Three Useful AI Prompts for Small Businesses – Part 1

Small businesses use communications in so many ways. If you run a small business, it’s only natural to wonder: How might I use artificial intelligence to make my communications more efficient? Often, though, curiosity about AI’s benefits gets stymied by uncertainty. Where does a business owner start? How can they use AI without creating more problems than it solves?

To begin with, let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way: AI isn’t going to write finished communications for you. But, you can jump over the writer’s block that keeps you from finishing that new messaging for recurring customers. You can draft blogs – the most challenging part of posting regularly on social media – more efficiently. You can also more easily summarize and track takeaways from meetings with your team.

This two-part blog covers those three use cases, tools, and prompt examples so you can begin using them in your business. Look for Part 2, “Three Useful AI Prompts for Small Businesses – Part 2” next week!

Messages for Recurring Customers

There are many examples of businesses that work with customers year after year. A common one is lawn care companies. If customers had a good experience and their budget hasn’t changed, they commonly need the same services from the same company each year.

What if, each year, you already had commitments from past clients for summer lawn mowing? What if you could quickly gauge their interest in new services? What if they recommitted to your services before the other companies went door to door trying to win them over?

These are clear business use cases. But can AI help make them happen more easily and quickly?

Some businesses choose to use ChatGPT to draft emails for these purposes. The prompt is about getting the AI to write like you. Tell it what your company does, why it is drafting emails, and what they will be used for. Then, provide the essential facts and circumstances for relevant messaging. That looks something like this:

You are the owner of a small lawn care business. You provide lawn mowing services to clients throughout the summer. You are sending an email to them in March to confirm they would like to re-enroll in lawn care service in the upcoming months. Provide a subject line and email body with three different CTAs: Keep my service the same, learn about additional services, or discontinue service.

OpenAI’s language model system, GPT-4, provides the following output. It even did more than directed by suggesting the hyperlink locations in the copy, which you can use to link to a customer relationship management system. It also guessed what services a customer might like to add.

————-

Subject Line:

Get Ready for Summer Lawn Care! Confirm Your Service Today

Email Body:

Dear [Client Name],
We hope this email finds you well! With spring around the corner, it’s time to start thinking about your lawn care for the upcoming season. As a valued customer, we want to make sure your lawn is taken care of throughout the summer.

Please let us know how you’d like to proceed with our services this year by choosing one of the options below:

Keep my service the same
If you’d like to continue with the same lawn care plan as last year, simply click here to re-enroll. No changes will be made, and your lawn will be in great hands!

Learn about additional services
Interested in enhancing your lawn care? From fertilization to aeration, we offer a variety of services to give your yard that extra touch. Click here to explore our new offerings and upgrades for this season.

Discontinue service!
If you no longer need our lawn care services, let us know by clicking here to opt-out. We’d love to have you back in the future if your needs change.

We’re excited to keep your lawn looking its best! Please respond by [insert date] to ensure your spot on our schedule.

Thank you for being part of the [Business Name] family!

Best regards,
[Your Name]

Owner, [Business Name]
[Contact Information]

————-

The goal here is not to create a massive amount of email copy. The goal is to get from (potentially) zero customer communications – many small businesses do not have time to spool up automated sales messaging – to one valuable message and work forward from there.

However, as ChatGPT says on all prompt pages, “ChatGPT can make mistakes. Check important info.” You will want to treat any AI tool you utilize as if it were a new employee: Fact check, proofread, and edit all communications before use with customers. You also may not want to communicate all the options in the AI draft. You are the editor; the AI is the writer; the enhancement here is that you spend less time in both roles.

AI for Marketing and Team Efficiency
Curious how small businesses can use AI to develop marketing materials more easily? Or how AI can help you train staff and manage teams more effectively? Read “Three Useful AI Prompts for Small Businesses – Part 2” next week to find out!