How to Start Using ChatGPT in a Small Business: A Safe First Fortnight

You can do this part yourself

You do not need a coach to begin. An AI assistant such as ChatGPT is a writing and thinking aid. Used carefully, it will save a small business owner time in the first week. This page is general guidance. It applies to any similar tool.

Two rules before you type anything

Rule one: nothing confidential goes in. No customer names with addresses or phone numbers. No bank details. No health information. No staff records. No passwords. No contracts you have agreed to keep private. Replace real details with "the customer" or "Mrs X" before you paste. Read the data and privacy settings of whichever tool and plan you use, because they differ.

Rule two: check everything that comes out. AI assistants write fluently and are sometimes wrong. They can state a "fact" that is not true, get a sum wrong or invent a reference. You are responsible for anything sent in your name. Read it as you would read a new employee's first letter.

Six good first jobs

• Reply drafts. Paste in an enquiry with the personal details removed, say how you want to answer, and ask for a short, friendly reply. Edit it. Send it yourself.
• Tidying your own writing. Give it your rough notes for a quote covering letter and ask it to make them clear and polite.
• Summaries. Ask for the five main points of a long supplier document or set of terms. Then check those points against the original.
• Awkward messages. A late-payment reminder that is firm but civil. A reply to an unhappy customer. Ask for two versions and pick one.
• Post ideas. Ask for ten ideas for posts about your trade this month, then write the ones that are true of your business.
• Checklists. Ask for a checklist for a job you do often, then correct it from your own experience.

How to ask well

A vague request gets a vague answer. Give it four things.

1. Who you are. "I run a small garden maintenance firm in Guildford."
2. Who it is for. "This is a reply to a new customer asking about regular visits."
3. What you want. "Write a reply of about eighty words offering a visit to look at the garden."
4. The tone. "Friendly and plain. No sales talk."

If the first answer is not right, say what is wrong and ask again. "Shorter." "Less formal." "Do not mention price."

Things not to use it for

• Facts you cannot check. Tax rules, legal points, safety regulations. Go to the official source or your adviser.
• Prices. It does not know your costs.
• Promises. Never let it invent a guarantee, a qualification or a delivery date.
• Reviews. Do not ask it to write customer reviews. Fake reviews are dishonest and can land a business in trouble.
• Anything a customer would be upset to learn a machine decided.

A one-paragraph policy for your team

If staff will use it, write the rules down. Something like this is enough to start:

"We may use AI assistants to help draft and tidy writing. We never enter customer, staff or financial details. Everything is read and corrected by a person before it is sent. If in doubt, ask."

Pin it up. Most problems come from someone not knowing the rule, not from someone breaking it.

A first fortnight

Days one to three. Use it only for drafts of things you would have written anyway.

Days four to seven. Save the requests that worked. You are building your own small library.

Week two. Pick the one job where it saved the most time. Use it every time that job comes up. Note roughly how long you saved.

At the end you will know whether it helps your business and where.

Where chat stops and automation starts

ChatGPT waits for you to type. It will draft a reply, but it will not notice the enquiry arriving at ten at night, send the reply, chase the quote on Thursday and put the visit in your diary. That needs AI connected to your own tools, usually called an AI agent. The first five jobs worth automating explains what to hand over first, and what AI can and cannot do sets out the limits.

If you want help

Cow-Shed in Guildford runs small-group AI workshops, and other local providers offer training; see our list of AI business coaches and consultants in Guildford.

Dean Keating, who publishes this site, is based in Horndean, Hampshire, and works with Guildford businesses remotely. His free call is about which jobs are worth automating, not ChatGPT lessons. Call Dean or book the free AI call, or read the main AI business coach in Guildford page.

Contact

Call or WhatsApp Dean Keating on 07418 627304, or email dean@deankeating.com. See the Dean Keating profile on Guildford.co. Websites: ai-agent.deankeating.com and deankeating.com.

About this guide

Guildford.co is published by Dean Keating, who also runs the service described here. He is based in Horndean, Hampshire, not in Guildford, and works with Guildford businesses remotely. This guide recommends our own service, so compare it with other providers before you decide.