"A prompt template for business tasks that gets usable work first time"
Most disappointing AI output comes from a one-line request carrying none of the context you have in your head. You wouldn't brief a new assistant with "write a reply to this customer", and the same goes for an AI assistant. This five-part template fixes most of it.
The template
- Who it's for and who you are. "I run a two-person candle business. This goes to a wholesale customer."
- Context. Paste what it needs: the customer's message, your price list, last month's numbers. Don't make it guess.
- The task, as one sentence. "Draft a reply offering a 10% discount on orders over 50 units."
- The format. Length, tone, structure. "Under 120 words, friendly but brief, no exclamation marks, end with a question."
- Limits. What it must not do. "Don't promise delivery dates. Don't mention our other stockists."
Before and after
Before: "Write a product description for a lavender candle."
After: "I sell hand-poured soy candles on Etsy to buyers who care about natural materials. Write a product description for an 8 oz lavender and cedar candle in an amber jar, about 45 hours burn time from our own testing. Format: one short paragraph, then a bullet list of what's included, then care instructions. Under 150 words. Don't make health or relaxation claims; just describe the scent."
The second version takes 40 seconds longer to write and saves the three rounds of corrections the first one needs.
Save your templates
Any task you do more than twice deserves a saved prompt with blanks: [customer message], [order size]. That's the single biggest time-saver, and it makes the output consistent from week to week.
Always check these yourself
AI assistants write confidently, including when they're wrong. Before anything leaves your business, check:
- Numbers - prices, dates, quantities, totals.
- Names - people, products, places.
- Promises - anything that commits you to a delivery, refund or result.
- Claims - especially health, safety, legal or financial ones. If in doubt, take it out.
When the output is wrong
Don't start over. Tell it exactly what's wrong ("the second paragraph repeats the first; cut it and add the price"). Specific corrections work far better than "make it better".