Prompts for AI Agents by Industry: 40 Templates for Small Firms

The best prompt for an AI agent names the business, the job, the inputs it can use, the format you want back and the one thing it must not do. This guide gives 40 AI agent prompts, four prompt templates for each of ten industries, written as a cafe owner, a plumber or a landlord would actually say them. Every template ends in a finished thing: a rota, a quote, a review reply, a rent letter or a price list.

Most owners have tried an assistant once, typed "write me a marketing plan", got six paragraphs of fluff and stopped. The ONS found about 28% of UK businesses with up to nine employees used some AI technology in June 2026, and a Federation of Small Businesses survey the same year put the figure at 55% of its members, so somewhere between a quarter and a half of small firms are already paying attention. What separates the ones who got value from the ones who gave up is rarely the tool. It is the brief. Prompts for AI agents work when they read like instructions to a competent new employee who knows nothing about your shop yet, which is almost word for word how Anthropic's own prompting guide describes it.

Below: the six parts every good prompt shares, a table of the weekly job each industry hands over, then 40 templates grouped by trade with the inputs to attach, what comes back, and when to pass the job to a human. The templates run in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Manus and Meta's Muse, and they run end to end in a Jobbit agent, which can also build and host the thing the prompt describes.

The six parts of a prompt that gets work done

The three big labs publish prompting guides for developers. Strip the jargon and they agree on the same shape.

1. Who you are and who the reader is. "I run a 30-cover cafe in Leeds. The reader is a regular customer." Anthropic says a one-sentence role "makes a difference"; OpenAI calls the same thing identity and puts it first.
2. The job, in one sentence. Not "help with marketing" but "write the Tuesday email that fills the quiet 2 pm to 4 pm slot".
3. The inputs. Paste or attach the menu, last month's sales, the complaint, the tenancy agreement. Google's guide is blunt that you should add context rather than assume the model has it.
4. The format. A table, a 90-word email, a numbered checklist, a spreadsheet with named columns. OpenAI's guide says to be explicit about format and constraints; so does Anthropic.
5. The limits. Price floors, tone, words to avoid, the rule that nothing goes out without you reading it.
6. An example. All three guides recommend showing one or more examples of the output you want. Paste your best past quote or your last good review reply.

Save the first and fifth parts once. ChatGPT, Claude and Jobbit all let you store a standing instruction, and our guide to writing prompts for AI agents covers the general method with 30 examples. This guide is the industry layer on top: prompt examples you can paste as they are.

The weekly job by industry

The pattern across all ten rows: the agent drafts, formats and schedules; you sign off; the licensed or liable work stays with a person. The right-hand column is not a disclaimer, it is where a Jobbit agent hands the job to a vetted professional from the network with payment held in escrow, for example a gas engineer to sign off a boiler job the agent scheduled.

Cafes and restaurants

Hospitality is running lean. RSM's October 2026 analysis of ONS figures put sector vacancies at 70,000, down 7% on the year, with average weekly pay falling for the first time in over 30 months. Fewer hands means the owner writes the specials board at 11 pm. These four take that back.

• The specials board. "You write for a 30-cover cafe in Leeds. From the attached stock list and this week's supplier prices, propose three specials that use what we have most of, each under 40 words for the board, with a suggested price that keeps food cost under 30%. Table: dish, price, food cost, the stock it uses up."
• Review replies. "Reply to the attached 12 Google reviews as the owner. Warm, no emoji, under 60 words each. Thank the named staff member when one is mentioned. For the two 1-star reviews, apologise once, state one concrete fix and invite them back by name. Do not offer refunds or free meals."
• Allergen matrix. "From the attached recipes, build the 14 UK allergens matrix as a table, dishes down the side, allergens across the top, Y or N in each cell, and list every ingredient you were unsure about so I can check the labels. Do not guess."
• Next week's rota. "Here is staff availability and the hourly sales pattern for the last four weeks. Draft a rota for next week with two on the floor at the Saturday peak, no one on more than five shifts, and the two students off before 10 pm on school nights. Output a grid, then a list of gaps."

Hair and beauty salons

The NHBF's industry statistics put over 80% of hair and beauty businesses at fewer than five staff, and its 2025 survey found around a fifth operating at a loss. Rebooking is the lever: a client who books their next appointment at the till is worth more than any advert.

• Rebooking texts. "You are the receptionist at a salon in Bristol. From the attached client export, list everyone whose last visit was 6 to 8 weeks ago with no future booking, and write a 160-character text for each, first name only, mentioning their usual service and offering two slots this week. Friendly, no discounts."
• Price list. "Rewrite our price card from the attached list. Group by hair, colour, treatments and beauty, one line per service with a from-price where time varies, a short plain-English note on anything a new client would not understand, and a line about the skin test for colour. A4, no brand names."
• No-show policy. "Draft a one-page late cancellation and no-show policy we can put on the website and send with booking confirmations. 24 hours' notice, a 50% charge for no-shows on bookings over £60, and a plain exception for genuine emergencies. Kind in tone, firm in substance."
• Stylist profiles. "Turn these six bullet points about each stylist into a 60-word profile for the website and a 25-word version for Instagram. Mention their specialism and one human detail. No superlatives."

Trades

The FMB's State of Trade Survey for the second half of 2025, published 31 March 2026 from 493 responses, found 72% of firms affected by a lack of skilled tradespeople and almost half reporting job delays. Admin is the one thing that can be taken off a busy trade without hiring. A survey of 140 tradespeople in June 2026 put quoting, invoicing and chasing at about five hours twenty minutes a week; a small sample, but it matches what owners say.

• The quote. "You quote for a two-person plumbing firm in Kent. From my voice notes and the three site photos, write a quote with labour at £65 an hour plus VAT, materials at cost plus 15%, a line for waste disposal, a 30-day validity and our standard payment terms (50% deposit, balance on completion). Table of lines, then a short covering paragraph the customer can read in a minute."
• The job sheet. "Turn this quote into a job sheet for the engineer: address, access notes, parts to bring with quantities, the steps in order, the sign-off checklist and the photos to take before and after. One page."
• The chaser. "Invoice 0412 for £1,840 is 14 days overdue. Write three emails: a friendly reminder today, a firmer one at 21 days that states the statutory interest at 8% above Bank Rate and the £70 fixed sum we are entitled to add, and a final notice at 30 days. Attach nothing that threatens court; keep the door open."
• The review request. "After each completed job, write the text and email asking for a Google review. Name the job, link to our review page, two sentences, no incentive offered. Give me a version for happy customers and a softer one for jobs that had a snag."

Our guide to chasing an unpaid invoice in the UK has the letters in full, and the free invoice generator produces the invoice itself.

Shops

Footfall is weather and season, which is why the British Retail Consortium's October 2026 monitor was headlined by storms. A shop cannot change the weather, but it can stop rewriting product descriptions by hand.

• Product descriptions. "You write for a gift shop in York selling to women aged 35 to 60. From the attached stock sheet (name, supplier, material, size, price), write a 50-word description for each of these 20 products for our website, plus a 12-word version for the shelf label. British spelling, no 'perfect for', mention the material and where it is made when the sheet says."
• Reorder list. "From the attached sales by product for the last eight weeks and current stock, list what will run out before 20 December at the current rate, with the reorder quantity to cover six weeks and the supplier for each. Flag anything that has not sold in eight weeks as a markdown candidate."
• Window promotion. "Write the copy for a Small Business Saturday window: a headline under eight words, a sub-line under fifteen, and three bullet offers from this list. Then write the matching Instagram caption and the Google Business Profile post. Same offer in all three, nothing we have not listed."
• Supplier email. "Draft an email to our candle supplier asking for a 10% volume discount on the attached order, referencing twelve months of orders at the attached values, polite, two paragraphs, and propose a call next week."

Landlords

The English Private Landlord Survey 2024, published December 2024 from 9,216 landlords, found 45% own a single rental property and 93% let as individuals. The Renters' Rights Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 27 October 2025 and its main tenancy changes, including the end of section 21 notices, take effect from 1 May 2026, so the paperwork of a one-property landlord has changed this year.

• Rent reminder and arrears letters. "Write three letters to a tenant: a courteous reminder two days after rent was due, a second at seven days asking for a call to agree a plan, and a third at fourteen days that is formal and states the arrears to date. Do not mention eviction or legal action in any of them; I will take advice if it reaches that stage."
• Inspection checklist. "From the attached inventory, build a mid-tenancy inspection checklist room by room, with a column for condition, a column for photos taken, and a short list of the things a landlord must check for safety (smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarm where there is a solid-fuel appliance, visible damp). Two pages."
• Repair triage. "Here are this month's seven messages from tenants. Sort them into urgent (safety or no heating or water), within a week, and routine, with a one-line reply to each tenant telling them which category and when to expect someone. Flag any that need a Gas Safe registered engineer or an electrician."
• Tenant welcome pack. "Write a welcome pack for new tenants of a two-bed flat: how to report a repair, bin days, the boiler reset steps from the attached manual, meter locations, and the deposit protection scheme details I will fill in. Plain English, headings, one side if possible."

Possession, deposit disputes and anything a tenant challenges go to a letting solicitor. An agent can prepare the file; it must not be the one giving the advice.

Cleaners

The British Cleaning Council estimates the cleaning, hygiene and waste sector at nearly £72 billion with 78,915 businesses in 2025, most of them tiny. Quoting by room and standardising checklists per site is where a one-van cleaner saves an evening a week.

• Quote by room. "You quote for a domestic cleaning business in Manchester. From this list of rooms and the three photos, estimate time per room using 20 minutes for a bathroom, 25 for a kitchen, 15 for a bedroom and 20 for a living room, add 15 minutes for a first clean, price at £22 an hour, and write the quote as a short email with a table."
• Site checklist. "Build a checklist for the weekly office clean at the attached address: reception, two WCs, kitchenette, 14 desks, two meeting rooms. Tasks in order of route through the building, a tick box each, consumables to check, and a line at the bottom for the cleaner's initials and time."
• Supply order. "From the attached usage for the last month across six sites, work out what to order this month to hold three weeks of stock, in the pack sizes our supplier sells, as a table I can paste into their order form."
• Cancellation reply. "A regular client has cancelled with two hours' notice for the third time. Write a reply that keeps the client, states our 24-hour policy and the 50% charge from next time, and offers to move her slot to a day that suits her better."

Personal trainers

ukactive's 2026 market report counted about 12.2 million gym members across 5,842 clubs, and most of the self-employed trainers inside those clubs run their client admin from a phone. The programme is the product; the messages are the retention.

• Four-week programme. "You are a programme writer for a level 3 personal trainer. Client: 44, desk job, goal is to deadlift bodyweight in 12 weeks, trains twice a week for 45 minutes, previous lower-back strain in 2024 (cleared by a physio). Write weeks 1 to 4 as a table: day, exercise, sets, reps, load guidance, one coaching cue. No exercise that loads the lumbar spine in flexion. Then list what you need from the trainer before writing weeks 5 to 8."
• Check-in messages. "Write a Monday and a Thursday message for each of my eight clients from the attached notes. Monday asks about the weekend and sets the week's focus in one line; Thursday checks the session went in. Under 40 words, their name, no exclamation marks."
• Meal structure. "Build a weekly meal framework for a client who wants to lose 0.5 kg a week, cooks four nights, eats out twice and dislikes fish: breakfast, lunch, dinner and two snacks as portion guides, not calories, with a shopping list. Add the line that this is general guidance and a registered dietitian is the person for medical conditions."
• Lapsed client winback. "Here are five clients who stopped in the last three months and why. Write one personal message each, acknowledging the reason, offering one specific low-commitment restart, no discounts, under 60 words."

Accountants and bookkeepers

A Xero survey of 520 UK accountants and bookkeepers in May 2026 found three in five had moved the time AI saved them into advisory work. The admin that goes first is chasing documents and answering the same client questions each January.

• Document chaser sequence. "For each client in the attached list with a Self Assessment return outstanding, write a three-email sequence: a friendly list of exactly what is missing, a reminder with the 31 January deadline and the £100 late filing penalty, and a final one offering a 15-minute call. Merge fields for name and the missing items."
• Deadline calendar. "Build a 2027 UK compliance calendar for a sole-trader client: Self Assessment payment and filing dates, payments on account, VAT quarters from the attached stagger, and Making Tax Digital quarterly update dates. Table with date, what, who acts, and a reminder date two weeks before each."
• Client FAQ page. "From these 40 client emails, extract the 12 questions asked most, write a plain-English answer to each in under 80 words, and flag any where the answer depends on the client's circumstances so I can add 'ask us' rather than a general answer."
• Month-end pack. "From the attached trial balance and last month's pack, draft the commentary section: revenue against budget, the three largest variances with a one-line likely cause each, cash position and the questions I should put to the client. Numbers only from the file; where you cannot tell the cause, say so."

The line is clear here: an agent drafts the admin and the first pass of analysis. Advice is the accountant's, and the templates say so.

Estate and letting agents

• Listing copy. "You write listings for an independent agent in Sheffield. From the attached details and photos, write a 150-word listing that leads with the two features a buyer in this price band cares about, states the facts (bedrooms, EPC rating, tenure, council tax band) without adjectives, and ends with the viewing line. Then a 30-word portal summary."
• Viewing follow-ups. "After each viewing, write a same-day email to the applicant: thank them, ask two specific questions about their position, and offer a second viewing. Then a one-line WhatsApp version. Nothing about other interest unless I have given you a figure."
• Landlord monthly update. "From the attached rent ledger, maintenance log and three messages, write the monthly update to the landlord: rent received, works done with costs, open issues with next steps, and one recommendation. Under 250 words, headings."
• Vendor feedback summary. "Summarise these nine viewing feedback notes for the vendor: what buyers liked, the two objections that recur, and what it suggests about price or presentation. Neutral tone, no recommendation on price, which I will add."

Gyms and studios

• Class timetable. "From attendance by class for the last 12 weeks and instructor availability, propose next term's timetable: keep every class averaging over 60% full, merge or move the two under 30%, no instructor on more than three classes a day. Grid by day and hour, then the list of changes with the reason for each."
• Lapsed-member winback. "Members in the attached export have not visited in 30 days. Write a three-message series: a check-in text at day 30, an email at day 45 with one class recommendation based on what they used to attend, and a final text at day 60 asking if they want to pause rather than cancel. Human tone, no guilt."
• Induction sheet. "Write a one-page induction for new members: how to book, the six machines most beginners ask about with a one-line safety note each, etiquette, and where to find a coach. Reading age 12."
• Instructor cover request. "Our Tuesday 6 pm spin instructor is off for three weeks. Write the message to the instructor group asking for cover with dates, pay and the class profile, and the message to members if we cannot cover it."

How an AI agent helps beyond the prompt

A chatbot answers the prompt. An agent runs it against your real files, on a schedule, and finishes the job.

• Saves the brief once. On Jobbit, a Project holds your standing instructions, files and secrets, so "you run a cafe in Leeds, never offer refunds" is written once and applies to every chat in that project. ChatGPT Projects, Claude Projects and Gemini's skills (Gems convert to skills from 17 November 2026) do the same inside their apps.
• Runs on a schedule. The Monday rota, the Thursday chasers and the month-end pack can be scheduled tasks that land in your inbox for sign-off.
• Works on the real data. Attach the till export or connect the sheet and the prompt reads real numbers instead of your memory of them.
• Builds the thing, not just the text. "Build a booking page with deposits for the no-show policy above" is a job a Jobbit agent completes and hosts on your domain; our no-shows guide shows the four prompts.
• Hands over when it should. The gas sign-off, the possession notice, the medical question: the agent books a vetted human from the Jobbit network, payment held in escrow, and keeps the paperwork.
• Honest about the gain. Independent surveys put the time saved by workers who use generative AI at about 1 to 2 hours in a 40-hour week, self-reported: a Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis survey in 2026 found 2.2% of hours saved across all workers, and a Danish study of 25,000 workers found 2.8% among users. That is an evening a week, not a new employee. Scheduling and chaining the prompts is how it compounds.

The free plan on Jobbit is 100 credits a day with no card. Go is £7 a month for 2,000 credits and hosting for one small app on your own domain, and Plus at £15 a month is the plan most small businesses pick.

Read next

• How to Write Prompts for AI Agents: 30 Examples That Get Results
• AI for Restaurants and Cafes: 10 Jobs an Agent Does for You, With the Prompt for Each
• First Week With an AI Agent in 2026: A Day-by-Day Plan for a Small Business

Frequently asked questions

What is a good prompt for an AI agent?

One that names who you are and who the reader is, states the job in a sentence, attaches the real inputs, specifies the format, sets the limits and shows an example. The 40 templates above follow that shape. The three main labs' own guides agree on it, in developer language.

Do these prompts work in ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini?

Yes. They are plain instructions, so they run in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Manus and Meta's Muse, and the chatbots will draft the text well. The difference with an agent is that it works on your attached files, runs the prompt on a schedule and can build or host the result.

How do I save a prompt so I do not retype it?

Put the stable part (who you are, tone, what never to do) in a standing instruction and keep the weekly part short. ChatGPT and Claude have Projects with instructions, Gemini's Gems become skills from 17 November 2026, Microsoft 365 Copilot has agents built in Agent Builder, and Jobbit has Projects with instructions, files and scheduled tasks.

Can an AI agent give legal, tax or medical advice for my business?

No, and the templates are written so it does not. It drafts letters, checklists and first-pass analysis for you to check. Possession notices, tax advice, gas and electrical sign-off and anything medical go to a qualified person, which on Jobbit can be a vetted professional from the network.

How much time do AI prompts actually save a small business?

Less than the adverts say and more than nothing. A Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis survey in August 2026 put the hours saved at 2.2% across all US workers, and a Danish study of about 25,000 workers found users reported 2.8%. Roughly an hour or two a week per person, self-reported, which grows when the prompts run on a schedule instead of by hand.

Where do I start if I have never used an AI agent?

Pick the one weekly job from the table that you dislike most, copy its template, attach last week's real file and read the result critically. Start free at Jobbit with 100 credits a day and no card, save the brief in a Project, and schedule it once the output is right.