: Checking when your team is free and booking meetings
• Product Information: Accessing facts about your products
• Content Sharing: Sending helpful materials to potential customers

Easy Example:

Tools My AI Can Use:
- Look up product information when customers have questions
- Check when our sales team is available for meetings
- Schedule meetings using our booking system
- Send approved marketing materials like brochures or videos
- Add new contacts to our customer database

Rules for Using Tools:
- Double-check customer information before saving it
- Only send materials that relate to what they're asking about
- Don't schedule meetings shorter than 30 minutes
- Always confirm details before booking anything on the calendar

5. Testing and Making It Better

Think of this like taste-testing a recipe and tweaking it until it's just right.

Check These Things:

• Common Situations: Test the everyday conversations your AI will handle
• Tricky Situations: See how it handles unusual or difficult questions
• Measuring Success: Simple ways to tell if your AI is doing a good job
• Getting Better: How to collect feedback and make improvements

Simple Example:

Situations to Test:
- Someone who's perfect for your product and knows what they want
- Someone who's not sure what they need yet
- Someone who says "that's too expensive"
- Someone who asks a technical question your AI isn't prepared for
- Someone who isn't a good fit for your product

Measuring How Well It's Working:
- How often does it correctly identify good potential customers?
- How many meetings does it book?
- How long do conversations typically last?
- How often does it need to transfer to a human?
- Do customers seem satisfied with the experience?

Making It Better:
1. Read through conversation records each week
2. Look for where things commonly go wrong
3. Update your instructions to fix these problems
4. Test to make sure your changes worked
5. Put the improved version to work

6. Example Conversations

Create sample dialogues like movie scripts to show your AI exactly how you want it to talk. These are like training examples that help your AI understand the right way to handle different situations.

Real Conversation Example:

SITUATION: Someone Who's a Good Fit for Your Product

CUSTOMER: "I'm interested in your software for my marketing team."

AI AGENT: "Thanks for reaching out! I'd be happy to help you learn how our software can help your marketing team. To make sure I share the most helpful information, could you tell me what marketing challenges you're facing right now?"

CUSTOMER: "We're having trouble keeping track of all our marketing campaigns across different channels."

AI AGENT: "That's a common challenge! Many of our customers struggled with the same thing before using our platform. Our software brings all your marketing channels together in one simple dashboard so you can see everything in real-time. Would you be interested in a quick demo to see how it works?"

CUSTOMER: "Yes, that would be helpful."

AI AGENT: "Great! I'd be happy to set that up for you. The demo usually takes about 30 minutes, and our product specialist will focus on showing you the campaign tracking features. Would you prefer to schedule it sometime this week or next week?"

Simple Tips For Success

1. Start Small: Begin with simple conversations before trying complicated stuff
2. Be Crystal Clear: Specific instructions work better than vague ones
3. Keep Improving: Update your AI based on real conversation results
4. Show, Don't Just Tell: Give lots of conversation examples of what "good" looks like
5. Find the Right Balance: Too strict makes it sound robotic, too loose makes it go off-message
6. Keep an Eye on Things: Regularly check in on conversations to catch problems early

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Information Overload: Stuffing your AI with too much product info makes it ramble
2. Weak Boundaries: Not setting clear guardrails leads to off-brand or awkward responses
3. Expecting Too Much: Remember AI is great at following a plan but has limits
4. No Backup Plan: Always create clear paths for handing off to human team members
5. Set It and Forget It: Your AI needs regular updates based on what you learn
6. Robot Talk: Making responses too scripted makes conversations feel mechanical
7. Ignoring Rules: Make sure your AI follows industry regulations and legal requirements

Your AI AGENT will represent your brand well and have meaningful customer conversations.

Remember: building a great AI agent is like training a new team member – it gets better with practice, feedback, and patience.