Agencies
Direct answer
Small-agency guides assume a shared-feeling inbox that is still run by one or two people. Triage, lead capture, invoice drafts, social repurposing, and a Monday digest are the set. A client-facing chatbot or a phone agent is a later decision, with a written rule about what it may promise.
Two-to-ten-person studios that are still run like a freelancer's inbox, with clients who notice a sloppy reply.
The risk at a small agency is a draft that commits the studio to a scope or a fee. Put the fees you are willing to say in writing into the project brief, and tell the model that anything else is a "we will come back to you".
A shared inbox needs a named owner for the labels. An agent does not replace that person. It gives them a cleaner pile.
Playbooks that fit
- File organisationChatGPTOne sitting for the tree, then files as they arrive£0 on the free plan/mo
A client folder layout in Google Drive
Organise client files by creating a short folder tree in Google Drive and moving files yourself. ChatGPT can propose names from a list you type. Google's own help says names should be short and meaningful, and that you need permission to move a file. The free ChatGPT plan was listed on 25 October 2026. This has not been live-tested.
- Research for quotes and suppliersGrok15 minutes to save the prompt, then the time you spend checking linksabout £0–£23/mo
A Grok research brief for supplier quotes
Give Grok a fixed brief for supplier research: three companies, their websites, and a price only when that price is printed on the page you are given. Open every link before you trust a figure or put it in a quote. Estimates are not allowed. Not live-tested yet.
- Weekly admin digestn8n2–3 hours the first timeabout £0 licence if self-hosted, or about £17 for Cloud Starter/mo
A Monday admin digest with n8n
Use n8n to email you one Monday morning note: unread mail that needs a reply, the week's calendar, and invoices you have marked overdue. It is a reminder, not a manager. Start on n8n Cloud if you do not want to host a server. Not live-tested yet.
- Research for quotes and suppliersChatGPTOne sitting per company, with the sites open£0 on the free plan/mo
A one-page lead brief from pages you opened
A lead brief is a short note on a company you are about to contact, built only from pages you opened. Companies House lists some company details for free. ChatGPT may arrange those notes and must mark anything without a page. It does not replace the supplier-quote guide. This has not been live-tested.
- Automate email triageGeminiAbout 30 minutes, once the button is visibleAbout £4 and £15 at the planning rate, from those US list prices/mo
AI email assistant in Gmail with Gemini
Help me write inside Gmail is an email assistant only if the account has it. Google lists it as global on eligible paid plans and US-only on unpaid personal Gmail. On 25 October 2026 the US plans page showed Plus at $4.99 a month and Pro at $19.99. You still send. This has not been live-tested.
- Lead capture to a CRMZapier45–75 minutesabout £0, or about £15 if you need multi-step Zaps/mo
Capture leads in a sheet with a two-step Zap
Send a short enquiry form into a Google Sheet with a two-step Zapier automation, which fits the free plan. Reply yourself the same day. Add people to a marketing list only if they ticked a box that was not pre-selected. This has not been live-tested.
- Automate invoice chasingMake1–2 hours if the built-in reminder is not enoughabout £0, or about £7 if you outgrow the free plan/mo
Chase overdue invoices with Make drafts
Turn on the reminder feature inside the accounting software you already pay for. If that wording is too blunt, use Make to create Gmail drafts for overdue invoices and send them yourself. Do not let an automation mark invoices paid. This has not been live-tested.
- Customer FAQ repliesChatGPT1–2 hours, mostly writing the policyabout £0–£15/mo
Customer replies from a written FAQ, drafted in ChatGPT
Put your real refund, price, and booking rules into a ChatGPT Project and let it draft customer replies from that page only. You send the email. If the answer is not in the page, the draft should say you will check, not invent a policy. Not live-tested yet.
- Weekly client reportClaudeOne sitting to write the instructions, then the Friday you already report£0, or about £13 and £15 at the planning rate/mo
Draft a weekly client report in Claude
Draft a weekly client report by pasting figures you already trust into Claude and sending the prose yourself. On 25 October 2026 Free was $0, and Pro was $17 a month billed annually at $200 up front or $20 monthly, before tax. The model must not invent a number. This has not been live-tested.
- Automate email triageChatGPT45–90 minutesabout £0–£15/mo
Email triage for a small Gmail inbox with ChatGPT
Use Gmail labels and filters to sort a small inbox, then a ChatGPT Project to draft replies you still send yourself. It fits a sole trader under about fifty messages a day. Do not give the agent permission to send. This setup has not been timed in a live test.
- Meeting notes into tasksGeminiOne sitting, on a call that is not with a clientAbout £4 or £15 at the planning rate, from those US list prices/mo
Google Meet notes turned into tasks
Turn a Google Meet into tasks only if Take notes for me is on an eligible plan, then copy the actions you accept into a private sheet. On 25 October 2026 the US plans page showed Plus at $4.99 a month and Pro at $19.99. The Meet-notes ticks were blank in the saved text. This has not been live-tested.
- Meeting notes into tasksFathomAbout 45 minutes before the first call£0 on the free plan/mo
Meeting notes turned into tasks with Fathom
Turn meeting notes into tasks by recording only with consent, copying Fathom's free summary into a private sheet, and writing the actions yourself. On 25 October 2026, AI action items were a Premium feature, not part of Free. You still check any list a paid plan writes. This page has not been live-tested.
- Automate email triageChatGPTOne sitting, before you rely on it£0 on the free plan/mo
Outlook inbox triage with rules and a ChatGPT draft
Inbox triage in Outlook means rules that file newsletters and invoices, then a ChatGPT draft you paste and send yourself. On 25 October 2026 the ChatGPT pricing page listed a free plan and did not print a paid price in the text. This is the Outlook path. The Gmail guides are separate. This has not been live-tested.
- Social post repurposingClaude20–40 minutes for the first note, then lessabout £0–£15/mo
Repurpose one work note into social posts with Claude
Take one true note about finished work and ask Claude for a Google Business post, an Instagram caption, and a short LinkedIn post. You approve every word and you only use photos you have the right to publish. Nothing is auto-posted. Not live-tested yet.
Questions
Can the whole team share one ChatGPT login?
That is a poor fit for client confidentiality and for knowing who approved a draft. The guides assume one operator. A team plan is a vendor question, not a shortcut past the check.
Which automation tool?
Zapier if the job is two steps. Make or n8n if it is a draft after a row. The comparisons say which beginner path is which.
Do you cover client reporting?
Not as a playbook. A Monday note of your own admin is not a client report. Do not send a client a model summary you have not read.