5 AI Quick Wins Any Business Can Implement This Week
Not everything about AI requires a strategy, a budget, or a consultant. Some things you can do today — right now — that will save you time and produce better results immediately.
This article is for business owners and marketing professionals who haven’t fully embraced AI yet and want to start with something practical, not theoretical. No frameworks, no implementation plans, no jargon. Just five things that work.
Each one takes under 30 minutes to set up and will save you hours every week.
If you’ve already implemented these and want the bigger picture, read our full AI for business guide and our AI strategy guide.
Quick Win 1: Email Drafting (Save 5+ Hours/Week)
The problem: You spend ages crafting emails — client responses, follow-ups, proposals, internal updates. Each one takes 10-20 minutes because you’re staring at a blank screen trying to find the right words.
The fix: Use AI to draft your emails. Not send them — draft them.
How to do it right now:
Open ChatGPT or Claude (free tiers work fine for this). Paste this:
I need to write an email to [who] about [what].
The tone should be [professional/casual/warm/direct].
Key points to include:
- [point 1]
- [point 2]
- [point 3]
Keep it under [number] words.Example: “I need to write an email to a client who’s unhappy with the delay on their project. The tone should be professional and empathetic. Key points: acknowledge the delay, explain the cause (supplier issue), provide a revised timeline, offer a gesture of goodwill. Keep it under 200 words.”
Time saved: What would take 15-20 minutes of writing and rewriting takes 2 minutes to prompt and 3 minutes to review and personalise. Over a week, if you write 20+ emails, that’s easily 5 hours saved.
Pro tip: Save prompts for your most common email types. Follow-ups, proposals, complaints, introductions — build a small library and reuse. That’s the basis of the GOTCHA framework.
Quick Win 2: Meeting Notes and Action Items (Save 2+ Hours/Week)
The problem: You leave meetings with vague notes, unclear action items, and a nagging feeling you’ve forgotten something important. Or worse — nobody takes notes at all.
The fix: Record your meetings (with consent) and use AI to generate structured notes.
How to set this up today:
Option A (Free): Record the meeting on your phone or laptop. Upload the audio to ChatGPT (voice mode) or Claude and ask: “Summarise this meeting. List key decisions, action items with owners, and any unresolved questions.”
Option B (Better): Use Otter.ai (free tier available) or Microsoft Teams transcription. It records, transcribes, and summarises automatically.
What you get:
Instead of scattered handwritten notes:
Meeting Summary: Client project kickoff - 7 Feb 2026
Key Decisions:
- Phase 1 launches March 15 (not March 1 as originally planned)
- Budget approved for additional design work (£2,500)
- Monthly reviews instead of fortnightly
Action Items:
1. [You] Send revised timeline by Friday
2. [Client] Provide brand guidelines by 14 Feb
3. [Designer] First mockups due 21 Feb
Open Questions:
- Photography: use stock or commission a shoot? (Decision needed by Feb 21)Time saved: 30-60 minutes per meeting in note-writing and follow-up emails. Two meetings a day? That’s hours saved weekly.
Quick Win 3: Social Media Content Batch (Save 3+ Hours/Week)
The problem: Social media is a constant drain. Every day you think “I should post something” and either spend 30 minutes crafting a post or, more commonly, don’t post at all.
The fix: Batch-create a week’s social media content in 30 minutes using AI.
How to do it right now:
Create 5 LinkedIn posts for [business type/industry] this week.
Topics:
1. [Topic related to your service]
2. [Industry trend or news]
3. [Practical tip for your audience]
4. [Lesson from your experience]
5. [Question to drive engagement]
For each post:
- 100-150 words
- Professional but conversational tone
- End with a question or call to action
- UK English
- No more than 3 hashtagsThen: Review each post, add your personal touch (a specific anecdote, a real example), and schedule them using LinkedIn’s built-in scheduler or a tool like Buffer.
Time saved: Instead of 30 minutes daily (2.5 hours/week) of trying to think of something to post, you spend 30 minutes once and you’re done for the week. Quality is higher because you’re thinking about content strategically rather than scrambling daily.
Level up: For more detail on making social media actually work for B2B, read our B2B social media strategy guide.
Quick Win 4: Proposal and Quote Templates (Save 3+ Hours/Week)
The problem: Every proposal or quote starts from scratch. You copy-paste from old ones, change the details, and inevitably miss something. It takes 1-2 hours per proposal.
The fix: Use AI to generate tailored proposal drafts from a template.
How to set it up:
First, give AI your ideal proposal structure:
I'm a [your role] at [your company]. We provide [services].
Here's our standard proposal structure:
1. Executive summary (what we understand about their needs)
2. Proposed approach (how we'd solve their problem)
3. Deliverables and timeline
4. Investment (our pricing structure)
5. About us (why we're the right fit)
6. Next steps
Now write a proposal for this specific client:
- Client: [name and company]
- Their need: [what they want]
- Our recommended approach: [brief outline]
- Budget range: [£X-£Y]
- Timeline: [duration]What you get: A 70-80% complete proposal draft in 3 minutes. You spend 20-30 minutes adding specific details, adjusting the tone, and ensuring accuracy.
Time saved: Proposals that took 1-2 hours now take 30-40 minutes. If you write 3-5 proposals per week, that’s 3-7 hours saved.
Important: Always review proposals carefully. AI doesn’t know your specific capabilities, limitations, or the nuances of each client relationship. The draft gets you most of the way there; your expertise finishes the job.
Quick Win 5: Competitor and Market Research (Save 2+ Hours per Task)
The problem: Before pitching a client, launching a campaign, or entering a new market, you need research. Normally that means hours of Googling, reading competitor websites, and trying to synthesise what you’ve found.
The fix: Use AI to structure and accelerate your research.
How to do it:
I need a competitive analysis for [your service] in [your market/location].
Research these competitors: [list 3-5 competitor names]
For each, analyse:
- Their core service offerings
- Their pricing (if publicly available)
- Their main marketing channels
- Their messaging and positioning
- Strengths and weaknesses
Then summarise:
- Market gaps we could exploit
- Differentiators we should emphasise
- Threats to be aware ofImportant caveat: AI’s knowledge has limitations. For competitor research, combine AI analysis with your own browsing of their actual websites and social media. AI gives you the structure and starting point; you fill in the current details.
Time saved: What would take 3-4 hours of manual research takes 30-60 minutes of AI-assisted research plus your own verification.
Level up: Turn this into a regular practice. Quarterly competitor reviews keep you sharp. Monthly market trend summaries keep you ahead.
Making These Stick
The biggest risk with AI quick wins is doing them once and forgetting. Here’s how to make them habits:
- Save your prompts. Create a Google Doc or Notion page called “My AI Prompts.” Every time a prompt works well, save it.
- Block time. Schedule 30 minutes on Monday morning for social media batch creation. Schedule 15 minutes before each meeting to set up recording. Build AI into your routine.
- Track time saved. For the first week, note how long tasks took with AI vs. without. The data will motivate you to keep going.
- Share with your team. When something works, show a colleague. Quick wins spread fast when people see real results.
Beyond Quick Wins
These five implementations will save you 10-15 hours per week and cost nothing (or close to it). That’s the starting point.
When you’re ready to go further — building comprehensive AI workflows, creating structured prompt libraries, automating entire processes — that’s where an AI strategy and the GOTCHA framework come in.
But start here. Start today. The best AI implementation is the one you actually do.
Want to Go Beyond Quick Wins?
These five quick wins are just the beginning. At Black Sheep Marketing, our ATLAS framework takes you from ad-hoc AI usage to a structured system that transforms your business operations.
If you’ve tried the quick wins and you’re thinking “there must be more we can do” — there is. A lot more.
Book a Free ATLAS Consultation →
