UK business owners say they spend about 11 hours a week on admin, nearly twice the time they spend growing the business, according to the American Express SME Business Barometer. That is the survey figure, not ours, and it will vary from trade to trade. But if it sounds familiar, the five Claude prompts below are for you, plus one secret ingredient that makes every one of them better. Each takes under two minutes, and you can paste them in as they are.
What you need before you start
A free or paid Claude account and a new chat. That is it. These prompts work on text you paste in, so there is nothing to connect or install. Wherever you see square brackets, swap in your own details. The more specific you are, the less you need to edit afterwards.
One habit makes every prompt better: tell Claude who you are and how you sound. Start the chat with a line such as "I run a small plumbing firm in Leeds. I write in a friendly, plain style." Claude will then draft in that voice for the rest of the conversation.
1. Chase a quote you have not heard back on
Most owners know the quote follow-up they keep meaning to send. It feels pushy, so it waits another week. Try this:
Write a friendly two-line follow-up to [customer] about the [job] quote I sent on [date]. Keep it warm, no pressure, and ask if they have any questions. If you are unsure of anything, ask me follow-up questions before you start.
Add the price if you want it in the email. Read it, change anything that does not sound like you, and send it from your own inbox.
2. Answer a new enquiry while you are still first
Speed matters when someone asks for a price. Paste the enquiry in and use this:
Here is an enquiry: [paste it]. Write a reply that thanks them, answers the questions and suggests a call on [two days]. Under 100 words, plain English. If you are unsure of anything, ask me follow-up questions before you start.
Check any figure or availability it mentions against your own diary and price list before you send.
3. Reply to a review, good or bad
Review replies are a classic job that takes ten minutes because you keep rewording it. Paste the review and ask:
Here is a review: [paste it]. Write a short, polite reply in my voice. If it is negative, own the issue and offer to put it right by phone. If you are unsure of anything, ask me follow-up questions before you start.
The same prompt handles both kinds. For a negative review, make sure the reply says only what you are happy to stand behind in public.
4. Describe what you sell, once, properly
Website descriptions and Google Business Profile text tend to get written in a rush. Give Claude the facts and ask for options:
Write a 50-word description of [service or product] for my website. Customers are [who]. Mention [one thing we do better]. No jargon. If you are unsure of anything, ask me follow-up questions before you start.
Ask for three versions and pick your favourite. Then paste the winner into your website and your Google Business Profile so both say the same thing.
5. Turn messy notes into a to-do list
End-of-day notes are usually half-sentences and reminders. Paste them in, typed or dictated, and ask:
Here are my rough notes from today: [paste them]. Turn them into a to-do list, most urgent first, with who needs to do what. If you are unsure of anything, ask me follow-up questions before you start.
It is a small job, but it is the one that stops tomorrow starting with ten minutes of working out where you left off.
The secret ingredient: let Claude ask first
Notice the last sentence on every prompt above: "If you are unsure of anything, ask me follow-up questions before you start." It is the single change that improves our own results most. Without it, Claude fills any gap with a guess, such as a price you never mentioned or a tone you would not use. With it, Claude stops and asks, "What was the quoted price?" or "Do you want to offer a call or an email?" Answer in a line or two and the draft comes back far closer to what you would have written. Add it to the end of every prompt you use, not just these five.
Three ways to get a better first draft
If a draft comes back too generic, these small changes help. First, paste in one real example of something you have written, such as a past email, and say "match this tone". Second, say who is reading: a long-standing customer needs a different reply from a stranger. Third, give a limit, such as "under 80 words" or "no exclamation marks", because Claude will follow it exactly.
What it could give back
Here is some illustrative arithmetic, which is ours and not a survey result. Say each of these five jobs takes you ten minutes less once Claude drafts it for you. Do each one once a week and that is 50 minutes a week. Over 48 working weeks, that is about 40 hours, close to a full working week handed back. Your own numbers will differ, so time yourself on one job this week and see.
For context, another 2026 survey, from the AI automation consultancy HeyBRB, put the figure at about 8 hours a week of repetitive admin for small business owners. That survey had a small sample (167 owners), so treat it as a pointer rather than a benchmark. Between them, the two surveys suggest the time is there to be won back.
One thing to watch
Claude drafts and you decide. Read every output before it goes anywhere, and check names, dates and prices. Leave passwords and card numbers out of what you paste in. If a message includes customers' personal details, the ICO's guidance on AI and data protection is the place to check what you can share.
Where to go from here
Pick the one job on this list you most dislike and try its prompt today. If the first draft is close, save the prompt in a note so you can paste it next time. If it is off, tell Claude what to change ("shorter", "less formal", "mention the 10% deposit") and it will redo it in seconds. Over a few weeks you will build a small personal prompt library, and that is where most of the saving comes from.
Sources: American Express SME Business Barometer coverage, Retail Times; HeyBRB UK Admin Drain Report coverage, Electrical Times.
