A great business advisor provides expert insights, strategic direction, and tailored guidance. But hiring one can cost thousands of dollars per month.
What if you could build your own AI-powered business advisor that knows your company inside and out, delivering customized recommendations anytime you need them?
If you’re already using the Media Shower AI Platform, we can build one for you, one that already knows your company and your business goals. (Click here for a free trial.)
If you’d rather build one yourself, watch the short demo below to learn the basics of using ChatGPT to create a virtual business consultant trained on your data, aligned with your goals, and ready to help you make smarter business decisions.
Step-by-Step Guide
To build an AI business advisor, you need to structure the right information, train the AI effectively, and refine its responses.
Follow these steps to create your own.
1. Ask Chat for help
Before training your AI advisor, define what information it needs. Don’t guess: Let AI help you organize it.
Prompt: “I’m building an AI-powered business advisor for my company. How should I structure the content it needs to learn?”
The AI will suggest key areas such as:
- Company mission and values. What drives your business?
- Target audience and customer insights. Who are your customers, and what do they need?
- Marketing and sales strategies. How do you attract, convert, and retain customers?
- Financial and operational data. What key metrics define success?
- Competitive landscape. Who are your competitors, and how does your business compare?
This structure will serve as the foundation of your AI business advisor.
2. Gather your business data
Once you have a content structure, collect your data. The more relevant context the AI has, the better its advice will be.
Here’s what to include:
- Company overview. A one-page summary of your business, including industry, size, and goals.
- Strategic plans. Documents outlining your business objectives and challenges.
- Marketing data. Customer personas, campaign results, and key insights.
- Sales reports. Performance data, acquisition strategies, and retention tactics.
- Financial summaries. Revenue trends, profit margins, and financial projections.
This process may take some time, but it’s essential for making sure your AI is well informed.
3. Synthesize and summarize
Rather than feeding the AI lengthy documents, ask it to generate concise summaries of your key business data.
Prompt: “Summarize our marketing strategy document in a way that an AI business advisor can use for recommendations.”
The AI will condense the information into key takeaways. You can refine these summaries before using them as training materials.`
4. Create your Business Advisor
We’re using ChatGPT for our example. Follow these easy steps to set up your advisor:
- Go to ChatGPT and select “Explore GPTs.”
- Click Create a GPT to start.
- Describe your assistant. Give it a name and explain its purpose (e.g., “Summit Strategy Business Advisor—provides strategic marketing and business insights.”).
If you’re using another AI tool, it will probably have a similar process.
5. Create a strong prompt
A well-crafted prompt (or instructions) defines how your AI advisor should think, respond, and act. This ensures it delivers tailored, useful insights rather than generic answers.
Here’s an example of a structured prompt:
You are Company X’s Business Advisor, trained on our company’s mission, customer insights, marketing strategies, financial data, and competitive landscape. Your role is to provide expert-level insights and strategic recommendations that are specific to our business.
Your job is to enhance decision-making, streamline strategy, and drive business growth.
Guidelines for your responses:
- Base your answers on the company data and strategy documents provided.
- Prioritize data-backed insights and suggest at least three actionable recommendations when applicable.
- Keep responses concise, professional, and relevant to our business goals.
- If needed, ask clarifying questions before providing a recommendation.
Examples of questions you might be asked:
- What marketing channels should we focus on to improve lead generation?
- Based on our customer data, how can we increase retention?
- How can we differentiate from our competitors?
- What key financial metrics should we monitor for growth?
A strong prompt is the secret sauce that determines the quality of your Business Advisor’s responses. You can add as much detail as you like.
6. Upload the training documents
Once your summaries and prompt are ready, upload everything into the AI system.
7. Test and refine your AI business advisor
Once your AI business advisor is set up, test it by asking strategic questions. Your goal is to evaluate the quality of responses and refine as needed.
Here are some sample test questions:
- “Based on our customer data, what marketing strategies should we prioritize?”
- “Given our financial performance, should we expand into new markets?”
- “What are the biggest risks in our business strategy, and how can we mitigate them?”
If responses seem too broad or lack depth, tweak the training data and adjust the prompt. Iteration is a critical step for getting the best out of AI tools. Each iteration improves the AI’s performance.
Real-World Examples: Using an AI Business Advisor
Let’s look at how Emma, the founder of Summit Strategy Group, a marketing consultancy, uses her AI-powered business advisor to improve decision-making.
Scenario 1: Improving lead conversion rates
Emma wants to improve Summit Strategy Group’s lead-to-customer conversion rate, which currently stands at 12%. She knows that even a small increase could significantly impact revenue, so she turns to her AI Business Advisor for insights on optimizing the conversion process.
Question: “Our lead-to-customer conversion rate is currently 12%. What can we do to improve it?”
Business Advisor Response:
Improving conversion rates requires refining both the sales process and the lead qualification strategy. Here are three key improvements:
- Optimize Landing Pages for Conversions: Ensure landing pages for lead generation have clear CTAs, social proof (e.g., testimonials, case studies), and a simple, low-friction sign-up process. A/B test different versions to see which performs best.
- Enhance Lead Nurture Sequences: Use email automation to personalize follow-ups based on user behavior. For example, if a lead downloads a whitepaper, follow up with an email offering a free consultation related to that topic.
- Improve Lead Scoring & Sales Alignment: Implement a lead scoring system to prioritize high-intent leads. Leads with higher engagement (e.g., repeated website visits, webinar attendance) should be flagged for immediate sales outreach, reducing time to close.
Scenario 2: Competitive differentiation
Emma wants to strengthen Summit Strategy Group’s competitive edge against larger agencies like GrowthWorks Marketing and Agile Digital Solutions. She needs a clear strategy to position her firm as the best choice for small to mid-sized businesses.
She asks her AI Business Advisor how to stand out.
Question: “How can we differentiate Summit Strategy Group from competitors like GrowthWorks Marketing and Agile Digital Solutions?”
Business Advisor response:
Summit Strategy Group has a unique position in the market due to its data-driven approach and specialization in small to mid-sized businesses. Here’s how to further differentiate:
- Double Down on Data-Driven Marketing: Emphasize that, unlike GrowthWorks, which focuses on large enterprise clients, Summit Strategy Group offers SMBs enterprise-level data analytics and performance tracking at an accessible price point.
- Offer AI-Powered Marketing Insights: Competitors are not leveraging AI for real-time marketing analysis. Consider offering an AI-powered dashboard where clients can track their marketing performance and receive automated strategy recommendations.
- Introduce a Performance-Based Pricing Model: Agile Digital Solutions is known for affordability, but it lacks the ROI-driven model you can implement. Consider a hybrid pricing model where a portion of your fees is tied to marketing performance outcomes (e.g., lead volume, conversion rate improvements).
Scenario 3: Financial strategy for growth
Emma wants to ensure that Summit Strategy Group maintains sustainable financial growth. With steady revenue and a solid client base, she’s looking for the key financial metrics that will help her scale efficiently.
Question: “What financial metrics should we focus on to ensure sustainable growth?”
Business Advisor response:
To maintain sustainable growth, track the following key financial metrics:
- Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) vs. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): Ensure that CLV remains at least 3-5x higher than CAC. Currently, CAC is $500, while CLV is $12,000, which is excellent—but watch for fluctuations as you scale.
- Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR): With MRR at $85,000, aim for a 10-15% increase per quarter through upselling current clients and securing long-term contracts.
- Churn Rate: Maintain a churn rate below 5% per quarter by focusing on client retention strategies like quarterly performance reviews, ongoing education, and personalized marketing recommendations.
Marketer Takeaways
- No more high-cost consultants. Because it’s trained on your data, your AI Business Advisor can handle any challenge you give it–with speed and precision.
- Better input = better output. Feed AI structured, relevant data for sharper recommendations.
- Refine the prompt for better results. Test, tweak, and iterate to improve your Advisor’s advice.
- AI is a tool, not a replacement. Use it for strategy, but apply human judgment.
- Let Media Shower build it for you. Skip the setup—get an AI advisor that’s trained on your business from day one.
Media Shower can create custom AI assistants trained on your business to advise, strategize, and optimize. Click here for a free trial.
