🔑 Learn prompting, fast

Reading time: 5 minutes

Greetings from above,

I once asked an AI to help with my small business, but it kept wanting examples... talk about not getting the hint!

Look, just last month I was helping a client revamp their customer service system.

They wanted to answer common questions, analyze customer feedback, and create reports - all with AI.

The old way? Write different prompts with specific examples for each task.

Then I showed them this zero-shot trick and they cut their setup time from days to hours.

Today, we'll talk about:

• Business prompts that work without examples

• Step-by-step reasoning for customer insights

• Templates that save small business owners time

Let’s dive in!

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💬 THIS WEEK'S READER QUESTION

This is something most small business owners face every single day.

You want to use AI but you're too busy to become a prompt expert.

You might have customer feedback, sales data, or market research sitting there unused.

What you need are prompts that work right out of the box.

Zero-shot works because modern AIs (like GPT 4o) are trained on billions of examples already.

You don’t have to teach them patterns.

Just ask clearly.

Think: “boss giving orders to a smart intern.”

🚀 HOW ZERO-SHOT COT CAN HELP YOUR BUSINESS:

• Cut analysis time by 75% - get insights from your data in minutes not hours

• Make better decisions from your existing information - see patterns you'd miss

• Scale your customer service instantly - handle more questions with less staff

BUSINESS OWNER PROMPT COLLECTION

🔥 CUSTOMER INSIGHTS & FEEDBACK

1. "Feedback Pattern Analyzer"

Q: Analyze these customer reviews and identify the top 3 issues customers are mentioning: [PASTE YOUR REVIEWS]
A: Let's think step by step.

What it does: Finds hidden patterns in customer feedback

Perfect for: Small business owners who need quick insights from reviews

ChatGPT Output:

2. "Customer Journey Troubleshooter"

Q: Our customers are abandoning carts at the payment page. What could be the possible reasons and solutions?
A: Let's think step by step.

What it does: Identifies potential problems in your sales process

Perfect for: E-commerce owners trying to improve conversion rates

ChatGPT Output:

3. "Market Positioning Analyzer"

Q: My business sells [YOUR PRODUCT] at [YOUR PRICE POINT]. Our main competitors are [COMPETITOR 1] and [COMPETITOR 2]. How should we position ourselves in this market?
A: Let's think step by step.

What it does: Creates a clear market positioning strategy

Perfect for: Small businesses trying to stand out from competition

ChatGPT Output:

🔥 BUSINESS OPERATIONS & STRATEGY

1. "Cash Flow Forecaster"

Q: My business has average monthly sales of $[AMOUNT], fixed costs of $[AMOUNT], and variable costs of about [PERCENTAGE]% of sales. How much working capital do I need for the next 3 months if I expect sales to [INCREASE/DECREASE] by [PERCENTAGE]%?
A: Let's think step by step.

What it does: Builds a simple cash flow projection

Perfect for: Small business owners planning for growth or seasonal changes

ChatGPT Output:

2. "Pricing Strategy Developer"

Q: My product costs $[AMOUNT] to make. The market average price is $[AMOUNT]. My unique selling points are [USP1] and [USP2]. What pricing strategy should I use and what price point would maximize my profits?
A: Let's think step by step.

What it does: Creates a data-backed pricing strategy

Perfect for: Business owners struggling with pricing decisions

ChatGPT Output:

Now, here’s a prompt template I always I use:

Prompt Template for Business Use:

1. You are an expert [ROLE]

2. Task: [What you want]

3. Format: [Bullets, paragraph, JSON, etc.]

4. Constraints: [Tone, word count, avoid X, etc.]

5. Input: [The data or context]

Simple example 👇

You are a growth marketer.

Create an email sequence to re-engage churned users.

Format: 3 short emails

Tone: Friendly + direct

Input: “User hasn’t logged in for 30 days.

🎯 WEEKLY PROMPT CHALLENGE

This week, I challenge you to try this prompt with your own business data:

Q: Based on these sales figures for the last 6 months, what trends do you see and what might they mean for my business strategy? [YOUR SALES DATA]
A: Let's think step by step.

Share your results with me by replying to this email!

The best submission gets featured next week.

🧩 PROMPT TIP OF THE WEEK: BUSINESS DECISION EXTRACTION

When you run a business, you need clear decisions, not just analysis.

Here's how to get both using the two-stage approach:

Stage 1 (Analysis):

Q: Should I expand my product line with [NEW PRODUCT] based on these customer requests and market trends? [YOUR DATA]
A: Let's think step by step.

Stage 2 (Decision):

Q: Should I expand my product line with [NEW PRODUCT] based on these customer requests and market trends? [YOUR DATA]
A: Let's think step by step. [AI REASONING FROM STAGE 1]

Based on this analysis, my recommendation (Yes/No/Wait) is:

This gives you the full reasoning plus a clear recommendation you can act on.

Perfect for busy business owners who need answers fast.

No more wading through paragraphs to find the bottom line.

Dive deeper into zero shot prompting on my Twitter, where I share prompt engineering techniques daily:

✅ SUMMARY

• Zero-shot CoT works for any business decision without needing examples

• Two-stage prompting gives you both analysis and actionable recommendations

• These templates save small business owners hours of prompt engineering

📚 FREE RESOURCES

📦 WRAP UP

What you learned today:

• How to analyze customer feedback in minutes - just add your data and let AI find patterns

• Simple pricing and positioning strategies - get expert-level advice without consultants

• Cash flow and sales projections made easy - predict your business future accurately

You now have a toolkit that turns AI into your business analyst, marketing advisor, and operations consultant.

These aren't just theoretical prompts - they're practical tools that fit into your busy day.

Try just one prompt today on a business question you've been stuck on.

And as always, thanks for being a part of my lovely community,

Keep learning,
🔑 Alex from God of Prompt

P.S. Got a specific business challenge you're trying to solve with AI?

Send it my way for next week's newsletter!