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ChatGPT is an AI-powered assistant that can help with writing, planning, analysis, communication, and more. You need to be aware if using the free version that ChatGPT will save and use all your data to train its model. Provided you are using a paid version of ChatGPT, such as ChatGPT Teams, the information you feed in to it will be kept confidential to your business. For many businesses - getting more than US$25 worth of value each month should not be hard.
Whether you're managing emails, writing job ads, or preparing reports, ChatGPT for business can save hours every week.
But most small businesses only use it for basic tasks — like rewriting sentences or summarising text. That’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Below are 10 productivity tips for ChatGPT that every small business should know — but probably doesn’t.
Careful!
The tips below relate directly to ChatGPT paid version. If you use ChatGPT free version, it will save and use all your data.
A lot of the value comes from telling ChatGPT company-confidential or proprietary information, please remember only do this with the paid version.
1. ✅ Want better ChatGPT answers? Give it business context
ChatGPT gives much better responses when it understands your business. Just like you'd brief a new staff member or advisor, explain the essentials:
What your business does
Who you serve
Your key services or products
Your values and tone of voice when speaking to customers, etc
You can prepare this as a short “business summary” and ask ChatGPT to remember it. Then, whenever you say “my business,” it knows exactly what you mean.
Give the same context to all your team using ChatGPT, and it'll help give consistency across everyone.
Example Prompt:
"Please remember the following information about my business [then put in your business summary]"
then : "In relation to my business, please write a warm welcome email for a new client outlining our services."
2. 🗣️ Teach ChatGPT Your Brand Voice
Taking the context point a step further. Upload examples of your existing content — like past newsletters or customer emails — and ask ChatGPT to mirror that tone.
Benefits:
Maintain consistent messaging
Save time on brand-aligned communication
Example Prompt:
"using the attached marketing documents and recent case histories as a reference for content and tone, please produce a draft for this month's newsletter"
3. 🎭 Assign ChatGPT a Role for Better Responses
Improving accuracy is as easy as giving ChatGPT a clear persona.
Example Prompts:
“You are an HR consultant writing policies for my business.”
“Act as a customer service trainer for a retail business.”
4. ✍️ Use It to Create First Drafts, Fast
ChatGPT is excellent for generating fast, workable drafts. You still polish the final product — but you skip the blank page.
Use ChatGPT to draft:
Client proposals
SOPs and internal policies
Social media content
Staff onboarding material
Example Prompt:
"In relation to my business, please draft me a plain English confidentiality/non-disclosure agreement suitable for our use with short term work experience, interns, or contractors. Include reference to the absolute importance of client confidentially."
5. 📎 Upload Files for Instant Summaries and Analysis
If you use ChatGPT Pro (GPT-4o), you can upload files for analysis.
Example Prompts:
“Summarise this sales report into 3 main takeaways.”
“Turn this PDF policy into a plain-English checklist.”
Ask what you really want to know, like this ...
"Review this CV from a job applicant for my business, let me know your thoughts about their potential fit and some smart questions to ask when I interview them."
6. 📋 Ask for Action Plans, Not Just Answers
Make your output more usable by requesting structured responses. This turns insight into impact.
Example Prompts:
“Create a 5-step checklist from this.”
“Summarise this meeting into next actions with owners and deadlines.”
"In relation to my business, and the current marketing plan I am uploading, give me some sensible marketing ideas and a draft new plan"
7. 🧠 Use “Step-by-Step” Prompting for Complex Tasks
Improve accuracy by telling ChatGPT to show its thinking.
Example Prompt:
“Explain your reasoning step-by-step before suggesting which VoIP provider we should choose for our 10-person team.”
8. 📚 Build a Shared Prompt Library for Your Team
Save time across the board by creating a document of useful, reusable prompts.
Example Prompts:
“Write a polite overdue invoice reminder.”
“Summarise a 10-minute voice memo into bullet points.”
“Draft a job ad for an IT support technician.”
9. 🎧 Roleplay Customer Conversations and Scenarios
ChatGPT can help your team practise tricky situations — before they happen.
Example Prompt:
“Pretend you’re an angry customer whose backup failed. Let me practise how to respond professionally.”
10. 🔐 Prioritise Privacy and Accuracy
Even powerful tools have limits. Make sure your team knows:
Never input confidential client or HR data
Always verify key information (pricing, legal, dates)
Use AI to accelerate, not replace, human judgement - in other words be very careful proof-reading and truth-checking before using the beautifully written first-drafts and word-smithed documents your AI presents you with.
=== BONUS Tip ===
11. 🎁 Ask ChatGPT how to use ChatGPT better
Yep, really. It’s the AI equivalent of turning on the GPS and saying, “Okay, where should I go?”
Remember - use it as your intelligent advisor.
Example Prompt:
“In relation to my business, please give us some practical suggestions on how we can benefit more from our investment in ChatGPT Teams. Include both quick wins we can action now and more strategic steps we could take over time to improve how we use it.”
📌 Final Thoughts: Why Every Business Should Use ChatGPT Smarter
If you’re a time-poor business owner or manager, ChatGPT can help you save time, reduce stress, and improve the quality of your communication and planning — when used well.
These tips are designed for real-world SME challenges, and they're already helping GTB clients across Wellington, and throughout the motu.
