Three prompts to start using AI today

Someone asks me every day how to use AI day to day. My answer is always the same: start small. Start today. Don't wait for the course, the right tool or the big project. Pick a task you already do, open the AI you already have on your phone and test it.

I've pulled together three prompts I use myself. This isn't theory. It's copy, paste and adapt. Each one solves a problem that shows up in the routine of anyone running a sales operation, and all three work in Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini.

1. Reply to a difficult customer (without losing your tone)

The customer sent a sharp WhatsApp message complaining about a slow reply, or questioning the price, or threatening to walk away. You know what you need to say, but you're annoyed and the first draft you write comes out defensive. This prompt fixes that.

Copy it and fill in the brackets:

You are my customer communications editor. Below I'll paste the message I received from a customer and my draft reply. Rewrite my reply keeping what I want to say, but with these rules: firm and courteous tone, no apologizing more than once, no over-explaining, acknowledging the customer's point in the first sentence and ending with a concrete next step (a time, a delivery, a call). Five sentences maximum. After the rewritten version, tell me in one line what you changed and why. Customer message: [paste here]. My draft: [paste here].

The result is a reply you can send, plus a short explanation that improves your writing over time.

2. Organize your week in 5 minutes

Monday morning, your to-do list is in three different places: notebook, email and your head. Instead of organizing by hand, dump everything into the AI and ask it to structure it.

Below I'll list, in no particular order, everything I need to do or resolve this week. Organize it into three groups: what only I can do, what I can delegate and what can wait until next week. Within each group, order by impact on this month's sales results. For the "only I can do" group, suggest which day of the week each item should happen, considering that I have fixed meetings on [days and times]. Be direct, no introduction, don't explain the method. My list: [paste here].

Five minutes later you have an organized week and, most importantly, a clear list of what shouldn't be on your plate.

3. Stress-test a decision before you make it

This is my favorite. A skeptical advisor available 24 hours a day changes how you decide. Before switching agencies, changing the lead routing rule or restructuring the team, I run the decision through this prompt.

I'm going to describe a decision I'm about to make. Your role is to be the most skeptical person at the table, not the friendliest. Don't praise the idea. Start by pointing out the biggest risk I'm ignoring. Then ask me the three questions I should be able to answer before moving forward. Next, describe the scenario in which this decision goes wrong six months from now and what I would have failed to see today. Finally, tell me what you would do in my place, in one sentence. If information is missing to evaluate it, ask instead of assuming. The decision: [describe here, with context, numbers and timeline].

The answers aren't always right. But they force you to think about what you were avoiding thinking about, and that's worth more than a confirmation.

Useful means it fits your style

AI doesn't have to be complicated. It has to be useful. And useful is what fits your way of working, not the other way around. If one of these prompts doesn't sound like you, change the tone, swap the rules, add what's missing. The prompt is a starting point, not a recipe.

Which of the three will you test today?

And when you want to take this logic to the whole operation, with an agent handling leads and logging them in the CRM, the diagnostic is the first step.