25 ChatGPT Prompts for Small-Business Owners
Most prompt lists are useless because the prompts are too short. “Write a blog post about my business” produces exactly what you’d expect: something generic that could belong to anyone. A good prompt is longer, gives real facts, sets constraints, and states what you don’t want.
The 25 below are written that way. They’re organised by the job you’re doing, they all have placeholders to fill in, and they’re built on the four principles in the box beneath — which are worth reading first, because once you understand them you can write your own.
All of these work on ChatGPT’s free plan. They also work in Claude, Gemini and most other assistants.
Why these prompts work — four principles
- Give it facts, or it invents them. Real prices, real service names, real customer questions. Every gap you leave gets filled with something plausible and wrong.
- Set constraints. Length, format, tone, audience. “Write a post” gets you 400 rambling words; “under 80 words, first line must work alone” gets you something usable.
- Say what you don’t want. This is the most under-used instruction. Ban the clichés, ban the exclamation marks, ban the services you don’t offer.
- Ask for options, not an answer. Three versions to choose between beats one to accept or reject, because judging is easier than generating.
Set-up: the one prompt that improves all the others
1Your reusable business context block
Paste this at the top of any new chat before asking for anything. It’s the difference between generic and useful output.
BUSINESS: [name and what you do in one plain sentence]
LOCATION / AREAS COVERED: [be specific]
CUSTOMERS: [who actually buys, specifically]
PRICES: [real numbers or ranges]
WHAT MAKES US DIFFERENT: [the honest answer, not marketing language]
TOP 5 CUSTOMER QUESTIONS: [the ones you’re asked constantly]
WHAT WE DON’T DO: [so you’re never offered work you can’t deliver]
TONE: [how you actually speak]
RULES:
– Never invent prices, guarantees, qualifications or claims
– British English and spelling
– No exclamation marks, no “unlock”, “elevate”, “game-changing”, “in today’s fast-paced world”
– Write like someone who does this job, not a marketing agency
2Extract your own brand voice
Better than describing your tone: show it examples and let it work the tone out.
Analyse my writing voice and describe it back to me in a short paragraph I can reuse as an instruction — covering sentence length, formality, vocabulary, and anything distinctive about how I phrase things.
Then rewrite this piece of text in that voice: [paste something that sounds too corporate].
Marketing and content
3A month of social posts in one sitting
Batch this monthly. Twelve posts covers three a week.
Mix: 3 showing recent work (tell me what to photograph), 2 answering a common customer question, 2 seasonal for [month], 2 explaining what’s included in a price, 2 local, 1 asking for reviews without being awkward.
Rules: under 80 words each; first line must work on its own; maximum three hashtags; sound like me not a brand.
4Blog topics from real customer questions
The most reliable way to write content people actually search for.
For each, tell me:
– Whether it’s worth a page on my website (be honest — some aren’t)
– The title I should use, phrased the way a customer would search it
– The three things the page must answer to be genuinely useful
– Whether I should include prices
Rank them by which would bring me the most enquiries.
5Email to past customers
Your warmest audience, and the one most businesses never contact again.
Purpose: [servicing reminder / new service / seasonal prompt]
Rules: under 150 words; sound like a person emailing someone they’ve met, not a newsletter; one clear action; include a real price if relevant; give me three subject lines under 45 characters; invite them to reply directly.
Then write a 40-word text message version.
6Google Business Profile description
For a local business, this matters more than your website.
Maximum 750 characters. Lead with what we do and where in the first sentence. Name the specific areas we cover. Include two or three services with real prices. No keyword stuffing — it must read naturally. End with what someone should do next.
7Ad copy variations for testing
Volume matters more than perfection — you’re testing, not publishing one perfect ad.
Use a different angle for each: a problem statement, a specific number, a question, a common misconception, a direct offer, a customer objection, a comparison, urgency (only if genuinely true), a local angle, and a plain factual one.
Rules: under 15 words each; no claims about results; nothing implying knowledge of the reader’s personal circumstances; no exclamation marks.
8Landing page that matches the ad
Most wasted ad spend goes here — the click arrives and the page doesn’t continue the promise.
Write the landing page it should point to. The opening line must continue the promise the ad made — not restate it, not change the subject.
Include: what happens next, real prices, what’s included and not included, two objections answered honestly, and one clear action. Under 500 words. No testimonials — I’ll add real ones.
Sales, quotes and customer messages
9Quote covering note
The number is in the attachment. This is what actually sells it.
Job: [describe it]
Price: [amount]
What’s included: [list]
What’s not included: [list]
Timeline: [when you could start and how long it takes]
Rules: under 120 words; explain briefly why it costs what it costs without being defensive; state clearly what happens if they want to go ahead; no pressure, no discount offers.
10Follow-up on a quote that went quiet
Most quiet quotes were forgotten, not rejected. This recovers a real share of them.
Write a follow-up message that: is under 60 words; doesn’t apologise for following up; doesn’t assume they’ve said no; gives one genuine reason to reply now (availability, a deadline, materials pricing — only if true); and makes it easy to say “not right now” without awkwardness.
Give me two versions: email and text.
11Price increase letter
The message people put off for months and then send badly.
Current price: [X]. New price: [Y]. Effective: [date]. Reason: [the honest one].
Rules: under 150 words; state the increase clearly in the first two sentences — no burying it; give the real reason without over-explaining or apologising excessively; say what isn’t changing; thank them properly but briefly. Do not use the phrase “unfortunately”.
12Reply to a difficult customer
Draft while you’re annoyed, send when you’re calm.
Here’s what actually happened from my side, honestly including anything that was our fault: [explain]
Write a reply that: acknowledges their experience without grovelling or arguing; states plainly what I will and won’t do; is under 120 words; and closes the matter rather than inviting a long exchange.
Give me two versions — one conciliatory, one firmer — and tell me which you’d send and why.
13Win back a lapsed customer
Cheaper than finding a new one, and almost nobody bothers.
Rules: under 100 words; acknowledge it’s been a while without making it awkward or guilt-inducing; don’t lead with a discount; give one reason to come back now; ask a genuine question that makes replying easy.
Also suggest one thing I could offer that isn’t a price cut.
Operations and admin
14Turn a process in your head into a written procedure
The highest-value prompt here if you’re the only person who knows how things work.
Here’s the process: [talk or type it through in one pass — don’t tidy it up first]
Then: list anything I’ve left ambiguous, ask me the questions needed to fill those gaps, and tell me which steps would most likely go wrong if a new person followed this.
15Job advert that gets decent applicants
Specificity filters better than enthusiasm.
Pay: [real figure or range]. Hours: [specifics]. Location: [where]. Reporting to: [who].
The job genuinely involves: [the real day-to-day, including the boring parts]
Someone would enjoy this if: [honest]
Someone would hate this if: [honest]
Rules: state pay in the advert; no “fast-paced dynamic environment” or “wear many hats”; describe the actual work; under 350 words. Include what the first month looks like.
16Meeting notes into actions
Paste your scribbles or a transcript and get something you can send.
Produce:
1. A summary in under 100 words
2. A list of decisions actually made (not things discussed)
3. Actions, each with who owns it and by when — flag any where the owner or deadline wasn’t clear
4. Anything raised but left unresolved
Then draft a short follow-up email I can send to attendees.
17Supplier or contract negotiation email
Firm without being adversarial is a hard tone to hit cold.
Background: [facts, dates, amounts]
What I want: [specific outcome]
My leverage, honestly: [what it is — or say if I have little]
Relationship: [how long, how important]
Rules: under 180 words; state the problem factually with dates; make one specific request rather than complaining generally; keep a route open to a good relationship; don’t threaten anything I’m not prepared to do.
18First draft of terms and conditions
A starting point for a solicitor to review — not a substitute for one.
Business: [what you do]. Customers: [consumers, businesses, or both]. Payment terms: [what you want]. Deposits: [if any]. Cancellation: [your policy]. What could go wrong: [main risks]
Flag clearly: which clauses I must get checked by a solicitor, which depend on consumer law I should verify, and anything you’re unsure about for a UK business. Do not present this as legally complete.
Thinking and decisions
19Argue against your own plan
The most valuable prompt on this page if you work alone.
Do three things:
1. Make the strongest possible case AGAINST this — not gentle caveats, the actual argument a sharp critic would make
2. List what would have to be true for me to be wrong
3. Tell me the cheapest, fastest way to test the riskiest assumption before I commit
Do not reassure me. Do not agree with me to be agreeable. If the plan is weak, say so plainly.
20Work out whether you’re actually profitable
Busy and profitable are not the same thing, and the gap is where small businesses quietly fail.
Job type: [describe]. Price charged: [X]. Direct costs: [materials, subcontractors, etc]. My time on site: [hours]. My time on admin, quoting, travel and chasing payment: [hours — be honest]. Overheads per month: [rough total]. Jobs per month: [number]
Calculate my actual hourly return once unpaid time is included, then tell me: which parts of this job type are least profitable, what price I’d need to charge for a reasonable return, and what I could stop doing.
21Position yourself against competitors
Useful because it forces you to say something true rather than “we care more”.
Based on my business context:
1. Where am I genuinely different — not aspirationally, actually?
2. Which of my differences do customers care about, and which do I care about more than they do?
3. Who should I NOT try to win, and why?
4. Give me one sentence describing what I do that no competitor could honestly copy.
Challenge me if my claimed differences are things everyone says.
22Find patterns in customer feedback
Your reviews and complaints already contain your business plan.
Tell me:
– The three things customers consistently value most
– The three things that go wrong repeatedly
– Any phrase customers use to describe what I do that I should be using in my marketing
– Anything mentioned once that I should still take seriously
– Which single operational change would remove the most complaints
Reading, learning and personal admin
23Understand a document you’ve been sent
Half of “I hate paperwork” is really “I dread reading this”.
Tell me:
1. What it says, in plain English, in under 200 words
2. What it requires me to do, as a list
3. The three clauses most likely to cost me money or cause a problem
4. Anything unusual or worse than standard for this kind of agreement
5. The specific questions I should ask before signing
Flag anything I should take professional advice on rather than relying on your summary.
24Learn something you need for the business
Better than a tutorial, because you can interrupt it.
I currently know: [be honest — “nothing” is a valid answer]
Time I have: [realistic]
Give me:
1. The 20% of this topic that covers 80% of what I need
2. The five things beginners get wrong
3. A single practical exercise that would prove I’ve understood it
4. What I can safely ignore for now
Then ask me three questions to check I’ve actually followed it.
25Weekly review that takes ten minutes
The habit that stops a business running you rather than the reverse.
Give me:
1. What actually moved the business forward, versus what just felt busy
2. Anything that’s becoming a pattern rather than a one-off
3. The one thing I’m avoiding that will get worse if I keep avoiding it
4. Three priorities for next week, in order
5. One thing I should stop doing entirely
Be direct. Don’t pad this with encouragement.
Frequently asked questions
Do longer prompts really produce better results?
Consistently, yes — up to a point, and the reason is straightforward. A short prompt leaves the model to guess your audience, your tone, your length, your prices and your constraints, and it fills those gaps with the statistical average of everything it has read, which is why generic prompts produce generic output. Every specific fact and constraint you add narrows that down. Where longer stops helping is when you pile on contradictory instructions or so much background that the actual request gets buried — so keep the facts relevant and put the instruction clearly at the start or end. The most efficient improvement isn’t length for its own sake: it’s supplying real numbers, banning the specific things you don’t want, and asking for several options instead of one.
Should I use these in ChatGPT, Claude or something else?
All of these work in any of the mainstream assistants, and the differences matter less than people assume for this kind of work. In broad terms, ChatGPT is the most capable all-rounder with the widest free access, Claude tends to be stronger on longer documents and more careful prose, and Gemini integrates well if you live in Google Workspace. For short business writing — emails, posts, quotes, replies — you genuinely won’t notice much difference. For prompts 18, 20, 23 and 24, where you’re working through a long document or a piece of analysis, a model with a large context window handles it more comfortably. The practical advice: pick one, learn it properly, and keep your prompt library in a form you can paste anywhere. Switching tools is easy; the prompts are the asset.
Is it safe to paste business information into these prompts?
It depends what and where. Your own prices, services, processes and marketing plans are generally fine on any tier — that’s commercial information you’d share with a customer anyway. Where you need to be careful is other people’s data and genuinely confidential material: customer names, addresses, payment details, employee information, anything covered by a confidentiality agreement, and health or financial records. Consumer tiers of these tools typically offer weaker data terms and may use inputs for training unless you turn that off. Two practical habits: strip identifying details before pasting (prompt 22 says “with names removed” for exactly this reason), and if you regularly need to process real customer data, use a business or team tier with a proper data-processing agreement. Decide your rule once and write it down rather than judging case by case.
Which of these 25 should I start with?
Prompt 1, without exception — the context block, because it improves everything else and takes twenty minutes once. After that, pick by what’s currently costing you most. If you’re losing work: prompts 9 and 10, the quote covering note and the follow-up, because most quotes go quiet rather than getting rejected. If you’re drowning: prompt 14, turning a process in your head into something written, which is the foundation for ever handing anything over. If you’re busy but not making money: prompt 20, the real profit calculation, which has ended more unprofitable service lines than any productivity tool. If you work alone: prompt 19, arguing against your own plan, because nobody else is going to. Don’t try to use all 25 — three or four used weekly beats a library you skim once.
The bottom line
The prompts that work are longer than you think, contain your real numbers, and say explicitly what you don’t want. Write your business context block once and paste it at the top of everything — that single habit does more for output quality than any clever phrasing. Then pick three or four prompts that attack your current bottleneck and use them weekly until they’re routine. And keep asking for options rather than answers, because choosing between three versions is far easier than judging one in isolation, and it’s how you end up with something that sounds like you.
These prompts are provided as starting points. AI output must be checked before use — models invent prices, claims and legal detail confidently when facts are missing. Prompt 18 in particular produces a draft for professional review, not a legally complete document. Take proper advice on contracts, terms, tax and regulated claims. Nothing here is legal, financial or tax advice.
