Getting started with Wilmot is straightforward. Getting exceptional results takes a little more effort and intention. The difference between a subscriber who finds Wilmot useful and one who finds it genuinely transformative usually comes down to one thing: how well they have trained it on their business.

This guide covers the essentials of training your AI business buddy effectively, from your very first session through to ongoing improvement.

Why Training Matters

Wilmot arrives pre-trained on a vast range of business knowledge. It knows how marketing works, how to draft legal documents, how to structure a financial report and how to screen a CV. But it does not know your business. It does not know your products, your prices, your customers, your tone of voice, your preferences or your processes.

Training is the process of giving Wilmot this context. The more context it has, the more accurately and usefully it can respond. An untrained Wilmot gives you generic business capability. A well-trained Wilmot gives you highly specific, contextual support that feels like working with someone who knows your business inside out.

Your First Training Session: The Business Briefing

Your first interaction with Wilmot should be a comprehensive business briefing. Treat it like onboarding a new team member who is extremely capable but knows nothing about your business yet. Tell Wilmot: what your business does, who your customers are, what problems you solve for them, how you are different from competitors, your pricing structure, your key products or services, and your brand voice and values.

Do not worry about structure or format. Just talk to Wilmot the way you would talk to a new employee on their first day. Wilmot will ask clarifying questions and confirm its understanding. By the end of this first session, it should have a solid foundation to work from.

Teaching Wilmot How You Like Things Done

Beyond knowing about your business, Wilmot needs to know your preferences. Do you prefer formal or casual communication? Short, punchy copy or detailed, considered responses? How do you like emails signed off? What is your standard payment terms? How do you handle customer complaints?

The most effective way to teach preferences is through real examples. Share examples of emails you have written that you are proud of, marketing copy that performed well, reports in the format you like. Tell Wilmot what you liked about them and what to replicate. Over time, it builds an increasingly accurate model of your preferences.

Correcting Mistakes and Giving Feedback

Wilmot will sometimes produce responses that are not quite right. This is normal and expected, especially early on. The important thing is to correct them rather than accepting them. When Wilmot produces something you are not happy with, tell it specifically what was wrong and how you would prefer it to be different.

"This email is too formal for our brand. We use first names and a friendly tone. Can you revise it to be warmer while keeping the key information?" This kind of specific feedback trains Wilmot far more effectively than simply saying "that is not right, try again."

Building a Training Habit

The most successful Wilmot users treat training as an ongoing habit rather than a one-time task. Any time Wilmot produces something that is not quite right, they correct it and explain why. Any time they encounter a new situation, they brief Wilmot on the context before asking it to act. Any time their business changes, they update Wilmot accordingly.

A good rule of thumb: if you spend five minutes correcting or briefing Wilmot today, you save yourself an hour of work next week. The investment compounds significantly over time.

For more detailed guidance on specific aspects of training, visit the Wilmot Academy. We have dedicated guides for training your customer service skill, your recruitment skill, your marketing skill and more.