AI & ChatGPT for Consultants: Using AI Tools to Grow Your Firm
Nov 05, 2023
Estimated time to read: 15 minutes
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Table of contents
- How is AI changing the consulting industry?
- 5 ways to leverage Generative AI for growing your consulting business
- Best AI tools for consultants to attract more clients and save hours each week
- 5 ChatGPT prompts for consultants to start using AI in your business today
- The hidden challenges of integrating generative AI into your consulting and business owner workflows
- Get the help you need to adapt to new trends and optimize your consulting business for growth
Who is this guide for
If you’re a consultant looking to make your business operate more efficiently and to uplevel what you offer your clients, this article is for you.
Let’s kick this off with a personal story.
I recently realized my list of daily and weekly tasks had become heavier with administrative and back office-type tasks. It was a red alert for me to stop and rethink the way I’m running my business.
So, I posted a job description for an executive assistant.
As I was reviewing applications, a surprising response to the job came across my desk. The person bluntly said “You can automate at least half of the work you’ve included in this job description. Assuming you do that, you may need a different type of assistant that you’ve posted here.”
I was taken aback. I consider myself a “techie” at heart and I love testing out new software and tools. At first, I blew off his advice, thinking he wasn’t familiar with my business and how high-touch it is.
But, his response continued to nag at me. So, I set up a meeting with him, and we went through the job description line-by-line. He explained which tasks he thought could be automated, and we discussed the pros, cons, and limitations.
I realized he was right. I could automate a lot of the processes I had included in the job description. I had been avoiding these automations for two reasons - (1) I figured the tasks didn’t happen that often, so it wasn’t a big problem to do them manually, and (2) I didn’t realize the breadth of automation options that are available (and growing by the day).
So, I’ve been diving further into Artificial Intelligence (AI) and AI-powered tools to help independent consultants differentiate themselves in the market.
How is AI changing the consulting industry?
AI is rapidly changing the consulting industry in many ways.
AI is leveling out the playing field for independent consultants, making it easier for them to compete with boutique consultancies and well-known consulting firms. How? Access to data (e.g. through open-source LLMs) and robust analytics are becoming much more widespread, opening the door for solo consultants to provide more complex and sophisticated strategies and solutions to their clients.
AI-powered tools are helping consultants fill in the gaps in their underdeveloped skills, such as marketing and selling their services. Consultants can leverage AI-powered tools to refine and advance their marketing messages in a way that traditionally has only been done by marketing agencies and skilled marketing professionals.
And, finally, AI-powered tools help consultants run their businesses more efficiently so they’re not wasting their time on administrative tasks and allowing them to focus more on core business activities.
5 ways to leverage Generative AI for growing your consulting business
There’s a range of AI-powered and AI-enabled solutions available to independent consultancies.
My recommendation is to search for "AI-powered tools that...". Fill in the blank with what you want to accomplish and you’ll be surprised at how many solutions will pop up in your search.
It seems the saying “there’s an app for that” is taking on a whole new meaning. I just searched “there’s AI for that” and an aggregator website of AI tools popped up.
Caveat: it can be argued that some of these tools referenced in this article aren’t technically AI-driven. I acknowledge that.
The point isn’t whether something is truly AI-driven or not. The point with the list below is that there is a wide range of tools available to help consultants automate running their businesses and improve what they deliver for their clients. I want to make sure you have considered the wide range as you consistently look for ways to run your business more efficiently and effectively.
1. Using AI as your personal assistant
Generative AI can transform the way you run your consulting business by (partially) automating time-consuming tasks like scheduling, email management, and task prioritization. These tools act as a personal assistant, helping you streamline operations and focus on delivering value to your clients.
Here are a couple of examples, to bring this to life for you:
- For example, you can set up a Calendly calendar to make it easier to schedule networking calls.
- For example, a consultant implemented a custom GPT, trained it with her past content and deliverables, and then had her virtual assistant use it to draft content, create documents, and conduct research more efficiently. The combination of human and AI-powered support enabled the consultant to scale her operations without compromising on quality or time.
These examples demonstrate how using AI as a personal assistant—or to equip your virtual assistant—can free up your time, reduce stress, and improve both client relationships and business outcomes.
2. Implementing AI tools to automate your consulting business's repetitive tasks
Generative AI tools offer an efficient way to automate repetitive, routine operations, giving you back hours each week and reducing mental fatigue.
- For example, a consultant leveraged Fathom.video to auto-generate meeting notes, summarize action items, and build inputs for executive updates.
- Another consultant streamlined their bookkeeping by implementing the lettuce.co software, allowing them to have all their transactions captured, categorized, and ready for tax preparation.
By automating repetitive tasks, you can build a more efficient, scalable business while maintaining the high standards your clients expect.
3. Leveraging AI tools to uplevel your marketing game
Generative AI tools can help you streamline your marketing efforts, giving you a head start on tasks such as drafting emails and thought leadership.
- For instance, a consultant looking to expand their online presence used Claude.ai to create consistent, professional blog posts and LinkedIn updates. This helped them showcase their expertise and engage with a broader audience without spending hours writing each piece.
- Another consultant used ScoreApp (affiliate link), an AI-powered assessment tool, to capture leads during a speaking engagement. By inviting attendees to complete a related assessment, they provided immediate value while collecting contact information for follow-ups. This approach not only engaged the audience but also helped convert attendees into warm leads for follow-up conversations.
4. Leveraging AI tools to improve your client deliverables
Generative AI tools can enhance your client deliverables by improving efficiency, accuracy, and presentation quality.
- For example, a consultant used ChatGPT to draft in-depth analysis and insights for client reports. By generating structured outlines and detailed recommendations, they streamlined their workflow and focused more time on refining the strategic aspects of their deliverables.
- Another consultant leveraged Miro, an AI-powered diagramming tool, to create professional diagrams and process flows for their clients. This helped visualize complex concepts and processes, making them easier for clients to understand and implement.
AI can also assist in drafting proposals, creating slide decks, and conducting research, enabling you to deliver polished, professional results faster. By integrating these tools into your workflow, you can enhance the value of your work while focusing on strategic, high-impact activities for your clients.
5. Adding AI-related solutions to your consulting offers
Adding AI to your consulting service portfolio will help you stand out in the consulting industry. You can do this by identifying opportunities to help your clients leverage AI solutions in their operations, and then focusing on these solutions as part of your consulting brand, your thought leadership, and ultimately as a cornerstone in the solutions you propose to your clients.
Many clients are seeking guidance on how to integrate AI into their businesses. By incorporating AI-related solutions into your consulting offers, you can stay ahead of the curve and deliver even more value to your clients.
- For example, a consultant specializing in operational efficiency added AI-driven workflow automation to their services. They helped clients implement tools like Zapier or custom GPT solutions to streamline repetitive tasks, resulting in significant time and cost savings.
- Another consultant focused on the marketing strategy used ChatGPT to analyze campaign performance. By demonstrating how AI tools could enhance decision-making, they positioned themselves as a forward-thinking, indispensable partner.
Whether you’re guiding clients on adopting AI-powered tools, training their teams, or helping them explore new AI opportunities, integrating AI into your services allows you to expand your offerings and attract clients looking for innovative solutions.
Best AI tools for consultants to attract more clients and save hours each week
Finding the right AI tools can feel overwhelming, especially with so many options promising to save time and grow your business. This list narrows it down to the most effective tools for consultants—focused on attracting more clients and freeing up hours in your week—so you can focus on what really matters.
The Best AI tools to automate and streamline your consulting business operations
Here are the Generative AI tools to help you streamline your consulting business operations and delivery.
ChatGPT or Claude.ai:
You can use ChatGPT to get a jumpstart on your administrative tasks, such as replying to emails or writing proposals. You can also use it as a brainstorming partner for drafting thought leadership and marketing materials such as case studies. You can also leverage it
Reclaim AI or Motion:
You can use AI-powered calendar tools to schedule tasks based on your availability and business rules automatically. This helps you make more use of your business owner's time. It facilitates time-blocking, recurring tasks, and making sure all of your tasks are scheduled and fit into your calendar.
Calendly with AI
Calendly can automate your scheduling process, eliminating back-and-forth emails by offering clients and prospects available time slots directly from your calendar.
Generative AI tools for automating repetitive business tasks
Here are the Generative AI tools to help you automate repetitive business tasks.
Zapier:
Zapier helps you integrate software systems that don’t have embedded integrations. It includes an AI-prompt feature where you write out what you want to accomplish, and it sets up the logic to meet your requirements.
Lettuce.co:
Lettuce.co is an automated tax and accounting system tailored for businesses of one, such as consultants. It streamlines the complexities of S Corp formation, bookkeeping, payroll, and tax optimization.
AI tools for marketing your consulting business
Here are the Generative AI tools to help you generate leads for your consulting business.
Descript:
Descript is a practical tool for independent consultants to handle video editing, transcriptions, clip creation, publishing, and screen recording. It’s straightforward to use and helps streamline creating content like client meeting summaries, video presentations, or training materials. A useful option if you want to manage marketing content efficiently without spending too much time or effort.
Best AI tools to improve the efficiency and quality of your client work while saving you time
Here are the Generative AI tools to help you improve the efficiency and quality of your client deliverables.
ChatGPT or Claude.ai:
You can use ChatGPT for client deliverables such as researching topics, finding trends, analyzing data, building frameworks, and drafting deliverables.
Fathom.video (affiliate link), Fireflies.ai, or Otter.ai:
You can use a notetaking tool to write meeting notes, capture action items, and share takeaways. These tools have embedded Chat-GPT type features you can use to ask specific questions, do analysis, and have it write custom text based on the meeting transcript.
5 ChatGPT prompts for consultants to start using AI in your business today
ChatGPT is a powerful tool for consultants, but knowing how to use it effectively is key. Here are five practical prompts to get you started, along with tips on how to use them and the outcomes you can expect.
1. "Generate a list of potential questions for [specific type of client interview or consultation]."
Ask ChatGPT to generate thoughtful, targeted questions to prepare for client meetings, such as discovery calls or project kickoffs. Provide context about the client’s goals or industry, and use the suggestions to uncover key insights, pain points, and objectives. This enhances your preparation, ensures you gather high-quality information, and helps you build stronger client relationships by demonstrating a deep understanding of their needs. It’s a simple way to make your meetings more productive and impactful.
2. "Draft a case study based on [specific client success or project details]."
Ask ChatGPT to draft a case study highlighting a specific client success or project. Provide key details, such as the client’s challenges, your approach, and the measurable outcomes, and let ChatGPT craft a structured draft. This saves time while producing a polished, professional case study that showcases your expertise and demonstrates the value of your work to potential clients. It’s a powerful tool for building credibility and attracting new opportunities.
3. "Create a step-by-step guide for [specific task or goal]."
Ask ChatGPT to create a step-by-step guide for a specific task or goal, such as setting up a lead generation funnel or optimizing a workflow. Provide details about the process or desired outcome, and ChatGPT will generate clear, actionable instructions. This is ideal for client deliverables or internal use, helping you save time while delivering high-value content that’s easy to follow and implement. It ensures clarity and consistency in your processes, benefiting both you and your clients.
4. "Create a framework for [specific consulting project]."
Ask ChatGPT to create a framework for a specific consulting project, such as a client onboarding process or a strategy development plan. Provide details about the project scope, and ChatGPT will draft a structured outline to guide your work. This jumpstarts project planning, giving you a solid foundation to build on and saving time by allowing you to focus on refining and customizing the framework for your client’s unique needs. It’s an efficient way to bring structure and clarity to new engagements.
5. "Create a comparison chart of [two or more options] for [specific client scenario]."
What are the hidden challenges of integrating generative AI into your consulting and business owner workflows, and how to overcome them.
There are three primary challenges with integrating AI into your consulting business, your consulting offerings, and your business owner workflows.
The learning curve can be overwhelming
Generative AI and AI-powered tools are evolving at breakneck speed. The learning curve can be overwhelming, especially if AI and data, in general, aren’t part of your current expertise. To conquer this overwhelm, build out a learning plan for yourself.
For the learning plan, be clear on why you want to learn about generative AI, artificial intelligence, and AI-powered tools. Then, identify the resources that you can leverage to achieve that objective.
Choosing the best AI tool for your use case can be time-consuming
Researching AI tools is a rabbit hole. There are so many tools out there, and new AI-powered tools are emerging every day. I encourage you to choose a specific AI goal or use case you want to achieve and then dive into solving it before you move on to the next one.
When you’re thinking about priorities, lean toward solving the revenue-generating ideas first (e.g. what AI solutions could you add to your suite of service offerings) and then prioritize time-saving AI tools, especially those for tasks you repeat most often.
The market is shifting rapidly, and it can be challenging to keep up
It can be difficult to keep up with changes in your industry and specialization in “normal” times. Now, with AI in the picture, it’s even more challenging. But, to stay relevant in your field and to be sought after as a consultant, it’s important to carve out time to stay on top of these trends and to innovate.
As a result, I recommend you add AI learning time (for your specific goals) to your weekly and monthly consulting business owner routine.
Listen to Episode 141 of the Grow Your Independent Consulting Business podcast.
Get the help you need to adapt to new trends and optimize your consulting business for growth
It’s easy to get mired down in the day-to-day details and overlook new and emerging opportunities in your business.
I help clients with this challenge every day.
And yet, I have a hard time avoiding it myself. As I shared at the beginning of the article, I took a business-as-usual approach to solving an ongoing, ever-present administrative load. My initial instinct was to hire an assistant to help me.
But, the world is changing.
There are new solutions available and new ways of doing business.
And, there are opportunities for you to innovate and jump ahead of the larger consultancies that take years to pivot their direction.
If you are someone who wants to make more money, have a greater impact, and feel more fulfilled in your consulting business, now could be the time to have help achieving these goals.
Click here for your free coaching consultation and then here to learn more about coaching for consultants.