Stop Feeling Overwhelmed. Start Prompting.
As a Small Business Owner, your to-do list is already long enough.
You know you need to improve things like profit and efficiency, but where do you start? Scrolling through lengthy articles or expensive courses takes time you simply don’t have.
This is where Artificial Intelligence (AI) becomes your fast, free, and simple business partner.
You don’t need to be a tech guru or a management consultant to use it. You just need to know how to ask the right question – what we call a “good prompt.”
As a case study, let’s look at one of the most critical numbers in your business: Gross Margin (the money left after paying for the goods/services you sell). Improving this is one of the quickest ways to boost your overall profit. Yellow Belt
The Owner’s Secret Weapon: The Smart, Simple Prompt
A good prompt is like a set of clear instructions for a smart intern. It tells the AI:
Who you are (Your role/business context).
What you want (The specific business problem and the routine).
How you want the answer (The format: short, few ideas, simple language).
Our Yellow Belt Owner Prompting Template
Use this simple template to make sure your AI answers are quick and useful:
“I am a small business owner who is new to management. My business is a [Your Type of Business, e.g., local bakery, plumbing service, online retailer]. Give me only 3 high-impact, easy-to-start strategies to improve my [Specific Business Topic, e.g., Gross Margin]. Please explain each idea simply, using non-financial terms, so I can act immediately. Also, describe a periodic routine I can use to monitor this aspect of my business in future.”
See how it passes the 3 requirements above.
You can always add detail to the prompt to improve the response if you wish.
Why Monitoring Routines are Critical (They Save You Time!)
You will notice in the prompt above, that we ask for a monitoring routine as part of the prompt.
Making a change to your business, like raising a price, is a 4 step process;
- research how to make the change
- make the change
- next, and often forgotten, – checking that the change actually worked
- installing a monitoring system to alert you to potential problems in this area before they actually arise next time.
Einstein said “the definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome”
For Owners, establishing a ‘standard monitoring routine’—a set of scheduled, simple steps—is essential because:
Saves Time: You look at the data only when the routine calls for it (e.g., once a quarter), instead of constantly worrying.
Keeps You on Track: It turns management from a daily panic into a scheduled review, like a quarterly tax check.
Confirms Results: You know quickly whether your efforts paid off, telling you to keep the change or try something new.
Learn more on making Routines work for you;
- Get an Introduction to the Value of Routines in 12Faces
- See our list of prefab Routines to make monitoring much easier
Case Study: Boosting Gross Margin with 3 Simple Ideas and a Routine
Let’s see what the AI delivers when you use this template to focus on Gross Margin. Gross Margin is a measure of profitability that relates your production costs to your revenue so you can see when profit is being impacted by rising costs.
The Prompt in Action
Imagine you run a small custom furniture workshop. Your prompt could be:
“I am a small business owner who is new to management. My business is a custom furniture workshop. Give me only 3 high-impact, easy-to-start strategies to improve my Gross Margin. Please explain each idea simply, using non-financial terms, so I can act immediately. Also, describe a periodic routine I can use to monitor this aspect of my business in future.”
The AI’s High-Value Response
The AI will return focused, actionable steps and a structured review.
Part 1: Your 3 High-Impact Strategies
| AI Strategy | Simple Explanation (What to Do) | Why it Works (High-Impact) |
| 1. Focus on Your “Cash Cow” Products | Look at your sales over the last 3 months. Find the items (or services) that sell well AND use the least expensive materials/time. Push those items more on your website and social media. | You spend less to make or deliver these, so every sale leaves you with a bigger profit slice. |
| 2. Negotiate Supplier Discounts | Call your top 2-3 material suppliers. Ask if you can get a better price by committing to a larger order once a quarter instead of several small orders. Ask about “early payment” discounts. | Lowering your Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) directly increases your Gross Margin without you having to raise your prices. |
| 3. Gentle Price Increase on Top Sellers | Choose your three most popular products. Raise their price by a small percentage (e.g., 5-10%). Track sales for 30 days. Most customers won’t notice or stop buying. | Because these items are already popular, a small price increase on high-volume products creates a significant and quick bump to your overall margin. |
Part 2: Your Periodic Monitoring Routine
Recommended Routine: Quarterly Gross Margin Review
Date it: Schedule 1 hour in your calendar every 90 days (e.g., the first Monday of January, April, July, October).
Pull the Number: Ask your bookkeeper or look at your financial reports for the last 90 days. Find your business’s overall Gross Margin Percentage. (Example: \$40,000 in revenue minus \$20,000 in COGS = \$20,000 Gross Profit. \$20,000 / \$40,000 = 50% Gross Margin).
- Compare: Write the new number next to the number from the previous quarter.
- Decide: Is the number up? Great, keep doing what you’re doing. Is it down? Then it’s time to use the AI prompt again to diagnose the problem.
AI Reality Check: 4 Questions to Ask Before Acting
The AI gave you 3 great ideas, but remember: The AI doesn’t know your business, your customers, or your city. It can sometimes suggest things that sound good in theory but are terrible in reality.
Before you implement any of the AI’s suggestions, run it through these four simple reality checks:
1. The “Can I Afford the Change?” Check (Money & Time)
The AI Suggestion: “Implement a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system to track costs precisely.”
The Reality Check: Do you have $5,000 to buy and install that system? Do you have 80 hours free next month to learn how to use it?
Owner Action: If the AI advice requires a huge upfront cost (money or time), it fails the Owner’s test. Re-prompt the AI and add the constraint: “Give me strategies that cost less than $100 and take less than 5 hours to implement.”
2. The “Will My Customer Hate This?” Check (Market Fit)
The AI Suggestion: “Switch to a cheaper grade of flour to lower your Gross Margin in your bakery.”
The Reality Check: You are a premium, high-quality bakery known for the taste of your bread. Will switching to cheap ingredients ruin your reputation, lead to bad reviews, and cause your best customers to walk away?
Owners Action: If an idea reduces quality or breaks the promise you make to your customers, don’t do it. Your reputation is harder to rebuild than your margin is to increase.
3. The “Is This Legal/Practical?” Check (Logistics & Rules)
The AI Suggestion: “Offer deep, unlimited discounts to customers who refer new business.”
The Reality Check: If you offer an unlimited 50% discount for every referral, will you quickly go bankrupt? If you run a healthcare business, does the AI’s marketing idea violate local privacy laws (HIPAA, etc.)?
owner Action: Always check advice against local laws, financial capacity, and industry regulations. AI suggestions are generic; your business must operate within real-world constraints. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
4. The “Does This Conflict with other Goals?” Check (Goal Alignment)
The AI Suggestion: “Cut your marketing budget completely to immediately save money and boost short-term profit.”
The Reality Check: Your main business goal this year is Growth (increasing your customer base by 20%). Will cutting your entire marketing budget prevent you from reaching your growth goal? (Hint: it sure will)
Owner Action: Improving one area (like Gross Margin) should not actively sabotage a more important goal (like long-term growth or customer happiness). Always evaluate a suggestion through the lens of your top 1-2 business priorities for the current 90-day period.
The Tools You Need: Where to Ask Your Smart Questions
You don’t need expensive software to start prompting. Most of the powerful tools you need are free or very low-cost to start.
1. Your Custom-Built Research Assistant: The 12Faces Tool
The best place to start is often a tool specifically built for Small Business Owners and the planning methods you rely on.
If you are using the planning approach focused on 90-day GamePlans and setting standard monitoring prefab routines, check out the 12Faces Business Search tool.
12Faces Search: This tool is designed to work with the core concepts of small business management- providing focused, bite-sized, and management-ready advice without the fluff. It helps you get from a simple question to an actionable routine or task faster.
Where to find it: 12faces Search tool
2. General Purpose AI tools
For general advice, writing, and idea generation, you can use any of the major large language models (LLMs). These are the powerful engines that process your prompts.
Gemini (by Google): Excellent for integrating with your existing Google ecosystem and great for summarizing complex topics or drafting ideas based on current web information.
ChatGPT (by OpenAI): The widely known tool, highly versatile and great for drafting text
Microsoft Copilot: Integrated into the Windows and Microsoft 365 environment, making it a handy go-to if you already use Microsoft Office tools.
Remember: No matter which tool you choose, the quality of your output always depends on the quality of your prompt! Keep it simple, specific, and include those four Reality Checks before you act.
Your Next Steps: From Prompt to Profit
Pick One Action: Look at the three strategies and choose the single one that seems easiest for you to implement today or this week.
Schedule the Routine: Put your first Quarterly Gross Margin Review in your calendar right now.
Use Your Systems: If you use email to contact customers, your next prompt could be: “Write me a short, simple email sequence for my customers introducing my high-margin ‘Cash Cow’ product. Focus on the value to the customer.”
Stop letting complexity hold you back. Use a simple, specific prompt, get a few high-value actions, and implement your new monitoring routine to ensure long-term success.
This article was provided by Scott Williams AO FAIDC. It describes the way best practice in many management areas has been brought together in the 12Faces GamePlan System. The Goal is to provide an easy to use and repeatable “flywheel” to improve small business owners’ outcomes. Scott is the Founder of NFP small business support services 12Faces and MentorSME and has a Philanthropic Foundation supporting students in education. Scott’s business Petals Network was National Small Business of the Year and 4 times in the Top 100 Fastest Growing Australian Businesses LinkedIn