Compound Leverage

Issue #015

Last week, I met with a small business owner who shared her team's big challenge. They spend too much time doing manual tasks because their CRM needs to do what they need.

She wondered whether AI could make things better.

Her company spends $400 a month on a CRM subscription and $6K weekly in staffing costs related to manual tasks. The CRM does not do well.

I told her how AI, the THINK method, and better data management could centralize their data, allowing them to focus on higher-value work instead of spending hours on Excel sheets.

Let’s walk through how she eliminates her $400 a-month CRM subscription and $6K weekly for manual tasks from staffing costs.

Here's a five-step process to do it with ChatGPT.

1. Prepare Your Audit: Tell the ChatGPT about your current setup. What CRM do you use? How many Excel tasks do you do? Also, provide your licensing and staffing costs. The more details you provide, the better the AI can help.

2. Map Data and Workflow: Ask ChatGPT questions about your data and workflow for the business process.

3. Choose a Central Data Hub: Ask ChatGPT to recommend a data storage hub.

4. AI Automation: Ask ChatGPT what types of AI automation or agents you can create to eliminate manual tasks and software subscription costs.

5. Review the Results: After ChatGPT finishes, you'll receive a plan for your new, streamlined system. You can review this plan and decide how to implement it.

Let's walk through the steps to eliminating software subscriptions with AI and the THINK method.

Step 1: Prepare Your Audit

Goal: Get a clear picture of current tools, costs, and time spent on tasks.

Example prompt: "I use a CRM that costs $400/month, and my team spends 20 hours weekly on manual tasks, costing about $6K in labor. Can you help me break down what information you need to audit my current setup and identify inefficiencies?"

If you need help with what to write, feel free to ask ChatGPT to interview you. It can ask follow-up questions to get more details about your setup.

Step 2: Map Data and Workflow

Goal: Understand how data moves through the business and identify bottlenecks.

Example prompt: "Based on my setup, can you ask me a series of questions to map out how data flows through my business? Focus on customer data, sales information, and reporting processes."

Ask ChatGPT to request documents you could upload for better insights.

Step 3: Choose a Central Data Hub

Goal: Find a suitable platform to centralize data and replace inefficient tools.

Example prompt: "Given my current setup and needs, what are some options for a central data hub that could replace my CRM and Excel sheets? Consider factors like cost, scalability, complexity, speed of implementation, and ease of use."

Ask ChatGPT to request documents you could upload for better insights.

Step 4: AI Automation

Goal: Identify opportunities for AI to automate manual tasks.

Example prompt: "Based on the manual tasks I described, what types of AI agents or automation could I implement to reduce workload? Please provide specific examples of how they would work in my business."

Tell ChatGPT your automation requirements or constraints. Consider cost, complexity, skill level, etc. Then, have it give you three options and score each based on the criteria you define.

Step 5: Review the Results

Goal: Get a clear implementation plan and projected outcomes.

Example prompt: "Can you create a week-by-week implementation plan for the new system you've suggested? Include expected outcomes regarding cost savings, time saved, and improved productivity."

Now, ChatGPT is your software subscription expert and has given you a plan to eliminate licensing and manual task costs.

This is just one of many ways you can use AI double smarter.

Marvin