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From Tricks to Tools: Using AI to Craft a Consultant Brief Your Client Will Actually Trust

  • Writer: Tanya Zhuk
    Tanya Zhuk
  • Aug 14
  • 2 min read

Consultants aren’t wizards. That “mystique” was mostly access to research, frameworks, and time. AI made the tools visible to everyone. What still separates signal from noise is judgment: knowing what to ask, how to frame, and where to steer.

This is how I use AI to make the work faster, clearer, and more client-friendly—without losing the human strategy that actually moves the needle.


Step 1 — Get Clear on the Problem

AI won’t rescue a bad brief. Start with a crisp intake: goals, constraints, audiences, politics, and success metrics. Use a structured questionnaire you can feed into an LLM to surface contradictions or missing pieces.

Pro Tip: Run call notes and form responses through ChatGPT/Claude to highlight patterns, risks, and assumptions worth testing.


Step 2 — Align Goals & Metrics

You can’t plan action if you don’t know what “good” looks like. Pressure-test feasibility and timeframe.

Pro Tip: Use an AI search assistant to pull benchmark ranges for KPIs so expectations are reality-based before you build the plan.


Step 3 — Build the Skeleton Brief

Translate the discovery into an outline: problem → audience → constraints → strategy → plan. Have AI generate a first pass, then manage it like an intern: redline, feed back, iterate until it sounds like you.

Feed AI:

  • Problem statement

  • Goals & guardrails (budget, timeline, resources)

  • Target segments & jobs-to-be-done


Step 4 — Layer Market & Competitive Insight

Use AI to synthesize market trends, messaging whitespace, and audience language. Supplement with directional tools (e.g., web traffic estimates, audience interest graphs) for competitor positioning and channel priorities.


Step 5 — Make It Client-Friendly

Small business leaders don’t want jargon; they want the path.

AI Structure Audit:

  • SWOT (what’s true now)

  • Opportunity (where to play / how to win)

  • GTM plan (channels, cadence, creative)

  • Next steps (90-day roadmap + owners)


Getting Clients Comfortable with you as their AI-Consultant

  • You’re still in charge. AI accelerates research and drafting; it doesn’t make decisions.

  • It saves time. Days → hours. Months → weeks.

  • It improves clarity. Faster iteration = cleaner strategy, earlier.


The Big Shift: Tricks → Tools

Yesterday, insiders guarded databases and spreadsheets. Today, the inputs are democratized. The edge isn’t secrecy—it’s synthesis. The best AI consultants combine speed and scale with taste and judgment.


Want to see this in action?Email tanya@narratrixco.com and I’ll send a one-page AI-assisted brief template you can try on your next project.

 
 
 

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