hadibuilds
AI Playbook 4 min read Updated 8 Oct 2026

Basic, smart or AI-first: where does your business sit?

The six AI uses from my ranking video, sorted by column, with the steps to set up each one. Find your column, then move one thing up.

Captions · PDFs
Basic
Meetings · Follow-ups
Smart
Leads · Weekly data
AI-first
01

Basic

AI helps you write and read faster. You still do all the work around it.

ChatGPTClaude

Social media captions

  1. Paste 10 of your best past captions so it learns your tone. ChatGPT
  2. Give it the post: what it is, who it's for, the one thing you want people to do.
  3. Ask for 5 options. Pick one and rewrite the first line yourself.

Summarize PDFs

  1. Upload the contract, tender or report. Claude
  2. Ask for the payment terms, deadlines, penalties and anything unusual, with page numbers.
  3. Read those pages yourself before you sign anything.

Steal this: Basic is a good start. It only saves time when you remember to open the chat, so it never runs on its own.

02

Smart

AI is connected to the work. It takes the output of one job and starts the next one.

AI notetakerHeffl CRMHeffl Agents

Every meeting into tasks

  1. Record the call with an AI notetaker, like Fathom. AI notetaker
  2. It writes the summary and pulls out the action items.
  3. Each action item becomes a task with an owner and a due date. Heffl CRM
  4. The owner confirms their tasks the same day.

Personalized customer follow-ups

  1. The AI reads the last conversation, the quote and what the customer asked for. Heffl Agents
  2. It drafts the follow-up with their name, their project and the date you last spoke.
  3. You approve before it goes out. Every time.

Steal this: Smart starts when AI is connected to where the work already lives, like your CRM, inbox and calendar.

03

AI-first

AI runs the step by default. A person steps in when it matters.

Heffl CRMAI agentClaude

Qualify every new lead automatically

  1. Every enquiry lands in one place: WhatsApp, Instagram DMs, email and website forms. Heffl CRM
  2. Write your rules once: who is a good fit, budget, timeline, location.
  3. The AI agent reads each new lead, checks it against your rules and tags it hot, warm or cold. AI agent
  4. Hot leads go straight to a person. The rest get a follow-up and a reminder.
  5. Check the rules every week and fix what it got wrong.

Find problems in your weekly business data

  1. Put your weekly numbers in one sheet or connect the AI to them: sales, quotes, invoices, jobs. Google Sheets
  2. Every Monday, ask the same questions: what changed, what looks unusual, what should I check? Claude
  3. It points to the exact rows behind each problem.
  4. You decide what to do about it.

Steal this: Save the Monday questions as a template so the check runs the same way every week.

Start here

  1. Find your column. Tick which of the six you already do.
  2. Pick one item from the next column up. Just one.
  3. Write down the steps the way your team does them today.
  4. Hand the typing, sorting and checking to AI. Keep one approval step before anything reaches a customer.
  5. Run it for two weeks, then add the next one.

Basic saves you a few minutes. AI-first keeps the business moving while you’re with a client.