You're the owner or the estimator or the dentist who still owes a "we'll send something." The visit went fine. The notes are in a truck, on a clipboard, in a PMS. Then two days pass. The homeowner got another quote. The patient went home and Googled. The agency prospect cooled off. You didn't lose on price. You lost on time.
This playbook turns messy notes into a 6–8 slide proposal or assessment walkthrough the same day. HVAC estimates. Dental treatment plans that are non-clinical (what happens, in what order, what it costs, what it is not — the dentist still owns the medicine). Agency proposals after a discovery call. You outline in Claude or ChatGPT from real context. You paste into Gamma or Google Slides. A human checks every number before it leaves. You do not need a deck factory, a theme committee, or a 40-slide "vision."
Effectiveness. The proposal arrives while they still care, which is how you get a yes on work you already earned the right to bid. Efficiency. Thirty to ninety minutes, not a Sunday in PowerPoint. Quality. No invented savings, no clinical claims the doctor didn't make, no "typical 22% lift" on an agency slide. If a number didn't come from you, it doesn't go on the slide.
Who it's for
You price work that needs a picture: a change-out, a phased dental plan the patient has to understand, a $X agency engagement a prospect has to forward to a partner. You already did the visit or the call. You are tired of starting from a blank file at 9 p.m.
You are not presenting to a corporate board. Six to eight slides. If they want a 40-page PDF, that's a different job, and most shops don't.
What you get when done
A repeatable outline prompt. A paste path into Gamma or Google Slides if you don't want another login. A 6–8 slide template: problem they stated, what you found, options, numbers, timeline, what you need from them, what you will not do. A human checklist for every figure. A same-day send rule.
Time and tools
The visit or call already happened. Block 90 minutes after it, same day, while the notes are warm. First time through this playbook: two hours to build the template. After that: 30–60 minutes.
Tools:
- Notes: Jobber/Housecall job notes, photos from the visit, a voice memo you recorded in the driveway, dental chart summaries the dentist already wrote (not the model reading radiographs), the agency call recording or your handwritten notes.
- Claude or ChatGPT. I like Claude for "don't invent numbers." Either works if you paste the rule.
- Gamma (Paste in text) or Google Slides. Pick one this month. Canva is fine for a shop that already lives there. Don't collect three deck tools.
- Brand crumbs: logo, two hex colors, one font if you care. If you don't, a clean white deck that doesn't scream "template rainbow" is enough.
- A folder of your photos: the actual unit, the actual room, the actual office. Not a stock happy family in a kitchen you didn't install.
Prerequisites
You have the numbers from this job: equipment, labor, options, insurance estimates the office already ran, agency fee, timeline. If you don't have the numbers yet, this playbook is not "let the model estimate." You go get the numbers, then you make the deck. You also have permission to use any photo of a house, a mouth, or a client's brand.
Dental: the dentist has already decided the plan. The deck explains sequence, visits, fees the office quotes, and alternatives in language a patient can forward to a spouse. It does not diagnose. It does not promise a medical outcome.
Step 1 — Dump the notes and kill the blank page
Why. Blank-page anxiety is why the estimate goes out Thursday. The model is a junior who types fast. It needs the visit, the options, and a hard ban on invented figures. It should ask you questions before it builds slides.
Exactly what to do.
Right after the visit, before you pick up the next job if you can: voice-memo the five things you always forget (access, spouse who wasn't there, the option they leaned toward, the part that's on backorder, the insurance conversation). Photos into the job. Numbers into the job.
Then a new Claude or ChatGPT chat titled Proposal — [name] — [date]. Paste the outline prompt.
You are a presentation specialist for a local [HVAC shop / dental practice / agency]. You are not a clinician, not an engineer, and not a salesperson who invents discounts.
Take my raw notes and build a 6–8 slide OUTLINE for a same-day proposal the customer can forward to a spouse or partner.
Job type: [HVAC estimate / non-clinical dental treatment walkthrough / agency proposal]
Customer: [name or initials]
What they asked for, in their words: [ ]
What we found / what we discussed: [ ]
Options and REAL numbers (do not add any): [paste line items, fees, ranges I actually quote]
Timeline we can staff: [ ]
What we will NOT do or will not promise: [ ]
Photos I have (describe, don't fake): [ ]
Quotes from the visit I actually wrote down: [ or "none"]
Build slides:
1. Their problem, in their words
2. What we saw / what we heard (facts only)
3. Options (good / better / best, or phase 1 / phase 2 — only if I listed them)
4. What happens on the visit / the work / the engagement
5. Numbers (preserve exact figures; never round; never estimate)
6. Timeline and what we need from them
7. What this is not / risks we already said out loud
8. Next step and how to say yes (one path)
Rules:
- Add "---" after each slide (Gamma uses that as a split; Google Slides: treat as a new slide).
- No buzzwords. No "best-in-class." No "partner with."
- No medical outcomes. No "this will last 20 years" unless I wrote a warranty that says that.
- No agency performance metrics I didn't paste.
- Before you write the outline, ask me 4 clarifying questions. If a number is missing, ask. Do not fill it in.
Answer the four questions. Let it outline. Read the outline on your phone. If a dollar figure appeared that you didn't type, start a new chat. Don't negotiate with a liar.
Done looks like. A 6–8 slide outline in markdown with your numbers still looking like your numbers. Questions you answered. Zero "estimated 12–18%."
Step 2 — Paste into Gamma or Google Slides (don't let it redesign the truth)
Why. Layout is the model's useful job. Rewriting your prices is not. Paste-in-text (Gamma) or a "make slides from this outline" prompt (Claude → Google Slides, or you paste slide by slide) keeps you from living in a text box for three hours.
Gamma path:
- New presentation → Paste in text.
- Drop the outline, including the
---splits. - Special instructions, top right, paste:
Use this outline to create a 6–8 slide deck.
Preserve my exact text and numbers.
Do not estimate.
Do not invent testimonials, logos of customers, or results.
Split cards at the --- marks.
Do not add slides I didn't outline.
Title the deck with the customer name and the job, not "Synergy Proposal."
- Generate. Scan every figure. If Gamma "helpfully" wrote $8,500 as $9k, fix it or regenerate with the instruction louder.
Google Slides path:
- File → New.
- In Claude: "Turn this outline into slide-by-slide copy: slide title, 3–5 bullets, speaker note I will not read out loud. Keep numbers exact."
- Paste. Apply a simple theme you already use. Insert your photos.
- If you use Gemini inside Google and it offers to "polish," don't let it polish the numbers.
Turn this outline into Google Slides copy.
For each slide:
- Title (under 8 words)
- 3–5 bullets, short
- Image placeholder described in brackets, only from photos I listed
- Speaker note: 2 sentences I might say, no new claims
Preserve every number exactly. If you cannot, write [MISSING] instead of guessing.
Done looks like. A deck file with 6–8 slides, your logo if you have one, no stock cheering crowd. You have not sent it.
Step 3 — Last mile: photos, voice, and the human number check
Why. A same-day deck that looks like a casino template loses Quality. A same-day deck with a wrong total loses the job and the review. This step is twenty minutes and it is not optional.
Exactly what to do.
- Apply one theme. Two colors. Your logo top-left or last slide, not both screaming. Gamma: set a theme once and reuse. Slides: one master.
- Replace every generated image of a "happy homeowner" with a photo from the visit or a photo of your crew, your office. If you have no photo, use a diagram you labeled, or no image. Empty space beats a fake kitchen.
- Tighten language out loud. If you wouldn't say "leverage" in the driveway, cut it.
- Number check. Print or PDF. Walk each figure against Jobber, the fee slip, the estimate sheet, the engagement email. Totals, taxes, what insurance estimated vs what the patient pays, the monthly on financing only if you already quoted that product. Check option A vs option B didn't swap.
- Check names. Spouse spelling. Address. Unit brand. Tooth numbers the dentist wrote — don't let the model "help."
- Last slide is one next step. "Reply YES and we order the equipment" or "This hold is good through [date]" or "Mara will call Thursday to seat this." Not four CTAs.
Dental-specific Quality: title the deck "Visit walkthrough" or "Treatment sequence and fees" if "sales proposal" makes you itch. Include "this is not a diagnosis in a slide; your doctor already explained the clinical plan." No before/after mouths without consent. No "you'll be pain-free."
Agency-specific Quality: no "we typically see 3–5x ROAS." If they asked for a missed-call install and a review loop, those are the slides. Don't bolt on a branding movie.
HVAC-specific Quality: option slides show what's included and what's not. "Misc. materials" is banned. Warranty is the warranty you write, not "lifetime" because the model likes the sound.
Audit this slide copy for Quality failures.
Copy: [paste]
Source numbers: [paste the original line items]
Flag:
- any number that doesn't appear in the source
- rounded totals
- implied results ("you'll save," "insurance will cover," "this will last")
- stock-testimonial language
- extra options I didn't list
- more than one next step on the last slide
Rewrite only the failing lines. Keep the rest.
Done looks like. A PDF you would forward to your own spouse. Every number ticked. One next step.
Step 4 — Send same day, then remix for the next job (don't build a factory yet)
Why. The deck in your drafts at 11 p.m. is an expensive diary. Send. Then save a version with placeholders so tomorrow's estimate isn't a blank page again. Remix is "swap the name, the photos, the numbers." It is not an API project.
Exactly what to do.
Send from the shop email or the estimator's name they already met. Short body:
"Attached is what we talked about today — [option names] and the numbers I showed you. I'm around [window] if you want to walk it with whoever wasn't home. If you want [option], reply [the one next step]."
No "just circling back" in the first email. You haven't circled. You just left.
Save TEMPLATE — HVAC estimate (or dental walkthrough, or agency). Replace the customer name with [[customer]] and the numbers with [[option-a]] so you remember to fill them. Next job: duplicate, dump new notes through Step 1, paste new numbers, run the audit prompt.
If you use Gamma Remix, the instruction is: keep slides 1 structure and last-slide next step; swap facts; do not keep the old customer's numbers. Read the output like it is trying to poison you. It sometimes keeps a total.
Do not wire this to your CRM until you have sent twenty decks by hand. You will not be the shop that auto-sends a $0 slide because a field was empty.
Done looks like. The email went out the same calendar day as the visit. A template sits in the folder for the next one. You did not build a "content farm."
Slide-by-slide pattern (steal this)
Use this when you don't want the model inventing a structure:
- Cover. Shop name, their name, date, "proposal" or "visit walkthrough." Photo of this job if you have it.
- You told us. Their words. "No cool upstairs after 4 p.m." "I want to know what this costs before we start." "We need proposals out the same week."
- What we found. Facts. Age of unit, what's failing, the two options the dentist already explained, the three workflows the agency scoped.
- How the work goes. Sequence. Who shows up. How long they are in the house or the chair. What you need (clear the closet, someone home, login to ads).
- Options and numbers. Table. Option, what's included, price, timeline. Your figures.
- What this is not. Not a new roof. Not a medical promise. Not ads management if you scoped a missed-call install.
- Timeline and hold. When you can start, how long a quote holds, parts lead time if it's real.
- Next step. One.
If eight is too many, merge 6 and 7. If you need a ninth for financing, only if you already quoted a real product.
Worked example (hypothetical HVAC estimate)
Hypothetical: Ridge Air. Tech was in a 1998 two-story at 11:40 a.m. No-cool upstairs. They can repair a capacitor and recharge — not the honest long-term play — or replace the 3-ton with a like-for-like, or replace with a system that actually handles the upstairs. Numbers are on the job in Housecall: repair $420; like-for-like replacement $X (the number the owner actually quoted that afternoon); better option $Y. Warranty is the manufacturer's plus their 1-year labor, not "lifetime." Homeowner's spouse is at work. They asked for something they can read tonight.
Driveway, 12:10. Voice memo: access through the gate, dog, spouse name, they leaned toward replacement but winced at Y, parts for repair are on the truck, replacement lead time is [the real number of days they can staff]. Photos of the data plate and the attic unit.
1:00–1:40, office. Outline prompt, four questions (tax in or out? permit? they said no to a heat pump — don't add one). Gamma paste. Theme they already saved. Swap in the attic photo. Audit prompt catches "you'll save 30% on bills" — deleted. Total on slide 5 matches Housecall to the dollar. Email at 2:05 to both spouses: three options, one next step ("reply A, B, or C and we put you on the board").
They did not wait until Thursday. They did not send a two-page Word estimate that looks like an invoice. They also did not send a 14-slide brand story. Hypothetical. Same-day is the product.
Dental variant, one paragraph. Hypothetical Oak Street: doctor explained a crown and a later implant, fees the office ran, insurance estimate vs patient portion already printed. Coordinator dumps those figures, not a guess. Deck is "sequence and fees." No "you'll love your smile." Patient forwards it to a spouse at dinner. That's why it exists.
Agency variant, one paragraph. Hypothetical: you scoped a missed-call install and a Monday health brief for a three-truck shop. Deck is the problem (voicemail), the two workflows, the price you actually charge, the two weeks of calendar, what you need from them (call forwarding, Jobber access). No "AI transformation." Same day as the call.
Failure modes / what NOT to automate
Do not let the model fill a missing price. Ask, or leave [MISSING].
Do not auto-send from a CRM stage.
Do not put other customers' names or photos in a remix you forgot to clean.
Do not generate a picture of their house or their smile.
Do not quote insurance as a benefit. Quote the estimate the office produced, labeled as an estimate.
Do not add a warranty, a discount, or a "we'll beat the other quote" slide to win. If you don't do that in the driveway, you don't do it in Gamma.
Do not build 20-slide decks because the tool made it easy. Six to eight.
Do not skip the number check because you were already late. A wrong total is worse than tomorrow morning.
Do not use this for clinical decisions, legal advice, or anything that belongs in a chart or a contract the lawyer hasn't seen. The deck is a walkthrough. The contract is the contract.
FAQ
Gamma or Google Slides? If you like pretty and you'll actually open it, Gamma. If your office already lives in Google and you don't want another card on file, Slides. The prompt is the product. I will not argue fonts.
What if I don't have all the numbers the same day? Send a "here's what we saw, here's when the number lands" two-pager, or wait until the number is real. Do not publish a range the model dreamed so you can say you were same-day. Same-day truth beats same-day fiction.
Can the patient-facing dental deck include tooth charts? If the dentist already printed that chart and wants it in the PDF, yes, as a photo of the chart. Don't let a model relabel teeth.
Should I password-gate the deck? Email it to the people who were in the visit. Don't upload it to a public "our work" page. Their house, their fees, their mouth are not marketing.
Screen-recording notes (8–12 min, lo-fi)
- 0:00–0:40 — "The visit went fine. Then you waited two days. Same-day deck. Human checks every number."
- 0:40–3:30 — Paste notes into the outline prompt. Show the model asking 4 questions. Answer one. Watch it try to add a savings %. Delete.
- 3:30–6:30 — Gamma paste-in-text or Google Slides paste. Special instructions on screen. 6–8 slides, not 20.
- 6:30–9:00 — Last mile: swap a stock image for a real photo. Tick three numbers against a job screen (redacted).
- 9:00–10:30 — Email body, one next step. Template save as
[[customer]]. - 10:30–end — "Want this installed? free Mini Margin Check or $1,500 Margin Scan. No free audit."