Most people use Claude like a search engine. Type a question, read the answer, done.
But Claude isn't a search engine. It's more like an extremely capable colleague who can read all your documents, understand your business context, and actually execute work — not just answer questions.
The difference is massive.
Part 1: Context Is Everything
The most common mistake: giving Claude a question without context, then wondering why the answer is generic.
It's like hiring someone new and asking them to do the work without any briefing.
What you need to provide before asking for anything:
- Who you are (your role, your business)
- What you're currently working on
- Decisions you've already made
- What kind of output you want
Bad example:
> Make me a marketing strategy
Good example:
> I run a travel company in Labuan Bajo, Indonesia. Been doing this for 10 years. Target market: Australian and Singaporean tourists. Limited budget, team of 3. Help me build a digital marketing strategy for July-September focused on Google Ads and Instagram.
The difference in output is night and day.
Part 2: Preferences — Teach Claude About You Once, Use It Forever
Claude.ai has a Preferences feature in Settings. This is a permanent briefing that Claude reads every time you start a new conversation.
Fill it with:
- Your name and role
- Your business description
- Tools you use
- Tone you prefer
- Things Claude should never do
Without preferences: every conversation Claude doesn't know you. Starts from zero.
With preferences: Claude immediately knows who you are, what your business does, and how best to help you.
It's the difference between consulting with a stranger vs consulting with a mentor who's known you for years.
Part 3: Don't Prompt — Converse
Most people still use Claude like a form: one question, one answer, done.
The more powerful approach: treat Claude as a sparring partner.
The pattern that works: give context about your situation, ask for an opinion or first draft, push back on anything that doesn't fit, request specific revisions, iterate until you get what you want.
Part 4: Give Specific Roles
Claude performs far better when you assign it a specific role before asking for anything.
Example roles:
- You're a skeptical CFO. Review this business plan and find every financial weakness.
- You're my skeptical customer. Read this landing page and tell me why you wouldn't buy.
- You're a strict lawyer. Review this contract and flag everything that could be a problem.
- You're a brutally honest editor. Edit this writing without mercy.
Part 5: For Those Who Want to Build With AI
I once gave Claude a long prompt: "build a booking system for liveaboard boats."
The result was generic. Nothing related to my actual business.
It wasn't Claude's fault. It was mine.
Claude can generate code. But it can't know why operators prefer manual holds over automatic checkout, that European guests need invoices in EUR not IDR, that dive guides in Labuan Bajo don't all have email accounts. All of that has to come from you. And I had to learn how to explain it properly.
The formula that finally worked:
WHAT (what you want to build) + WHY (why it matters for this business) + WHO (who will use it) + CONSTRAINTS (real-world limitations) = useful output
Example that failed:
> Build a booking system for liveaboard boats
Example that worked:
> My operators need to see a cabin-vs-date grid. Each cell can be set to: available, hold, or booked. Holds can auto-expire after 1 hour or 24 hours depending on who placed the hold. Not all operators are tech-savvy, so the UI needs to be dead simple. Stack: Next.js + Supabase. Start with the SQL migration.
That second prompt was born from 10 years in the industry. Not from coding ability. That's the part AI can't replace.
Part 6: The 5 Most Common Mistakes
- Too short and vague. Give full context — audience, tone, goals.
- Not pushing back. Always challenge the output. Ask for justification. Test the arguments.
- One-shot mentality. Iterate. The first output is almost never the best.
- No examples. Always include 2-3 examples of output you like.
- Trying to do everything at once. Break it into steps.
Part 7: Quick Wins You Can Try Today
Things you can try right now, in 10 minutes:
- Set up preferences — go to Settings, add your business profile
- Review a document — upload a contract or proposal, ask Claude to find weaknesses
- Draft a difficult email — describe the situation in full, ask for 3 different versions
- Analyze competitors — share a competitor's website URL, ask for positioning analysis
- Spar on an idea — describe your business idea, ask Claude to play devil's advocate
You don't need to learn everything first. Just start with one.
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AI isn't about who writes the cleverest prompts. It's about who knows their own business most deeply and can translate that into clear instructions.
You already have that domain knowledge. Now you just need to learn how to talk to Claude properly.