A clear read on the tools
Which AI tools are worth your time, which are not, and where each one actually helps in a business like yours.
Business owner workshopFriday 14 August 2026
Stop playing with AI. Put it to work in your business.
A practical morning for business owners who know AI can help, but are still wondering what useful looks like beyond searches, ideas and the odd image. You will watch a working system handle a morning's admin before you have opened your laptop: invoices chased, follow-ups prepared, the inbox triaged. You will leave knowing the one part of your business worth pointing it at first.
Limited to 20 owners in the room. Registration closes Friday 8 August.
DATEFriday 14 August
VENUEThe Atkins Building, Hinckley
FOROwner-led businesses
ONE PRACTICAL EXAMPLELIVE
From a new lead to a followed-up sales opportunity
01
Lead capturedWebsite, email or campaign
Reading the enquiry Captured 02
Added to CRMCorrect details and next step
Writing to the CRM Added 03
Follow-up preparedPersonal, timely and tracked
Drafting the follow-up Prepared 04
Owner sees the decisionApprove, change or take over
Bringing it to you Waiting for you AI handles the repetitive workPeople keep control
Hosted by 
Chris BedfordChris Bedford Digital
Mark JenningsMaster Business Coach
Sound familiar?
You have tried AI. You are not yet sure where it fits.
Most business owners have opened ChatGPT, asked it a few questions and generated some ideas. Useful, yes. Transformational, not yet.
The bigger opportunity is connecting AI to real work: helping enquiries reach the CRM, preparing consistent follow-up, finding jobs that are stuck and giving you a clear list of decisions.
NOW
AI as somewhere to ask questions
Searches, ideas, rewritten emails and a few images when somebody remembers to use it.
NEXT
AI inside a working business process
Clear inputs, useful outputs, controlled actions and a person accountable for the result.
WHERE IT IS HEADING
AI departments running business functions
Inbox, Sales, Finance and the rest. Each one switched on when you are ready, each reporting into a single dashboard of decisions.
What you'll walk away with
Three things you will leave with on the day
Not a stack of notes to file and forget. Most owners are quietly losing hours a week to admin and letting the odd lead slip. By the time you leave, three things should be clear.
One process seen working
A real lead becoming a followed-up opportunity, from enquiry to CRM to follow-up, with a person still in control the whole way.
Your first move
The one part of your business worth pointing AI at first, so you leave with a starting point, not a long list of things to build.
The workshop
The morning builds, one step at a time
No endless list of shiny tools. We start with what you can use on Monday, connect it to a real process, and finish by showing where this is genuinely heading for owner-led businesses.
- Start Where most owners are AI as a place to ask questions
Searches, ideas, the odd rewritten email
- Then Step up AI inside your daily work
Drafts, research, admin, analysis
- Then Step up AI inside one real process
Lead to CRM to follow-up, with oversight
- Finish The future An AI department for every function
Agents that run the business alongside you
1
Part one
Get your bearings
What the tools actually are, and how to get real value out of them this week.
THE TOOL MAP
What the main AI tools are actually for
A plain introduction to the different types of AI tools, where each one helps and where it is likely to waste your time.
DAILY WORK
How to use AI day-to-day
Practical ways to handle research, first drafts, meeting actions, analysis, admin and routine jobs without lowering the standard.
2
Part two
Put it inside a process
We stop talking about tools and follow one real business process end to end.
EVERYONE NEEDS SALES
Lead generation, CRM and follow-up
See how a lead can move into your CRM, trigger the right next step and receive consistent follow-up while your team keeps oversight.
REAL IMPLEMENTATION
What this looks like inside a business
Chris will walk through a live implementation and show the difference between a useful agent system and another disconnected AI tool.
3
Part three
See where this is going
The part of the morning that changes how you think about the next three years.
THE FUTURE SHAPE
An AI department for every business function
See what becomes possible when specialist agents work together: Inbox, Sales, Finance, Diary, Marketing and Customer Care as modules you switch on, all reporting into one dashboard.
YOUR NEXT MOVE
Choose the first department worth switching on
Leave with a practical way to identify where AI could save time or improve follow-up first, without trying to automate the whole company at once.
From interest to action
We will follow one real sale from start to finish
We use sales as the main example because every business needs a steady flow of opportunities and consistent follow-up.
- ✓Capture the enquiry and its source
- ✓Put the right information into the CRM
- ✓Prepare the next follow-up automatically
- ✓Escalate anything unusual to a person
- ✓Show the owner what needs a decision
EXAMPLE · SALES PIPELINESales opportunities
£86,400 openNEW LEADHarris EngineeringWebsite enquiryAI qualified
PROPOSALNorthstar Advisory£18,500Follow-up due
DECISIONOak & Stone Ltd£31,200Owner review
3 actions prepared
How the morning finishes
One process is the start. A department for every function is where this goes.
Once a single process works, the same pattern repeats. Not a drawer full of disconnected bots, but the business organised the way it already is, with AI running the routine part of each function and a person deciding everything that matters.
YOUR BUSINESSAI departments
Running todayNextOn the roadmap Triages email, flags what needs a decision, drafts replies for approval.
Captures leads, keeps the CRM clean, prepares follow-ups and quotes.
Drafts invoices, chases what is owed, watches cash flow.
Schedules meetings, protects focus time, briefs you on who you are seeing.
Drafts content, monitors search, summarises campaign performance.
Triages support, watches reviews, escalates complaints early.
Turns won quotes into jobs, tracks deadlines, flags work drifting.
Holiday, sickness, onboarding, contract and review reminders.
Drafts procedures, keeps boards in sync, chases suppliers.
Compares supplier prices, raises orders, watches stock levels.
Retention rules, data requests, a clean audit history.
Drafts job ads, screens applicants, books interviews around you.
You switch on the departments you need and leave the rest off. Behind each one sit small specialist agents. You never manage them, you just see the function, the work it prepared and the decisions waiting.
ACTIVITY LOG · EXAMPLEWhat your departments did this morning
Agents working - Inbox
Sorted 47 new emails. Three need a decision today.
Observed - Sales
Added the Harris Engineering enquiry to the CRM.
Within limits - Inbox
Drafted a reply to Northstar Advisory in your voice.
Ready to approve - Finance
Chased three overdue invoices. £6,240 outstanding.
Within limits - Sales
Quote prepared for Oak & Stone Ltd. £31,200.
Needs your yes - Finance
Cash dips below your floor in week four.
Observed
Two of those needed you. The rest were already done, inside the limits you set, and logged either way.
The bit everyone asks about
Nothing runs loose. Every job has a permission level you set.
This is the difference between an interesting demo and something you would actually put near your customers, your money and your reputation. Every single task an agent can do carries one of four levels, and you can always tighten it.
We will walk through this live, and show the activity log that records what was found, what was prepared, what was approved and what was done.
- 1 Observe
Watches and reports only, never acts.
Cash-flow watch, pipeline health - 2 Prepare
Prepares the work and waits for your go ahead.
Drafted replies, follow-up sequences - 3 Within limits
Handles it within the limits you agreed.
Lead capture, CRM tidying, receipt chasing - 4 Always asks
Stops and asks you first, every time.
Payments, quotes, contracts
You will not leave being asked to build any of this. You will leave able to picture it, and knowing which single department is worth starting with in your business.
Not a demo
Already running in real businesses
These are systems Chris has built and switched on inside owner-led businesses right now, not a mockup on a slide.
★★★★★
Sales Leads used to sit until someone had a spare five minutes. Now they are qualified and quoted the same day and nothing slips. It has taken a real job off our plate.
★★★★★
Speed to Lead We reply to new enquiries in minutes now, even when we are out on the tools. People notice, and we are winning work we used to miss.
★★★★★
Marketing More of the right people are finding us online. The enquiries coming through are better quality now, not just more of them.
★★★★★
Marketing & Finance It quietly reads our website numbers and tells us what to fix, and it handles the invoices in the background. Two jobs we no longer have to think about.
Your hosts
Business growth and practical implementation in the same room
AI SYSTEMS & IMPLEMENTATION
Chris Bedford
Chris runs Chris Bedford Digital and builds growth systems, websites, automation and AI operations for owner-led businesses. He will show what the tools can do when they are connected to a clear process.
BUSINESS COACHING & COMMERCIAL FOCUS
Mark Jennings
Mark is an ActionCOACH Master Business Coach who helps owners build more profitable businesses that rely less on them. He will keep the discussion grounded in the jobs and commercial problems that matter.
The venue
The Atkins Building, Hinckley
The workshop is held at The Atkins Building on Lower Bond Street, in Hinckley town centre. Exact timings and joining details are confirmed by email once you register.
Request your place
Help us pitch the morning at the right level
Two steps. Your details first, then six quick questions. Chris and Mark use the answers to shape the examples and spend more time on the problems in the room.
14
August 2026Friday morning
20
Places onlyKept small so the room stays useful
01
Useful next stepChoose a real process to improve
The workshop is at The Atkins Building, Lower Bond Street, Hinckley LE10 1QU. We will confirm exact timings and joining details directly with registered attendees.
AI FOR BUSINESS OWNERS
Workshop registration
Friday 14 August 2026
20 places only. Registration closes Friday 8 August.
Questions
Before you register
Do I need to be technical?
No. This is a business workshop, not a coding session. We will explain the tools in plain English and focus on where they save time, improve follow-up or help you make better decisions.
Is this only about ChatGPT?
No. ChatGPT is one useful tool, but the workshop also covers the wider AI toolset, connected workflows and agent systems that can monitor or prepare work across your business software.
Will this be relevant to my business?
The examples focus on problems shared by most owner-led businesses: generating leads, managing a pipeline, following up consistently, handling routine admin and keeping important work moving.
Why is there a second step after my details?
Six quick questions, and it takes under a minute. We want to pitch the session at the right level, so the answers help Chris and Mark see what people already use, what causes the most frustration and which live examples will be most useful.
How many places are there?
We keep the room deliberately small, around 20 owners, so there is time for real questions and examples relevant to the businesses in attendance. Once it is full, registration closes. If you know you want to come, register early rather than leaving it to the week of the event.
Where is the workshop?
The workshop is held at The Atkins Building, Lower Bond Street, Hinckley LE10 1QU. We will confirm exact timings and joining details directly with registered attendees.
What do you mean by an AI department?
Instead of a pile of disconnected bots, the work is grouped the way your business already is: Inbox, Sales, Finance, Diary, Marketing, Customer Care and so on. You switch on the department you need. Behind each one sit small specialist agents, but you never manage them. You see the business function, the work it prepared and the decisions waiting for you.
Is the last part just futurism?
No. The final section is built on a system that already exists and runs. We will show the real dashboard, the real approval rules and the real activity log, then talk honestly about what is live today and what is still being built.