ChatGPT and Claude for small business: where to start

Using ChatGPT for small business, or Claude, comes down to one thing: it writes the first draft so you’re not starting from nothing. Emails, review replies, social posts, job listings, menus. You still decide what goes out. It just gets you there faster.

A lot of owners I talk to in El Paso tried it once, got a generic answer, and stopped. Usually the fix is simple: give it more to work with.

What ChatGPT and Claude are good for in a small business

These are the jobs where it pays off first:

1. Replying to reviews. Paste the review, say what actually happened, and ask for a short, friendly reply in your voice. Change a line if you need to and post it.
2. Answering the same questions. Hours, parking, do you deliver, do you take walk ins. Write clear answers once and use them on your website, Google profile and Facebook.
3. Social posts. Give it the details (“Saturday special, gorditas de chicharrón, $2 each, both locations”) and ask for three short versions.
4. Emails and quotes. A follow up to a customer who hasn’t answered, a payment reminder, a quote.
5. Job listings. Describe the job in your own words and have it write a clean listing.
6. English and Spanish. Write it in one language, translate it to the other, and have someone fluent check it.
7. Planning. A week of posts, a checklist for opening day, the steps to start taking orders online.

How to ask so you get a useful answer

A vague question gets a vague answer. Give it four things:

• Who you are: “I run a family restaurant with two locations in El Paso.”
• What you need: “Write a reply to this Google review.”
• The details: paste the review and say what really happened.
• How it should sound: “Short, friendly, not corporate.”

Then ask for changes. “Shorter.” “Less formal.” “Mention that we fixed the wait time.” It works a lot like giving feedback to a new employee.

ChatGPT or Claude?

Both are good, and for these jobs either one works. ChatGPT is the one most people know. Claude, made by Anthropic, is especially good at writing that sounds like a real person and at working with longer documents like contracts or manuals. Try the same task in both and use the one you like better.

What never goes into ChatGPT or Claude

Keep these out, even on a paid plan:

• Customer names together with phone numbers, addresses or birth dates
• Card numbers, bank details, passwords
• Employee pay, health or immigration information
• Contracts, bids, or anything under a confidentiality agreement

Describe the situation instead. “A customer whose order was late twice” works just as well as the customer’s name. If you have employees, put it in writing. Our free AI policy template covers it in one page.

Always read it before it goes out

AI can sound sure of itself and still be wrong. Before anything reaches a customer, check the prices, dates, hours, names and anything it promises on your behalf.

Start this week

1. Pick one task you do every week and don’t enjoy. For most owners it’s review replies or social posts.
2. Do it with ChatGPT or Claude five times, using the four parts above.
3. Save the prompt that worked in a note on your phone and use it again.

Once that one task is easy, add the next one.

Where your website fits

Your website is where a lot of this ends up: hours, menus, services, prices. The problem is that most owners can’t get a hold of their web developer when something needs to change, so the site falls behind. We build sites you own that you can update by asking ChatGPT or Claude, and on our Support plan we make changes within 24 hours. One payment, and the first year of hosting is free. See El Paso web design or check what your current site is costing you.