Send it your spreadsheet —clients, sales, expenses, your bank export— and ask in plain language. No formulas, no pivot tables, no wrestling with VLOOKUP. You talk to it the way you'd ask your accountant, and it answers.
1. How to hand it over
Attach the spreadsheet (Excel, CSV, an export from your bank or your ERP) and ask away. The cleaner the sheet, the better the answers.
2. The usual questions, in a second
"How many clients do we have, and how much do we bill in monthly fees?"
"How much do we spend on average per month, and where does the money go? Give me the top 5 spending categories."
"Summarize this bank export: income, expenses and balance, month by month."
3. Analysis, not just arithmetic
Here's the difference from a formula: it interprets.
"Which client bills us the most and which the least? Is there any one that's dropped compared to last year?"
"Compare this quarter with the previous one and tell me what's changed and why I should be worried or pleased."
Exploratory variant: "Look at this data without me telling you what to look for, and tell me if you spot any trend or anything odd I might be missing."
4. Ask for the format you need
- "Give me a table sorted from highest to lowest."
- "Three bullets to present to the committee."
- "The headline: in one sentence, how's the month going?"
5. The nuance: help it understand your data
If your columns aren't obvious, say so: "the 'MRR' column is monthly recurring revenue and 'churn' is cancellations." And ask it to flag if the data is incomplete or looks like an error, rather than making up an answer.
6. From numbers to text
Chain it with writing:
"With these numbers, write me the month's results summary to send to my business partner, in a clear tone and without jargon."
7. Pro-level tricks
- Cross two sheets: "merge the client list with the billing list and tell me who hasn't paid."
- Cleanup: "find duplicates and rows with missing data."
- Ask how it worked it out: to trust an important figure, "explain where that number comes from."
8. Common mistakes (and how to avoid them)
| Mistake | What happens | Fix it like this |
|---|---|---|
| Messy sheet or merged cells | It misreads the structure | One clear header row and data in columns |
| Not explaining what each column is | It guesses and can get it wrong | A sentence clarifying the unusual columns |
| Trusting a critical figure without checking | Decisions based on a misread number | Ask for the breakdown and review it |
Try it now
"I'm sending you my billing spreadsheet. Tell me: how many active clients there are, total revenue for the year, the 5 clients that contribute the most, and whether any has dropped compared to last year. If any data is missing, let me know."