Why Nobody Uses Your Prompts

You have probably built a prompt. Maybe it was for some marketing copy, maybe for extracting insights from transcripts (my fave). Maybe it took you six hours and a glass of wine that became three glasses.

You sent it to a client. Posted a version on LinkedIn. Got some likes and a few digital pats on the back.

Then nothing.

No one used it. Not realllly. The engagement was real but the implementation...not so much.

This is the last mile problem. It has buried more courses, templates, and prompt packs than bad ideas ever will.

Your Methodology Is Not the Problem

In logistics, the last mile is the final leg of delivery. A package rockets from warehouse to regional hub to local facility with brutal efficiency, then sits in a van for three days because someone has to actually walk it to your door.

The last mile eats 53% of total shipping costs. The distance is short but the handoff is hard.

That prompt you built? Same problem.

You extracted the IP. You built the framework. You wrote the prompt and did the thinking that took you fifteen years to be capable of. Then you handed someone a document and said "here you go."

That document requires them to:

Open it and read it. Understand what you meant. Figure out where it applies to their situation, then actually use it.

Each step is a chance for them to close the tab. Most of them do.

Your thinking was fine. They just never got to it.

Three Distances to Outcome

I built a Design Architect workflow recently. It extracts invisible decision-making patterns from client conversations. Same IP, same extraction logic.

I delivered it three ways.

The Map: Prompt Pack

A document with prompts. Clear instructions and good examples. Professional formatting with a super fancy font I spent way too long on.

The user's job: Read and understand it. Open Claude, paste it in, modify for their context. Run it and interpret the output. Figure out what to do next while wondering if they did it right. Get distracted, then forget about it for six weeks.

Distance to outcome: Far. They need a compass, snacks, and a free afternoon.

The GPS: Micro App

An interactive interface with three input fields. A button that says "Run" and output they can actually use.

The user's job: Enter their information, click a button, read the results.

Distance to outcome: Medium. They still need to drive but the route is handled.

The Chauffeur: Claude Skill (automation)

Installed in their existing workflow. Triggers automatically when relevant, already knows their context, and runs while they are doing something else.

The user's job: Nothing. It happened.

Distance to outcome: Zero. It happened while they were having a brainstorming chat with AI.

The Math Nobody Wants to Do

If your prompt pack has a 10% implementation rate (bc of last mile problems) and your skill has a 70% implementation rate, it's working seven times as often.

People follow you and trust you when your stuff gets them results. Results are what your clients pay for. But results only happen if they actually use the thing, and most of them won't.

You can keep optimizing the prompt and making the methodology cleaner. Adding more documentation plus writing a FAQ. Recording a Loom walkthrough.

Or you can shorten the distance.

The Question Worth Sitting With

Look at whatever you are selling right now. The course, the template, the framework, the prompt pack you are proud of.

Count the steps between purchase and outcome.

That number is your last mile. I counted mine once (today). It was embarrassing.

-Max

​Signal > Noise — the extraction methodology, the tools, and the weekly reminders that your expertise is worth more than you're charging for it.

My prompt library includes three different "last mile" delivery formats.

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