ChatGPT Prompts for Small Business: The Five We Set Up in Calgary

Synopsis

These are the ChatGPT prompts we set up for small business owners in Calgary, written out in full so you can copy them tonight. There are five, one for each writing job that eats an owner's evenings: quotes, customer emails, review replies, social captions, and turning a meeting into notes and a follow-up email.

They work because of two habits, not because of clever wording. First, every prompt carries three examples of your own writing, so the tool copies you instead of the internet. Second, customer details never go in: you write [customer] and [job address] in the tool, and put the real details back in your own email app. The same prompts work in Claude; we use ChatGPT below because it is the one most owners already have on their phone.

---

Before The Prompts: Three Rules That Do Most Of The Work

Never put in what you would not put on a postcard. That means customer names, street addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, card or banking numbers, passwords, alarm or gate codes, anything about a customer's health, and any price you have not agreed. Use placeholders instead: [customer], [job address], [date]. When the draft comes back, you add the real details yourself, outside the tool.

Prices only come from your own list. AI tools will cheerfully invent a reasonable-sounding number. Every prompt below tells it to use only the prices you paste in and to mark anything it is unsure of with [CHECK].

You read every draft before it goes out. The tool drafts; you send. Check that names are put back, prices match your list, dates and times are right, nothing is promised that you would not promise, and it sounds like you.

This is a practical habit, not legal advice. If you have questions about Alberta privacy law and your customers' information, ask your lawyer.

Step One: Teach It How You Sound

Find nine pieces of your own writing: three quotes, three customer emails and three replies to reviews. Real ones you were happy with. Take out the customer names, addresses, phone numbers and anything private, and replace them with placeholders. These go inside the prompts as "How I write these", and they matter more than anything else on this page.

Then set your custom instructions once (in ChatGPT's settings, under personalisation), so every chat starts knowing who you are:

I run [business name], a [trade] business in Calgary. My customers are [who they are, one line].
How I sound: [three words, e.g. plain, friendly, direct]. I say things like "[a phrase you use]" and "[another]".
Never use these words: [words you hate, e.g. "synergy", "game-changer"].
Prices only come from the price list I paste in a chat. Never invent or estimate a price.
Everything you write is a draft for me to check and send. Never present it as final.
If I paste a customer's name, address or phone number, replace it with [customer], [job address] or [phone] and remind me not to paste it.
Canadian spelling. Short sentences. No exclamation marks.

Prompt 1: Quotes

Save this as a note on your phone or as a project in ChatGPT, and fill in the blanks each time.

Write a quote for my customer, in my words.

How I write these:
[paste quote example 1, details removed]
=====
[paste quote example 2]
=====
[paste quote example 3]

My price list (use only these prices):
[paste your price list]

This job:
- What the job is: [ ]
- What I found: [ ]
- Which items from my price list: [ ]
- When we can come: [ ]

Keep the same length and structure as my examples. Use only the prices above. Do not add discounts, guarantees or promises. Mark anything you are unsure of with [CHECK].
Give me one draft, then a short list of what I should check before sending.

Prompt 2: Customer Emails

Write a reply to a customer email, in my words.

How I write these:
[email example 1]
=====
[email example 2]
=====
[email example 3]

What they said (names and details removed):
[paste their message]

What I want to say back:
[two or three plain points, e.g. "yes we can do Thursday, need a deposit, bring the gate code on the day"]

Match the length and tone of my examples. Only say what I listed. Write [customer] where their name goes. Mark anything you are unsure of with [CHECK].
One draft, then anything I should check.

Prompt 3: Review Replies

Replies to reviews are public, and on Google they are part of what people read before they call. They are also where tired owners say things they regret. This prompt keeps them short and calm.

Write a reply to this Google review, in my words.

How I reply to reviews:
[reply example 1]
=====
[reply example 2]
=====
[reply example 3]

The review (reviewer's name removed):
[paste the review]

Rules: under 80 words. Thank them. If it is a complaint, do not argue, do not mention any private details of the job, and offer to talk directly with my phone number written as [phone]. Never offer a refund or discount unless I say so here: [ ]
One draft only.

If your Google profile has old reviews with no reply, this is the fastest way to clear them. It is also one of the first things we look at when getting a business found on Google.

Prompt 4: Social Captions

Write a caption for a post about this, in my words.

Captions I have written before:
[caption example 1]
=====
[caption example 2]
=====
[caption example 3]

The post: [what the photo shows, e.g. "finished basement bathroom, Tuscany, tile we laid this week"]
Platform: [Instagram / Facebook]

Keep it as long as my examples, no more than three hashtags, no emoji unless my examples use them. Never mention the customer or show their address. Mark anything you are unsure of with [CHECK].
Give me two options.

Prompt 5: Meeting Notes And A Follow-Up Email

If you hold meetings on Zoom, there are two routes. Zoom's own Meeting Summary, started by the host, writes a summary inside Zoom on its paid Workplace plans (Zoom's support page lists which ones). Or you can paste a transcript into ChatGPT, which sends the meeting's words to ChatGPT. Either way, only record or transcribe a meeting when everyone on the call knows, and take customer names and sensitive details (money, health, family) out of a transcript before you paste it.

Turn these meeting notes into notes and a follow-up email, in my words.

Follow-up emails I have written after meetings:
[follow-up example 1]
=====
[follow-up example 2]
=====
[follow-up example 3]

The meeting (transcript or Zoom summary, names and private details removed):
[paste it]

Give me two things:
1. Notes: who was on the call by role, what was decided, the actions with who does each and by when, open questions, and any prices or dates mentioned, each marked [CHECK].
2. A follow-up email matching the length and tone of my examples. Only state what was actually said. Never add promises, prices or dates that were not said. If something I need is missing, write [NOT IN MEETING] instead of guessing. Write [customer] where a name goes. End with the next step.

Settings Worth Checking Once

Two settings are worth five minutes before you start. In ChatGPT's settings there is a data controls section where you choose whether your chats can be used to improve OpenAI's models; decide that on purpose rather than by default, and check OpenAI's help centre for what the current options mean. And whichever tool you use, keep your saved prompts in one place you can find on a busy night: a pinned note, or a project inside the tool.

You do not need a paid plan to start. Try the five prompts on the free version for two weeks; if you hit the limits on a busy week, that is the time to look at paying, in your own name.

When It Sounds Wrong

Almost every bad draft has the same fix: paste one more of your own examples and write "more like this". If it keeps adding things you never say, add them to the "never use these words" line in your custom instructions. If it invents a price, your price list was missing that item; add it rather than arguing with the draft.

Where This Comes From

This is the setup we do at an owner's desk in a half day: the five prompts built from your own writing, a privacy sheet in your trade's terms, a one-page guide for a Tuesday night, and a follow-up call two weeks later. It is $500, once. If you would rather try it yourself first, everything above is the real thing.

FAQ