Shortcuts
A request that's already written and runs with one click from the “Atajos” (shortcuts) button. Six come built in, such as one for replying to a customer and one for a newsletter paragraph.
New-vintage email for restaurants
Practical guide
AI prompts for small business: the four parts you need
AI prompts for small business work when they carry four parts: who you are, who it's for, which facts to use and what format you want. When an AI answers blandly, it's almost never for lack of secret wording: one of the four is missing. Here are twelve examples to copy, how to build your own, and why half of every prompt is always the same.
The example is a made-up family winery. Flip the card.
What a prompt is
A prompt is what you type to an AI tool to ask it for something: the request, with everything that comes with it. That's all. We explain it with examples in the prompt entry, and if you run into another odd word, it's in the glossary.
Writing good AI prompts for business takes no trick and no secret formula. A general AI knows nothing about your company: whatever you don't tell it, it fills in with the most common option. That's why the answer comes back bland.
The four parts of a good prompt
- Who you are. What company, what it sells, how it talks. Two sentences.
- Who it's for. Who's going to read the result and what your relationship is.
- Which facts to use. The ones that count, pasted or attached, and the instruction not to add others.
- What format you want. Length, structure, tone and how it should end.
Add the request itself, with a clear verb: write, summarize, compare, sort. If a part is missing, nothing terrible happens: the AI decides for you, and it picks the most generic option.
The key idea: a long prompt is almost always your company's context, typed out again. The part that changes from one request to the next usually fits in two lines.
Twelve AI prompts for small business owners
These are ChatGPT prompts for small business owners that work the same in any other AI tool. Change what's in brackets. Where it says [who we are], paste your usual two sentences. Twelve is on purpose: you'll get more from a dozen you adapt than from a list of a hundred you skim.
Sales
1. Following up on a quote
[Who we are]. Write a follow-up email to [name and title], who I sent a quote for [product or service] [number] days ago. You can use these facts: [timeline, terms, what they cared about]. Don't add any others. First-name basis, six lines at most, and one question at the end.
2. Prepping for a sales call
[Who we are]. Tomorrow I'm calling [type of customer], who [their situation]. Give me the five questions I should ask and the three most likely objections, with a two-sentence answer for each. As a list.
3. From meeting notes to next steps
These are my notes from the meeting with [customer]: [paste notes]. Sort them into four sections: what they want, what worries them, what we agreed, and what I owe them before [date]. Don't add anything that isn't in the notes. If something important is missing, tell me at the end.
Customer service
4. Replying to a Yelp or Google review
[Who we are]. A customer left this review: [paste review]. What happened on our end: [explanation]. What we can offer: [options]. Write a public reply that owns the problem without excuses, says what we'll do, and invites them to contact [name] directly. Five lines at most. Don't promise anything that isn't in what I gave you, and don't mention details the customer didn't make public.
5. Explaining a policy in plain English
This is the text of our [returns, booking, delivery] policy: [paste text]. Explain it to a customer who's asking [their question] in four sentences, with no legal wording and without changing what the text says.
6. One template for the question you keep getting
Here are five replies we've sent to the same question: [paste]. Write one template reply that keeps what they have in common, with blanks in brackets for what changes each time.
Marketing
7. Newsletter subject lines
[Who we are]. This is this month's newsletter: [paste]. Suggest six subject lines under fifty characters: two that inform, two that ask a question, and two built on a specific fact from the text. No all caps and no exclamation points.
8. Same message, different channel
This text was written for [the website]: [paste]. Adapt it for [a social post] aimed at [audience]. Keep the facts, cut what's extra, and stay at [number] words. Tell me what you cut.
9. A tone check
This is how we write: [paste two or three of your own pieces]. Review this draft: [paste]. Point out the sentences that don't sound like us, say why, and offer another version of each. Don't rewrite what already works.
Running the business
10. A past-due invoice reminder
[Who we are]. Invoice [number] for [amount] to [customer] was due on [date] under net 30 terms and hasn't been paid. This is the [first, second] reminder. Write a short email that states the facts, attaches nothing I haven't mentioned, and asks for a payment date. Polite and firm, six lines at most. They've been a good customer for [years].
11. A job posting
[Who we are]. We're hiring a [job title], [full or part time], in [city]. The work, day to day: [tasks]. Must-haves: [list]. Pay and schedule: [range, hours]. Write a job posting of under 250 words that opens with what the job is like, not with adjectives about the company. Use only what I gave you, and don't add requirements.
12. A report on one page
This is the report on [topic]: [paste or attach]. Sum it up on one page for someone who has to decide [which decision]. First the three numbers that weigh most, then the risks and, at the end, what the report doesn't answer.
If marketing is your job, there are more examples built for that work in Flipa for marketing.
Common mistakes
- Asking without giving facts. If you don't give it the delivery time, it'll make up a reasonable one. And a false one.
- Asking for five things at once. Better one request per task, and keep going in the same conversation.
- Dressing it up. “Act as the world's greatest expert” takes up room and adds no facts.
- Not saying who it's for. The same email doesn't work for a ten-year customer and for one who's never heard of you.
- Taking the first answer as final. Tell it what to change. The second one is almost always better.
- Pasting data that shouldn't leave the company. Before you paste names, phone numbers or contracts, think twice. The four-question test is in company data in ChatGPT.
When half the prompt is dead weight
Look at the twelve examples again. Several include [who we are], and in almost all of them you have to paste something that's already written in some company document. That part never changes, and you still type it every time.
There are three ways to stop repeating it, from least to most:
- A document with your two sentences and your sample texts, to copy and paste. Crude, but it works today.
- Saved instructions in the tool itself. In ChatGPT that used to mean custom GPTs, which OpenAI is moving to “plugins” and has said it will retire: we cover it in the guide to custom GPTs vs agents.
- An AI that has already read the company's documents and answers from them. That's what Flipa does, the assistant we make: it searches what the company has given it before answering and shows which sources it used. The walkthrough is in how it works.
What never goes away is the clear request. Saying what you want, with which of today's facts and in what format, is still on you.
When it isn't worth polishing
- If it's a one-off question you won't repeat: ask and move on.
- If you've spent twenty minutes polishing a prompt for a five-line email: write the email.
- If the task comes back every week: that's the one. Polish it once and save it.
Checklist before you hit send
- Is there a clear verb? Write, summarize, compare, sort.
- Did I say who I am and who it's for?
- Did I give it the facts, and tell it not to add others?
- Did I say how long it should be and how it should end?
- Is there anything pasted in that shouldn't leave the company?
Build it
Build the request, part by part
Take parts away and watch the request go vague. Then switch to an AI that already knows the company: two of the four stop being needed.
Vague requestComplete
The full prompt, with all four parts
Write an email introducing our new red.
Who I amWe're Three Fences Winery, a family winery with a tasting room, tours and restaurant accounts. We write the way we talk, with no fussy tasting-note words.It already knows this
Who I'm writing forThe email is for restaurants that already buy from us: floor staff and sommeliers short on time.It already knows this
Which factsUse only these facts: 2025 Pinot Noir, ten months in oak, cases of twelve bottles, delivery within a week. Don't add any others.It already knows this
What formatA subject line under eight words and five lines of text. End by inviting them to taste it at the winery.It already knows this
The short version, when the AI already knows the company
Write an email introducing our new red. Use only the facts on the 2025 Pinot Noir sheet. A subject line under eight words and five lines of text.
With Flipa
The same request, once it knows who you are
This is how it would go in Flipa with the winery's documents loaded. The request still has to be clear; what you can drop is repeating the context. Flipa drafts and a person sends. The app's interface is in Spanish today; the assistant answers in the language you write in.
- It searches the company's documents before answering.
- Under each answer you can see the sources it used.
- If a fact isn't there, it says so instead of making it up.
Email introducing the new Pinot to the restaurants that already buy from us. Five lines
Here it is, in your tone and with the facts from the sheet. I left out the price: this vintage isn't on the price list I have.
Subject: The 2025 Pinot is here
Hi Rachel, we just bottled this year's Pinot Noir. Ten months in oak and the fruit out front, the way you like it. It comes in cases of twelve and reaches you within a week. Want us to hold a case so you can taste it with your floor staff? If you'd rather try it here, the door's open.
2025 Pinot Noir sheet.pdfHow we talk
So you don't retype it
Three ways to save a request in Flipa
When something gets asked every week, the sensible thing is to set it up once. All three are prepared by whoever manages the account, by explaining it to Flipa in the chat.
Skills
A fixed way of doing a task: the steps and the format. Flipa applies it when it fits, without anyone calling it up.
Wine sheets, always with the same structure
Agents
The same assistant with a specific job and its own instructions. It steps in when a request fits, and it works inside your team: it drafts, a person sends. More in AI agents.
Draft replies to the tour reviews
FAQ
Questions about AI prompts for business
How do you write a good AI prompt?
With a clear verb and four parts: who you are, who the result is for, which facts it should use and what format you want. Add the instruction not to make up facts. If the answer doesn't convince you, don't start over: tell it what to change.
What are the best AI prompts for a small business?
The ones that solve tasks that repeat: quote follow-ups, review replies, past-due reminders, newsletter subject lines, job postings and one-page summaries. This guide has twelve, with the blanks marked in brackets. They're ChatGPT prompts for business that work the same in other tools.
Do AI prompts need special wording?
No. What improves the result isn't a secret phrase, it's that the request carries the facts. Write in plain words and in the language you want the answer in. Flipa, for example, answers in the language you write to it in.
How long should a prompt be?
As long as the four parts take, usually four to ten lines, plus whatever facts you paste. If it's one line, the AI will have to guess. If it's a page of flourishes, cut the flourishes.
Can I save prompts so I don't repeat them?
Yes. The simplest way is a document with your usual requests. Many tools also let you save instructions. In Flipa they're called shortcuts: a request that's already written and runs with one click.
Keep going
What a prompt is
The short definition, with one good example and one bad one.
Flipa for marketing
Copy in your brand's voice without explaining it every time.
Custom GPT vs agent
What's changing with custom GPTs and where they fall short for a team.
How Flipa works
From loading your documents to asking and handing off work.
How many times have you explained who your company is?
If the answer is “every time I open the chat,” start free and explain it once. Plans start at $99/mo, bought by card, and the app's interface is in Spanish today.
Start free