AI Prompt Library for Small Business

These are practical, tested prompts for common small business tasks. Each prompt assumes you will edit the output before using it. Prompts are written for ChatGPT, Claude, and similar tools unless noted. Replace anything in [brackets] with your specific context.

Lead and Customer Communication

Follow-up email after initial inquiry (short):
"I run a [type of business] in [city/industry]. Write a short follow-up email to a prospect who submitted a form but has not replied to our first message. Keep it under 150 words, warm but not pushy, and include a soft CTA to book a short call. Do not be salesy. Do not make up pricing."

Follow-up email after no-show or non-response:
"I run a [type of business]. Write a follow-up sequence of 3 emails for a prospect who expressed interest but went quiet. Email 1 is a check-in. Email 2 offers value (a relevant tip or resource). Email 3 is a simple close-out with a low-pressure reason to reconnect. Keep each under 150 words. Tone is [friendly / professional / conversational]."

Thank-you email after service completion:
"Write a warm thank-you email to send after we complete a [type of job] for a customer. Mention that we appreciate their business, that we hope they are happy with the result, and invite them to reach out if anything needs adjusting. Close with an invitation to leave a review if they had a good experience."

Draft response to a negative review:
"We run a [type of business] in [city]. Draft a professional, empathetic response to a negative review that mentions [specific complaint]. Acknowledge their experience, apologize sincerely, and invite them to contact us directly to make it right. Do not be defensive. Do not argue. Do not reveal any private details about them."

Summarization and Notes

Meeting notes summary:
"Here are the notes from our [type of meeting]. Extract the key decisions made, action items assigned (with names if mentioned), any questions that were not answered, and the next steps. Format it so someone who missed the meeting can understand what was decided and what they need to do.

[ paste meeting notes ]"

Call recap for CRM:
"Summarize this call transcript into a short CRM note. Include: who called, what they were asking about, what we committed to do, and any follow-up needed with a timeline. Use bullet points. Keep it under 10 bullets.

[ paste call transcript ]"

Email thread summary:
"Summarize this email chain into a short brief. What is the situation, what has been tried, what is the outstanding question, and what decision or action is needed from whom?

[ paste email thread ]"

Article or content summary:
"Read this article and summarize it in 3-4 sentences for a non-technical small business owner. Include the main idea, one practical takeaway they could apply, and note anything that seems questionable or worth verifying."

Document brief:
"Read this document and summarize it in a brief. Include: what it is (quote, contract, proposal, etc.), who it is from, the key terms or points, anything that needs attention or review, and a recommendation on next steps.

[ paste document text ]"

Data Extraction and Processing

Extract key info from unstructured text:
"From the text below, extract into a table: the person is name, their contact info (phone, email), what they are looking for, the estimated budget or timeline if mentioned, and any other relevant details. If a field is not present, mark it as N/A.

[ paste text ]"

Clean up a messy list:
"Here is a list of items that should be [describe expected format]. Clean up inconsistencies in capitalization, formatting, and naming. Put them in alphabetical order and flag any items that appear to be duplicates or that look like they do not belong.

[ paste list ]"

Parse form submission:
"Here is a form submission. Extract all fields and format them as a clean set of labeled values. Flag any fields that are missing or unclear.

[ paste form data ]"

Compare two versions of a document:
"Here are two versions of [document name]. Highlight what changed between version 1 and version 2. Note any additions, deletions, and modifications. Flag anything that looks significant or that could have legal or contractual implications.

Version 1: [paste]

Version 2: [paste]"

Writing and Content

Standard operating procedure (SOP) draft:
"Write a standard operating procedure for [process name] at a [type of business]. The process involves [brief description of steps]. Include: who does each step, what they need to do it, common mistakes to avoid, and how to handle the most common exceptions. Write it so a new person who has never done this before could follow it.

Context: [any relevant details about your business, tools, or customers]"

FAQ section for your website:
"Write a FAQ section for a [type of business] website. Focus on the 8-10 questions new customers ask most. Keep answers under 50 words each. Write in plain English, not industry jargon.

Context: [brief description of your business, your typical customers, and what makes you different]"

Planning and Analysis

Simple competitive comparison:
"Help me compare [my business name] to these 3 competitors on [specific dimensions relevant to a prospect is decision]. Based on their publicly available information, summarize their strengths and weaknesses in each area. Be honest about where they may be stronger.

Competitor 1: [name and any context]
Competitor 2: [name and any context]
Competitor 3: [name and any context]"

These prompts are starting points. Save your best-performing prompts with your specific context and iterate on them. If a prompt is producing consistently poor output, try adding more examples or being more specific about the output format you want.