Home · Social & marketing · Decide whether to buy that advert, directory listing or deal-site offer

Just ask 10 min

Decide whether to buy that advert, directory listing or deal-site offer

A friendly salesperson has rung about a magazine ad, directory listing or voucher-site deal and wants an answer today. Work out whether it's worth it before you say yes.

Updated 17 Oct 2026

The prompt · ChatGPT

Help me decide whether a paid advert or deal is worth it.

What's offered: [e.g. quarter-page in a local magazine, directory listing, voucher-site deal]
Cost and terms: [what they've told you, including length of contract]
My average sale and rough margin: [numbers]
Who reads or uses it: [what they claim]
How I'd track results: [e.g. a code or a special phone number]

Ask me up to 3 short questions first if anything important is missing. Wait for my answers.

Then:
1. Break-even: how many new customers it needs to bring to pay for itself.
2. For deal sites: what happens to my margin, and whether these customers come back.
3. Ten questions to ask the salesperson (reach, proof, cancellation, renewals).
4. A polite "not today" reply and a "yes, on these terms" reply.
5. How to test it small first.

Only use what I've told you, leave blanks for anything I haven't given, and don't invent facts or results. UK English. Don't give financial advice; just show the sums with my numbers.

Stay in this ChatGPT chat. Do not turn on apps or connectors, and do not use memory from another chat.

A short example

Fill the blanks, then paste. e.g. quarter-page in a local magazine, directory listing, voucher-site deal: a short note you already have. what they've told you, including length of contract: a short note you already have. Leave the rest of the prompt as written.

Loading the outline…