Ten tasks that follow one sales account from first research to the next opportunity. Everything you produce in one task becomes an input to a later one, so work them in order.
The account
You are the Canada Post account executive for Tailwind Traders — a mid-market outdoor-equipment manufacturer supplying a national network of independent specialty dealers from five distribution centres in Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, British Columbia, and New Brunswick.
Last year they shipped 304,090 parcels, up 93% across twelve months, worth about $1.48M. That growth has outrun the service. The account file records on-time delivery at 94.5% against the 95% their own supplier scorecard requires, and one site — Calgary — was below target in all twelve months.
Their procurement manager has confirmed that the March pricing review will require a written proposal and a competitive benchmark. A competitor is already trialling their Western volume. You have three weeks.
Who is in the room
| Person | Role | Where they stand |
|---|---|---|
| Miriam Graham | VP Supply Chain | Signs at renewal. Thinks in total landed cost. Has not been briefed on the service failures in detail. |
| Nestor Wilke | Director, Distribution Operations | Your champion, under internal pressure. Says he cannot defend the Calgary numbers. |
| Lidia Holloway | Procurement Manager | Runs the review. Has asked for a competitive benchmark twice and never received one. |
| Isaiah Langer | Branch Manager, Calgary | Detractor. Three escalations last year, an active trial with another carrier, and absent from the March review. |
| Lynne Robbins | Canada Post Sales Manager | Your manager. Needs to decide whether to join the March review. |
What you'll build
- Research the account
- Build the executive brief
- Map the competitive landscape
- Build the briefing deck
- Analyze branch performance
- Draft the stakeholder update
- Draft the customer proposal
- Capture the meeting, send the follow-up
- Weigh the service options
- Plan the next opportunity
- What you learned
Research the account
By the end of this task, you will be able to synthesize customer context, buying signals, and internal evidence into a defensible Canada Post account brief that supports a realistic service opportunity conversation.
Starts with
- CanadaPost_Account_Research_Notes.txt
- CanadaPost_Account_Summary.json
- CanadaPost_Discovery_Call_Notes.md
You leave with
a one-page account brief covering customer context, business drivers, the evidence behind each claim, and three recommended outreach themes — with facts and assumptions clearly separated.
Build the executive brief
By the end of this task, you will be able to turn customer research and performance data into a decision-ready narrative for executives, account leaders, and internal stakeholders.
Starts with
- CanadaPost_Parcel_Performance.xlsx
- CanadaPost_Parcel_Performance.csv
- CanadaPost_Account_Research_Notes.txt
- CanadaPost_Executive_Brief.md
You leave with
an executive summary that connects customer need, service opportunity, and business impact — short enough to read before a meeting, specific enough to decide from.
Map the competitive landscape
By the end of this task, you will be able to compare market alternatives, identify buying drivers, and produce a fact-based competitive narrative that holds up in front of a procurement team.
Starts with
- CanadaPost_Competitor_Landscape.md
- CanadaPost_Service_Catalog.md
- CanadaPost_Discovery_Call_Notes.md
- CanadaPost_Account_Summary.json
You leave with
a competitive brief with a comparison table, the buying drivers this customer has actually stated, and an honest read on where Canada Post is strong and where it is not.
Build the briefing deck
By the end of this task, you will be able to turn research notes into a compact briefing that frames the customer problem, the opportunity, and the recommended next step for a room of decision-makers.
Starts with
- CanadaPost_Briefing_Deck_Template.pptx
- Your executive brief from Task 2
- Your competitive brief from Task 3
- CanadaPost_Executive_Brief.md
- CanadaPost_Account_Summary.json
You leave with
a 4–6 slide customer briefing covering account context, what the data shows, the opportunity, the risks, and a clear decision path.
Analyze branch performance
By the end of this task, you will be able to move from a national average to a site-level finding, and turn that finding into a recommendation a sales leader can act on.
Starts with
- CanadaPost_Branch_Performance.xlsx
- CanadaPost_Branch_Performance.csv
- CanadaPost_Parcel_Performance.xlsx
- CanadaPost_Account_Research_Notes.txt
You leave with
a short analytic summary naming the site that needs intervention, what the evidence shows, what it does not establish, and the recommended next step.
Draft the stakeholder update
By the end of this task, you will be able to compress account research and performance analysis into an update a busy leader can act on without opening an attachment.
Starts with
- Your analytic summary from Task 5
- Your executive brief from Task 2
- CanadaPost_Account_Research_Notes.txt
- CanadaPost_Discovery_Call_Notes.md
You leave with
a short internal update with the account position, what changed, the risk, and one clear request — readable on a phone.
Draft the customer proposal
By the end of this task, you will be able to build a proposal around a customer's stated needs and measurable value, grounded well enough to survive procurement review.
Starts with
- CanadaPost_Service_Catalog.md
- Your competitive brief from Task 3
- Your branch analysis from Task 5
- Your executive brief from Task 2
- CanadaPost_Account_Summary.json
You leave with
a proposal draft with an executive summary, the customer need, the proposed solution, the business value, implementation considerations, and next steps.
Capture the meeting, send the follow-up
By the end of this task, you will be able to turn a recorded meeting into a follow-up the customer will recognize as an accurate record — capturing what was committed, what was decided, what was objected to, and what happens next.
Starts with
- CanadaPost_Review_Meeting_Transcript.md
- Your proposal from Task 7
- CanadaPost_Discovery_Call_Notes.md
You leave with
a client-ready follow-up email covering what Canada Post committed to, what was decided, what remains open and who owns it — with dates, and with nothing recorded as agreed that was only discussed.
Weigh the service options
By the end of this task, you will be able to turn a customer objection into a comparison your manager can decide from, with every assumption behind it named and testable.
Starts with
- CanadaPost_Service_Catalog.md
- CanadaPost_Parcel_Performance.xlsx
- CanadaPost_Review_Meeting_Transcript.md
- Your proposal from Task 7
You leave with
a one-page decision note with the recommendation first, three options compared, and the assumption each one depends on stated plainly.
Plan the next opportunity
By the end of this task, you will be able to build a targeted outreach plan from evidence already in your files, and open a conversation with an executive who has given you all the attention she intends to.
Starts with
- CanadaPost_Service_Catalog.md
- CanadaPost_Account_Research_Notes.txt
- CanadaPost_Parcel_Performance.xlsx
- Your follow-up from Task 8
You leave with
a targeted outreach plan naming two services, three contacts, and the event that triggers each contact — plus an executive-ready email of under 150 words.
What you learned
You started with twelve files and a customer you knew nothing about. Ten tasks later, you have built a package a real account team could take into a real review — and, more to the point, you have practised a method that outlasts the scenario.
Open this taskAbout 3 hours 25 minutes end to end, then a 12-minute wrap-up that pulls the method back out of the scenario so you can use it on your own accounts.
Your evidence
Twelve files, in ResourceFiles/M01-sales/. Upload them to OneDrive before Task 1 — Copilot can only reference files stored there.
- TXT CanadaPost_Account_Research_Notes.txt 6 KB
- JSON CanadaPost_Account_Summary.json 4 KB
- CSV CanadaPost_Branch_Performance.csv 3 KB
- XLSX CanadaPost_Branch_Performance.xlsx 8 KB
- PPTX CanadaPost_Briefing_Deck_Template.pptx 76 KB
- MD CanadaPost_Competitor_Landscape.md 5 KB
- MD CanadaPost_Discovery_Call_Notes.md 3 KB
- MD CanadaPost_Executive_Brief.md 3 KB
- CSV CanadaPost_Parcel_Performance.csv 1 KB
- XLSX CanadaPost_Parcel_Performance.xlsx 6 KB
- MD CanadaPost_Review_Meeting_Transcript.md 7 KB
- MD CanadaPost_Service_Catalog.md 4 KB
Two of them reconcile against each other: the branch workbook's volumes sum exactly to the national totals every month, so you can check one against the other.
Two habits this scenario drills
Separate fact from assumption. The Calgary root cause is genuinely unknown, and the estimate of how much volume is at risk came from a verbal remark, not data. Every task asks you to label which is which. A learner who states either as established fact has made the mistake this scenario exists to prevent.
Check the numbers. Copilot summarises well and still lets figures drift across rewrites — and the files themselves do not all agree. Tasks 2 and 7 both make you audit your own document against its sources before you send it, and Task 2 asks you to work out which source to believe.
Tip
The prompts throughout are written as flowing instructions with # labels marking where the goal ends and the context, sources, and expectations begin. Copy them whole. When you start writing your own, keep the same four moves in the same order.