My product idea was live and taking money before I'd built anything
I stopped validating for months and just wrote the sales page first
I had a product idea sitting in my notes for three months. I kept telling myself I needed to validate it properly before I asked anyone for money. Then I wrote a pre-sale page in an afternoon, posted it, and had four paying customers before I’d built a single thing.
Most solopreneurs treat the pre-sale page like a design project. It isn’t. It’s a sales argument written in a specific order, and AI can draft the whole structure if you give it the right inputs.
These 7 prompts take you from a rough idea to a complete pre-sale page by end-of-day.
What you’ll get:
A prompt that turns a vague idea into a positioned product concept in minutes
The exact sequence for writing every section of a pre-sale page
Prompts for pricing copy, objection handling and urgency that don’t sound desperate
A reusable page structure you can fill in for any future product
Advanced prompts for headline testing and buyer psychology
How to use these prompts together
The sequence matters. Don’t skip ahead.
Prompt 1 first, always. Every other prompt takes its inputs from the product concept you build here. If you rush this one, you’ll spend twice as long fixing the downstream sections. I've made this mistake more than once. The vague concept that felt fine at the start turns into five different rewrites by the time you're writing the close.
Prompts 2 and 3 set the tone for the whole page. Get them right before moving on. If the headline doesn’t feel true and the problem section doesn’t make you nod, the rest of the page won’t convert, regardless of how well it’s written.
Prompts 4, 5 and 6 are your conversion engine. Run them in order. Offer before pricing, pricing before objections. Each section assumes the reader has read the one before it.
Prompt 7 last. It should take 20 minutes. If it’s taking longer, the earlier sections are doing something the close is trying to compensate for. Go back and fix those first.
The realistic timeline: Prompt 1 takes 30-45 minutes if you’re honest with the questions. Prompts 2 through 6 are 15-20 minutes each with editing. Prompt 7 is 20 minutes. You’re looking at 3-4 hours for a complete first draft, which is an afternoon.
Prompt 1: Sharpen the idea before you write a word
What it does: Turns a vague product idea into a clear, sellable concept with a defined buyer, outcome and differentiator.
When to use it: Before anything else. If you skip this, every other prompt produces generic output.
The prompt:
I have a product idea I want to pre-sell. Help me sharpen it before I write the page.
My idea: [DESCRIBE YOUR PRODUCT IDEA IN 2-3 SENTENCES, AS ROUGH AS IT IS]
Ask me 5 questions that will force me to get specific about: who this is for, what problem it solves, what the buyer can do after they have it that they can’t do now, why now is the right time to buy, and what makes this different from just Googling the answer.
After I answer, give me a one-paragraph product concept I can use as the foundation for the whole page.
How to use it:
Write your idea down before you run this, even if it’s messy. Two sentences is enough.
Answer the 5 questions honestly. The uncomfortable ones (especially “why not just Google it”) are the most useful.
Save the output paragraph. It becomes your north star for every other prompt.
Example input: My idea: A template pack for freelancers who need to write project proposals but always start from scratch and lose the job because they take too long to respond.
What you’ll get: A tight one-paragraph product concept that names the buyer, the problem, the outcome and the reason to buy now.
Advanced note: If the paragraph the model produces still feels vague, paste it back in and ask “what’s the most specific version of this?” Vagueness at this stage bleeds into every section downstream.
Prompt 2: Write the headline and subheadline
What it does: Produces five headline options that sell the outcome, not the product, plus subheadlines that handle the “is this for me?” question immediately.
When to use it: After you have your sharpened product concept from Prompt 1.
The prompt:
I’m writing a pre-sale page for the following product:
[PASTE YOUR PRODUCT CONCEPT FROM PROMPT 1]
Write 5 headline options. Each headline should:
Lead with the outcome the buyer gets, not what the product is
Be specific enough that the right person recognises themselves immediately
Be under 12 words
Avoid hype words like “ultimate,” “transform,” “powerful” or “game-changing”
For each headline, write a subheadline (1-2 sentences) that answers “who is this for and what will I be able to do?” in plain language.
How to use it:
Run the prompt and pick the headline that makes you think “yes, that’s exactly it”
If none of them land, paste them back in and say which direction is closest, then ask for five more in that direction
Don’t agonise. You can test headlines after launch.
Example input: Product concept: A proposal template pack for freelancers who lose jobs because they respond too slowly. Buyers get a complete, professional proposal out in under 30 minutes instead of starting from scratch every time.
What you’ll get: Five headline/subheadline pairs written for conversion, not cleverness.
Advanced note: The headline that makes you slightly nervous (the one that’s more direct than you’d normally be comfortable with) is usually the one that performs. Pick that one first.
Prompt 3: Write the problem section
What it does: Writes the opening section of your page that gets the reader nodding before you’ve mentioned your product once.
When to use it: After your headline is set. This is the section that earns the reader’s attention.
The prompt:
I’m writing the problem section for a pre-sale page. This section should make the right reader feel seen before I mention the product at all.
Product concept: [PASTE FROM PROMPT 1] Buyer: [WHO THEY ARE AND WHAT THEY DO] The specific frustration: [DESCRIBE THE MOMENT THE PROBLEM IS WORST, E.G. “WHEN THEY SIT DOWN TO WRITE A PROPOSAL AND REALISE THEY’RE STARTING FROM SCRATCH AGAIN”]
Write a 100-150 word problem section that:
Describes the situation in specific, recognisable detail
Names the downstream cost of the problem (time, money, lost opportunities, embarrassment)
Does not mention the product yet
Does not end with a rhetorical question
Sounds like it was written by someone who has been in this situation, not observed it from outside
How to use it:
Be specific about the frustration moment. “They’re stressed about proposals” is not specific. “It’s 9pm, a client just asked for a proposal by tomorrow morning, and they’re staring at a blank document” is.
Read the output out loud. If it sounds like a landing page, it needs more texture.
Cut anything that sounds like it’s announcing the problem rather than showing it.
Example input: Buyer: Freelance designers and copywriters with 2-5 years experience. Specific frustration: the moment a potential client asks for a proposal and they have to start from scratch, knowing that whoever responds first usually gets the job.
What you’ll get: A problem section that makes your ideal buyer stop scrolling because they feel like you wrote it about them.
Advanced note: If the output is too polished, ask the model to “make it rougher and more specific, like it was written by a freelancer venting to a friend.” The tonal shift is usually immediate.
The first three prompts get your page’s foundations right. The next four build out the sections that actually convert: the offer, the pricing, the objections and the close. Those are where most pre-sale pages fall apart, and where the prompts do the most work.
Prompt 4: Write the offer section
What it does: Describes what’s actually in the product in a way that sells the value, not just lists the contents.
When to use it: After your problem section. This is where you finally tell them what you’re selling.