Stop retyping the same email

Look back at the audit from lesson one. If “answering the same questions” made your list, this is a big one, because it is quietly enormous. Most owners answer the same five or six questions all week: what do you charge, are you available, where are you based, can I get a quote, what is your cancellation policy. Each answer takes two or three minutes and you write it dozens of times a month. That is hours, spent retyping things you already know.

There are two levels here. Do the first today. Move to the second when you are ready.

Level one: saved replies (free, do it now)

Your email already does this and you are probably not using it.

• Gmail: turn on Templates (Settings, then Advanced, then Templates). Write your best answer to each common question once, save it, and insert it in two clicks.
• Outlook: use Quick Parts, or My Templates, to do the same.

The method:

1. List your five or six most-asked questions (your audit already half did this).
2. Write the best possible answer to each, once, in your own voice. Take your time, because you only do it once.
3. Save each as a template.

Now the repeat questions become a two-click insert plus a small personal tweak, instead of a from-scratch reply. That alone claws back most of the time.

Level two: AI-drafted replies (approve, do not type)

Saved replies are great for the exact repeats. For everything else, the messy, one-off, needs-a-real-answer emails, AI can write the first draft so you edit instead of compose.

The tools:

• Gmail’s own AI drafting, or a shared inbox like Missive with an assistant attached, can read an incoming email and draft a full reply in your tone.
• A general assistant (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini) works too: paste the email in, say “draft a friendly, professional reply, we can do the job, we’re free next week, ask them for the address”, and edit what comes back.

The workflow that matters is draft, then approve. AI writes a solid first version in seconds, which is the useful part, and you do the final read, which is the part your reputation depends on.

The one rule here

Never let AI send an email to a customer unreviewed. This is the same “AI drafts, you check” rule from the taster course, and it is non-negotiable. AI can state something wrong with total confidence, or promise a date you cannot hit. You stay the last set of eyes. You are not saving time by skipping the check, you are removing the typing. That is where the real saving is anyway, because editing is far faster than writing from a blank page.

Give it your facts

AI drafts get much better when the tool knows your actual details: your prices, your service area, your standard terms. Some tools let you save a snippet of “about my business” that every draft draws on. If yours does, fill it in. If it does not, keep a short paste-in block of your key facts and drop it into the prompt. We go much deeper on this idea, giving your AI the context of your real business, in the flagship “give your AI a brain” course.

Next: the booking back-and-forth, and how to end calendar tennis for good.