25 AI prompts every small business owner should save.
These are the prompts I actually use, given to you for free. No signup, no email gate. Copy them, paste them into ChatGPT or Claude or whatever you use, fill in the blanks. Done.
Five categories, five prompts each. Every prompt is designed to give you something useful in under a minute, even if you've never written a prompt before.
Tip: Most of these work even better when you tell the AI a little about your business first.
Customer service
Handle the tricky messages without sounding robotic or defensive.
Soften a tense customer email
Use when you've drafted a reply that reads sharper than you intended.
Rewrite this email to a customer to be friendlier and more empathetic without losing the actual point. Keep the same length. Don't add filler or fake apologies. ORIGINAL EMAIL: [paste your draft here]
Respond to a negative review
For Google, Yelp, and Facebook reviews where a thoughtful reply matters more than a perfect one.
Draft a public response to this negative review. Acknowledge what went wrong, take ownership where appropriate, and offer to make it right offline. Don't be defensive. Don't list excuses. Keep it under 100 words. REVIEW: [paste the review here]
Decode what an angry customer is really asking for
Helps you respond to the underlying need, not just the surface frustration.
Read this customer message. Tell me in one sentence what the customer actually wants (not what they said they want). Then suggest three possible responses ranked from most accommodating to most firm. MESSAGE: [paste here]
Polite payment follow-up
The first follow-up at 7 to 14 days. Keep it light.
Write a friendly but clear follow-up email for an invoice that's [X] days overdue. Don't be apologetic, don't be aggressive. Mention the invoice number, the original due date, and offer two ways to pay. Sign off warmly. INVOICE: #____ ORIGINAL DUE: ____ AMOUNT: $____
Holiday hours announcement
Email, social posts, or store signage.
Write a short, warm holiday hours announcement for our customers. Mention which dates we're closed, when we reopen, and the best way to reach us in the meantime. Keep it under 60 words. Don't make it a sales pitch. CLOSED DATES: ____ REOPEN: ____ CONTACT METHOD: ____
Content and writing
Drafts, edits, and the boring writing tasks you keep putting off.
First draft of a blog post
First drafts only. Always edit yourself before publishing.
Write a first draft of a 600 to 800 word blog post for small business owners about [topic]. Use a conversational tone, short paragraphs, real examples. Include 3 to 5 H2 subheadings. Avoid em-dashes and AI cliches like 'In today's' or 'Let's dive in.' TOPIC: ____
Meeting notes to action items
Stops the 'wait, what did we agree to?' followup three days later.
Take these messy meeting notes and turn them into a clear list of: (1) decisions made, (2) action items with owners, (3) open questions. Don't add anything that wasn't actually discussed. NOTES: [paste notes]
Plain-language About paragraph
Use as a starter for your About page or LinkedIn bio.
Write a 2-paragraph About section for my [type of business] in plain language. First paragraph: what we do and who we serve. Second paragraph: why customers should care. First person voice. No corporate fluff. No 'passion' or 'dedicated to excellence.' BUSINESS TYPE: ____ WHO YOU SERVE: ____
Features list to benefits list
Great prep before writing landing page copy.
Take this list of features and rewrite each one as a customer benefit. Format as: 'Feature → Benefit.' Use plain language. No marketing-speak. FEATURES: - ____ - ____ - ____
Cut a paragraph in half
Almost every paragraph you write is too long. This fixes that.
Edit this paragraph to be roughly 50% shorter. Keep every important point. Cut adjectives, hedge words, and filler. Output only the edited version. ORIGINAL: [paste paragraph]
Operations and ops
Behind-the-scenes work that makes the business actually function.
Find time savings in your week
Run this once a quarter. You'll usually find at least 2 hours/week to reclaim.
I run a [type of business]. List 5 specific tasks I probably do every week that could be automated, batched, or eliminated. For each, suggest the simplest fix. Be specific, not generic. MY BUSINESS: ____ MY ROLE: ____
Fair refund policy
Publish on your site and link from your checkout or contract.
Help me write a refund policy for my [type of business] that protects me from abuse but feels fair to customers. Cover: what's refundable, what's not, the time window, and the process. Plain language. Under 200 words. BUSINESS: ____
Prioritize a chaotic to-do list
Sunday-night reset for the week ahead.
Take this to-do list and turn it into a prioritized week plan grouped by: (1) must do this week, (2) should do this week, (3) can wait. Group related tasks. Flag anything that needs someone else's input. MY LIST: [paste list]
Write a simple SOP
Document anything you do more than twice. Future you will thank you.
Write a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for [task]. 7 steps or fewer. Include who does it, when, and what 'done' looks like. Add a final step for 'how to know it went well.' TASK: ____
Software comparison
Avoid SaaS regret. Run this before you sign up.
I'm choosing between [option A] and [option B] for my small business. Compare them on: cost, ease of use, what they're best at, what they're worst at. End with a one-line recommendation for a small business that mostly cares about [your priority]. OPTION A: ____ OPTION B: ____ MY PRIORITY: ____
AI and tech strategy
Cut through the AI hype with prompts that give you straight answers.
Should my business use a chatbot?
Honest answer in 30 seconds. Saves you from spending on the wrong thing.
I run a [type of business] with [number] customers per month. Should I add an AI chatbot to my website? Give me a yes or no answer with 3 specific reasons based on my business type. Don't recommend it just because it's trendy. BUSINESS: ____ MONTHLY CUSTOMERS: ____
First AI tool to add this month
Stops analysis paralysis. Just gives you one thing to try.
I run a [type of business]. What's the single simplest AI tool I should add to my workflow this month that would save me real time? Be specific. Recommend a tool, what it does, and the first 3 steps to set it up. BUSINESS: ____
Explain a tech term in plain English
Use before any sales call where someone might try to confuse you.
Explain [technical term] like I'm a small business owner who doesn't code and doesn't have time for jargon. Use an analogy from a non-tech industry. Then tell me whether I should care about it. TERM: ____
Questions to ask before signing up
Avoid the 'oh I didn't know it didn't include that' surprise.
I'm about to sign up for [SaaS tool]. What 5 questions should I ask their sales team or research before paying? Focus on hidden costs, lock-in, data ownership, and exit options. TOOL: ____
Audit your software stack
Run quarterly. Most small businesses save $50 to $300 per month doing this.
Here's the list of software tools I currently pay for. Tell me: which ones overlap, which ones I might not need, and any gaps where a small business like mine would normally have a tool but I don't. Be specific. MY TOOLS: [paste your list with monthly costs if you know them] MY BUSINESS: ____
A few notes from me.
These prompts work in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot, or any other AI chat tool. Free or paid, doesn't matter. They're written to be portable.
Replace the [bracketed parts] with your actual business details. The more specific you are, the better the AI's answer will be. "Restaurant in West Covina with 30 seats" beats "small business" every time.
Read every output before you send it to a customer or publish it. AI gets the structure right but sometimes makes up details. Your judgment is the editor.
If a prompt isn't quite right for your situation, change it. These are starting points, not scripture. Sharing or adapting them is fine.
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