AI is quickly becoming one of the most powerful tools available to entrepreneurs. But here’s the truth: the quality of what you get from AI depends almost entirely on what you give it.
At its core, a prompt is simply the set of instructions you give to an AI tool. But a high-level prompt is much more than a quick request — it’s a strategic briefing. When you provide meaningful background, define the expertise you want from the software, clearly explain your unique business situation, and invite clarifying questions, you dramatically improve the quality of the results. Below, you’ll find a practical framework to help you clearly articulate what makes your business unique and make a precise, outcome-driven ask.
The Prompting Process
Say you own a coffee shop and bakery near Charlottesville, Virginia and you want to get AI to give you a list of daily specials for next week. What prompt would you use?
Many users would enter something like:
“I run a bakery in Virginia and want to have specials created for me for next week. Please write a unique special for each day of the week so I can post them on social media.”
This prompt will give you good results; however, it will not give you great results. How could it be better?
We have found that following a 4-step process can materially improve what you get out of the AI tool. Here are the 4 Steps:
1. What are the credentials you want the AI to have?
If money were no constraint, who would you hire to create the specials for next week? To answer the question above, the ideal person would surely understand baking and coffee, but what other skills should they have? One nice thing about AI is that you can instruct it to create the IDEAL person. Don’t hold back!
2. Who are you?
Tell the AI as many relevant things about you business as you can. Who are your customers? What are your products? How are you different from your competitors? What external influences (weather, etc.) impact your business? What are your top sellers? Why do people choose to do business with you?
3. The Ask
Tell the AI exactly what you want it to do. Be super specific.
4. Ask AI how to better use AI
Just like you would do with a consultant who was helping you with your business, ask the AI what else it would like to know that would improve its ability to give you an excellent answer.
So instead of:
“I run a bakery in Virginia and want to have specials created for me for next week. Please write a unique special for each day of the week so I can post them on social media.”
Let’s apply the 4-step process and see how we could get a richer response.
1. What are the credentials you want the AI to have?
“You are a retail expert specializing in bakeries in the Central Virginia region in the United States. You have 20 years’ experience running bakeries in the region and you also are the president of the local Chamber of Commerce and you hold an MBA from Harvard Business School. You are an expert in digital media and marketing and regularly run successful Instagram, Facebook and X marketing campaigns for bakeries. You have a degree in nutrition and often advise bakeries on how they can be aware of any allergies that may cause customers harm. You also have a degree from École Ducasse in Paris and worked as a barista for 5 years.”
2. Who are you?
“I run a bakery in Charlottesville, Virginia. Our website is (link website) and our menu is (link menu). Our customers are typically college educated and between 20 and 65 years of age and 60% of our clients are women. Most of our patrons meet a friend(s) and sit down for a conversation. 72% of our customers order a drink, 48% order a baked good and 22% order a meal. We are located very close to the University of Virginia and students make up 17% of our business during the school year and 9% when students are out of session. 13% of our clients order gluten free products. Our closest competitors are (insert competitor A’s website) and (insert competitor B’s website). Our highest margin items are coffee drinks and we frequently use them as an incentive in specials. During the week, customers are more likely to order a pastry and coffee while most customers on the weekend have a full meal (brunch). During the week, our average order size is $9.01 and on the weekend it is $14.23.”
3. The Ask
“We are interested in running daily specials each day next week. The goal of the specials during the week should be to incentivize a “coffee only” customer to also buy a baked good item and for weekend customers, the special should feature a menu item we do not usually offer and should not be discounted. Can you give me some ideas on what may appeal to people each day? Please consider market trends and projected local weather as many people are drawn to iced coffee when daily temperature is 70 degrees Fahrenheit or more. Specials should not total over $18 and all should include something from the drink menu. I also would like a social media post for each special. Please write a version of each special designed for Instagram and another for Facebook. Include hashtags.”
4. Ask AI how to better use AI
“What else would you like to ask me before you answer? Please keep asking me questions until you feel like you have enough information to give me your most informed answer.”
See how the second version could be far more effective? The AI will ask you several rounds of questions and then give you are far better result than you would get out of the original. You have now leveled up!
Happy prompting! If you would like to meet with one of our expert business advisors to discuss how you can use AI to streamline your business operations, you can fill out our intake form to request a meeting here.