The 2-minute AI readiness check

The plan

1. Answer the 10 questions below and add up your points in four areas: customers, marketing, admin and team. It takes about two minutes.
2. Read what your total means, then rank your areas to find your top three wins and the guide to read for each.
3. Use the starter prompt for win #1 this week, then follow the 30-day plan in section 6.

Try this now: the 10-question check

Answer for a normal week, not the week you wish you had. Circle one answer per question and write down its points. A high score doesn't mean you're doing badly. It means there's time to get back.

Print this page or keep a note open beside it.

Customers

1. A call comes in and nobody can pick up. What usually happens?

• Someone always answers, or calls back within the hour: 0
• It goes to voicemail and we call back later that day: 1
• We call back the next day, sometimes not at all, or I honestly don't know: 2

2. A new enquiry arrives by your website, email or social media messages. How fast does it get a real reply?

• Within an hour during working hours: 0
• The same day: 1
• The next day or later, or it depends who's in: 2

3. You send a quote, estimate or booking offer and hear nothing back. What happens next?

• We follow up on a set day, every time: 0
• Sometimes, when someone remembers: 1
• We rarely follow up, or we wait for them to come back: 2

Marketing

4. When did you last ask a happy customer for a Google review?

• It happens after every job or visit, by text or email: 0
• In the last month, by hand: 1
• I can't remember: 2
• We never have, or I don't know where to find the review link: 3

5. How often do you put something new in front of customers (a social post, a newsletter, a website update)?

• Every week: 0
• About once a month: 1
• A few times a year: 2
• Almost never, or our website hasn't changed in over a year: 3

Admin

6. How long do you personally spend on email and messages on a normal day?

• Under 30 minutes: 0
• 30 to 90 minutes: 1
• More than 90 minutes, or it spills into evenings: 2

7. Invoices, bookkeeping and forms. When do they get done?

• A bookkeeper or software handles most of it and I barely touch it: 0
• I do some every week, during working hours: 1
• It piles up and I do it at night or on weekends: 2

8. How do customers get reminded about appointments, bookings or scheduled jobs?

• Our booking tool sends reminders automatically: 0
• We call or text them by hand: 1
• Mostly they don't, and no-shows or "I forgot" happen: 2

If you don't take bookings or schedule jobs at all, score 0.

Team

9. If your most experienced staff member were off for two weeks, could someone else follow written steps for their main jobs?

• Yes, it's written down and up to date: 0
• Some of it is written down: 1
• It's mostly in their head: 2
• It's all in my head, or I work alone and nothing is written down: 3

10. Who in your business uses an AI tool like ChatGPT or Claude today?

• Several of us, with shared rules on what never gets pasted in: 0
• A few people, each in their own way: 1
• Only me, now and then: 2
• Nobody, or I'm not sure: 3

Your score sheet

Customers (questions 1, 2, 3): ___ out of 6
Marketing (questions 4, 5): ___ out of 6
Admin (questions 6, 7, 8): ___ out of 6
Team (questions 9, 10): ___ out of 6

Total: ___ out of 24

My highest area: ___________
My second: ___________
My third: ___________
The question where I scored most points in my highest area: ___

My win #1 is ___. This week I'll do it by hand, ___ times.

Each area is out of 6, so you can compare them straight across. Before you fix anything, count how often the problem actually happens this week: each missed call, each late reply, each quote that went quiet. A tally on paper is fine.

What your total means

Your total is out of 24. It tells you how much of your week goes on jobs a chatbot or a simple automation could take off your plate. It says nothing about how good your business is.

A high total tempts people to change five things in one week. Then none of them sticks. Do less at a time.

If you scored 2 on question 1 or question 2, treat it as urgent, whatever your total. Every other question is about saving your time. These two are about new customers you're losing right now.

Your three wins

1. Rank your four areas from highest to lowest. Your highest area gives you win #1, the second gives win #2 and the third gives win #3.
2. Break ties in this order: customers, admin, marketing, team. Customers goes first because a missed customer is gone for good. An unwritten how-to will still be unwritten next week.
3. Inside each area, pick the question where you scored most points. That's your win for the area. If two questions tie, pick the one that annoys you more.
4. Skip any area where you scored 0 or 1. There isn't enough there to bother with yet. Move to the next area down.

Each question has one win in sections 2 to 5, with a starter prompt, what to check, and whether a chatbot is enough or you'll need something set up. The last column is the guide to read once that win is running.

Read the guide for win #1 first and leave the others until it's running. If you've never opened ChatGPT or Claude, start with the ChatGPT and Claude guide whatever your scores. And if you're curious about tools that carry out tasks rather than just write, AI agents at work covers what to hand over and what to keep.

1. Start here if you've never used AI

AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude are chatbots. A chatbot is a website or phone app where you type a message and it writes an answer back, like texting an assistant who replies in seconds. ChatGPT is made by OpenAI and Claude by Anthropic. Both have free plans, and every starter prompt in this kit works in either. Go to chatgpt.com or claude.ai and sign up with your email.

A prompt is the message you type to it. This kit gives you one ready-made prompt per win. Copy it, change the parts in [square brackets] to your own details, paste it in and send.

Some wins need only a chatbot. Others need a tool that runs by itself. A chatbot writes things: a reply, a template, a checklist. It can't answer your phone or send a text on its own. Anything that happens without you, like a text going out when you miss a call, needs a service set up to do it. Every win below says which kind it is, so you know what you're taking on before you start.

It can be wrong while sounding sure. It may invent an opening time or a price. Read everything before you use it.

Keep private details out. Don't paste customer names, phone numbers, addresses, health details or account numbers. Write "Customer A" instead.

Canadian rules still apply. Canada's anti-spam law (CASL) covers commercial emails and texts, and privacy law covers what you do with customer information. This kit points out where those come up. It isn't legal advice, so check anything you're unsure about with a professional.

Words you'll see

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