How do I use AI?
Artificial intelligence has been around for a long time. So has the hype and the fear mongering. Should we be scared? No, but I think it deserves a serious look because there are some incredible benefits too. I am starting a series specifically so that we can get down to what it really was built for, and that is to help us improve efficiency, automate tedious tasks and optimize productivity.
In previous blogs I touched on what AI really is, what types of models are out there, what the risks are and now we are ready to jump into how to use it. I will start with one of my favorite ways to use AI, which is as a business coach for my own business. I also use AI companions for marketing purposes. With that said, I write 100% of my own blogs and a human edits them for me. I don't believe in creating anything that isn't worth our very precious time. What I might do then is drop this into Claude to create a great set of highlights that then gets turned into an info graphic. That graphic might catch the eye of a prospective client who takes the time to read this amazing blog! ;)
Right now, we all have a shortage of time. There is always a war with getting things done for our business and our family lives that are truly the heart of what we do. I know why I get up and do what I do, do you? Let’s start with that as our first exercise. This will help us see what is possible. Go to ChatGPT or your favorite AI companion and type in the following prompt:
“I need you to be my business coach to help me define the big picture for my business, ask me questions one at a time to help me define my business goals and bring clarity to my customers.”
Set a timer, you can go down a rabbit hole with this one, but just for this exercise go into it for a good 5-10 minutes. You can steer it to get an output such as a set of phrases or statements you can hang in your office, or some good thoughts to keep. If you have a paid account, you can keep that chat and go back to it again and again, more on that in the next installment!
When working with AI, it's important to remember what you want out of the exercise. For this blog we will be doing some pretty open ended questions to show you what is possible. However if you need to redo your company's mission statement, you could certainly start with the above prompt and supply the old mission statement for a refresh.
What if you wanted to set an annual budget? You can give it a prompt:
“You are the chief financial officer for my dentist practice. Guide me through creating an annual dental practice budget by asking me one question at a time. I want you to ask for my previous year’s percentages for each major expense category, so I can compare and adjust for this year.
Start by asking about one category, then wait for my response before moving on. After we finish all categories, help me review the totals to make sure they add up to 100%, and suggest benchmarks if my numbers are off:
Here are categories to consider:
Staff salaries and benefits
Rent/Facility costs (utilities, maintenance, etc.)
Dental supplies
Lab fees
Marketing/Advertising
Technology (software, IT, AI tools, etc.)
Insurance (malpractice, liability, etc.)
Continuing education & training
Loan payments/debt service
Miscellaneous/Other
At the end, show me a clean summary of my percentages, calculate the totals, and suggest adjustments compared to industry benchmarks. Ask only one category at a time.”
The first thing to remember before dropping this into an AI companion is that you want to use percentages, please do not drop your financial statements into an AI companion unless you want everyone to know them. See my previous blog if you want a refresher on security:
There are numerous ways you can use an AI companion in your business. It is only regulated by your imagination and your knowledge of your data use and security. I would suggest thinking of where you are spending the most time on your business. Even turning to AI in this process can give you ideas about where your time is spent and where it might be able to help the most. It may suggest a time tracking exercise or other process to help streamline your processes, do research for you, or help you as the decision maker.
Prompts are the lifeline of working with an AI companion. So with that ask your AI companion:
“How do I create effective AI prompts?”
This will help give you a quick overview of how to effectively create a prompt so you can easily work with an AI companion. I always suggest a few things:
Make sure you define what type of persona you want them to take.
Clearly state the problem and the outcome you want to solve.
Make sure you slow it down, requesting it asks you questions one at a time.
I hope you can start to see how this could change your business practices, speed up the decision making process and complete those tasks that seem to take forever. How can we start to help our businesses beyond the streamlining of your own business practices? I believe the biggest bang for your buck will be in helping your employees to learn how to use the tools and the prompts. Maybe you want to hand your front desk this series of blogs or get them connected up with additional training. If your front desk was able to save 5 minutes in each insurance claim or response back to insurance, how much could that affect your daily practice? Insurance companies are 100% where I would send all of my AI generated content, until insurance companies decide to meet us half way, I believe a strongly worded AI letter is completely appropriate!
There is a general learning curve to adopting new technology tools. There are those who are interested in trying and testing things out…we are in the early adopters moving to the standard adopters phase. There is also a curve for your employees as well. Some of your employees may have been using AI tools and apps for the last year or two. Or you may have an office of employees who have never heard of them. Either way, you will need to guide them and help them adopt this new tool if you want to take advantage of the power of AI. Small measurable goals and wins will help keep things moving forward.
Reach out to us to help set up training, to work with us on safe and secure use for everyone.
So what’s next for AI? Let's find out in our next blog!
