The Problem with Generic Prompts
Most people type something like "write me an email" and get back something that sounds like it was written by a robot reading from a template. Then they conclude Claude isn't very useful.
The problem isn't Claude. It's the prompt. When you give Claude no context, no target, and no constraints, it has to guess everything — who you are, who you're writing to, what tone to use, what to include, and what to leave out. The result is always generic.
The fix takes about 30 extra seconds of thinking before you type. This module teaches you exactly how.
The Context-Outcome-Constraints Framework
Every effective business prompt has three components. You don't need to label them or follow a rigid format — just make sure all three are present.
Five Business Prompts: Before and After
These are real business tasks that Southwest Florida professionals bring to our workshops. The "before" prompt is what most people type. The "after" prompt is what produces usable results on the first try.
1. Comparing Contractor Bids
"Compare these two bids for me."
Claude doesn't know what you care about. You'll get a generic side-by-side that misses what matters to your decision.
"I'm choosing between two HVAC contractors for our office renovation. Compare these bids on total cost, timeline, warranty coverage, and whether they include permit handling. Flag anything that seems missing or unusual. I need a recommendation with reasoning — I'm presenting this to my partner tomorrow."
Claude knows your decision criteria, your audience, and your deadline. The comparison will be actionable.
2. Writing a Client Follow-Up Email
"Write a follow-up email to a client."
No context about the relationship, the situation, or what you want to happen next. Claude will produce something forgettable.
"Write a follow-up email to a dental practice owner who attended our AI workshop two weeks ago. She seemed interested but hasn't scheduled a consultation. Tone should be warm and helpful, not salesy. Mention one specific benefit she'd get from a consultation (we'd audit her current patient communication workflow). Include a soft call to action. Two paragraphs max."
Claude has the relationship context, the specific value prop, the tone, and the length. One draft, ready to send.
3. Drafting a Job Description
"Write a job description for an office manager."
You'll get a template that could describe any office manager at any company in any city. Candidates won't know if they're a fit.
"Write a job description for an office manager at a 12-person real estate brokerage in Fort Myers. This person will manage the front desk, coordinate showings, handle vendor relationships, and support 8 agents. We use Dotloop for transactions and Canva for marketing materials. Tone: professional but personable — we're a small team and culture fit matters. Include salary range $45-55K and the fact that we're closed on Sundays."
A candidate reading this will know immediately if they're the right person. That saves you interview time.
4. Summarizing Meeting Notes with Action Items
"Summarize these meeting notes."
Claude will rewrite your notes in paragraph form. That's not what you need after a meeting — you need decisions and action items.
"Turn these meeting notes into a structured recap I can send to the team. Three sections: (1) Key Decisions Made, (2) Action Items with the responsible person and deadline for each, (3) Open Questions to resolve by next meeting. Keep it to one page. These are notes from our weekly ops meeting — team of 6, we're a property management company."
This produces a send-ready recap that actually drives follow-through. Paste your raw notes below the prompt.
5. Creating a Social Media Caption Batch
"Write some social media posts for my business."
Claude doesn't know your platform, your voice, your audience, or your goals. The posts will sound like every other AI-generated content.
"Write 5 Instagram captions for a family-owned Italian restaurant in Bonita Springs. Mix of: 2 about our specials this week (wood-fired Margherita pizza, house-made limoncello), 2 that show our personality (we've been here 15 years, our nonna's recipes), and 1 that asks a question to drive engagement. Keep each under 150 words. Include relevant emoji but don't overdo it. No hashtags in the caption — I'll add those separately."
Five captions with real personality, ready to pair with photos. That's a week of content in two minutes.
The Role Technique: Give Claude a Persona
One of the most powerful prompting techniques is also the simplest: tell Claude who to be.
When you say "You are my CFO reviewing this P&L," Claude doesn't just change its tone — it changes what it notices, what it prioritizes, and how it frames its analysis. The same data, reviewed through different lenses, produces genuinely different insights.
You are a fractional CFO reviewing financials for a small business. Look at this P&L statement and tell me: Are we spending too much on any category relative to our revenue? What's my gross margin trend? What would you flag if this were your client?
[Paste your P&L here]
You are a marketing strategist who specializes in local service businesses. Review our current website copy and tell me: Is our value proposition clear in the first 5 seconds? Are we speaking to our ideal customer's pain points? What would you change first if you had one hour to improve this site?
[Paste your website copy here]
You are an HR consultant who works with small businesses in Florida. Review this employee handbook section on PTO policy. Is it compliant with Florida employment law? Is it clear enough that a new hire would understand it without asking questions? Suggest improvements.
[Paste your policy text here]
Iteration Is the Workflow
The biggest mistake new Claude users make is treating every prompt as a one-shot. They type one thing, read the response, and either use it as-is or give up.
The real workflow is a conversation. Claude's first response is a draft — a starting point. The magic happens in the follow-ups:
First prompt: "Write a proposal introduction for a website redesign project for a law firm."
Claude responds with a draft...
Follow-up 1: "Good start, but make it less generic. Mention that their current site doesn't work on mobile and they're losing potential clients because of it."
Follow-up 2: "Better. Now make the tone more confident. We've done 30+ law firm websites. Show that experience."
Follow-up 3: "Perfect tone. Add one sentence about our timeline — we can have a new site live in 6 weeks."
Follow-up 4: "Great. Now give me this same content but formatted as the opening paragraph of a formal proposal document."
Four follow-ups, each taking 10 seconds to type. The final version is dramatically better than what any single prompt would have produced. This is how professionals use Claude — not as a vending machine, but as a collaborator you steer toward the right answer.
When to Use Projects for Reusable Context
If you find yourself typing the same context over and over — "I run a property management company in Cape Coral, we manage 200 units, our brand voice is professional but approachable" — there's a better way.
Claude Projects let you save context that persists across every conversation within that project. Upload your brand guide, your service descriptions, your team roster, your pricing. Then every prompt you write in that project already knows who you are.
Instead of spending the first 50 words of every prompt setting context, you just ask for what you need:
"I run a property management company in Cape Coral called Coastal PM. We manage 200 residential units. Our tone is professional but approachable. Write a tenant communication about upcoming inspections..."
You rewrite this context every time.
"Write a tenant communication about upcoming inspections next week. All units in Building C, between 9am-3pm Tuesday."
Claude already knows your company, your tone, your templates. Just ask for what you need.
Module 5 covers Projects in depth. For now, just know they exist — and that they're the bridge from using Claude occasionally to using it as a core part of how your business operates.
Put This into Practice
Pick one task you're going to do today — an email, a document, a decision — and write the prompt using the Context-Outcome-Constraints pattern. Then iterate at least twice.
The goal isn't perfection on the first try. The goal is getting to a usable result faster than you would have without Claude. Once you've done it three or four times, the framework becomes second nature and you stop thinking about it.
Ready for the next step? Module 3 shows you how to bring Claude directly into the tool where most business work actually happens: Excel.