Step 1 · from level 1 to level 2
Giving the tool what it does not know about you
At level 1, Claude knows neither your company, nor your letter template, nor what “firm” means where you work: it fills the gaps with an average. Taking the first step means replacing that average with your own information — once and for all in standing instructions, and with every request through the context, role, task, format grid. Then feeding a workspace with your documents, so the tool answers from your sources.
- You practise
- The example below, on three situations from a working week. Then your privacy settings, checked together over screen share.
- You leave with
- The method sheet, and your standing instructions in place.
- Sessions
- S1 and S2 — a full demonstration, the grid practised on a real letter, your first task built and tested on a real case.
- Tools
- Claude, on your own account.
A situation from your week
Level 1 · the blank page
« Reply to this unhappy client »
What the tool answers
Dear Sir or Madam, we sincerely apologise for the delay you have experienced.
As a gesture of goodwill, we would like to offer you a commercial discount.
We are doing everything we can to deliver as soon as possible.
Level 2 · from your documents
Subject: installation date for your bookcase
Dear Mrs Favre, delivery was scheduled for 20 August. On 11 August you asked us to change two dimensions; under article 6 of the contract, the lead time restarts when the new drawings are approved, which we received on 18 August.
Contract of 12 March, art. 6 · Email of 11 August
Installation is confirmed for 4 September, in the slot reserved as soon as the drawings were approved.
Drawings approved 18 August · Installation schedule
We remain at your disposal to prepare that appointment with you.
Standing instructions: firm and cordial tone, no gesture without approval
Not found in your documents
The email in which the client approved the drawings on 18 August is not among the documents provided. Find it and attach it before sending.
What you check before signing
The clause cited and both dates, in the contract and the email. The tone. Then you sign.
Fictional example: the facts are invented, the mechanism is real.
See what the tool knew about you
Your standing instructions
- Bespoke joinery, eight people, in Valais. Our clients are private individuals and architects.
- Firm and cordial tone. No commercial gesture without my approval. Always cite the document a fact comes from.
In your workspace
- The contract signed on 12 March
- The email exchange with the client since July
- The September installation schedule
The request, in four parts
context
A client disputes the deadline for her bookcase after asking for a change during production.
role
The workshop manager, who knows the file.
task
Reply by recalling what the contract provides and the confirmed installation date, with no commercial gesture.
format
A ten-line email, ready to sign, with the source of every fact.
The difference between the two answers is not the tool, it is what the tool knew about you. Step 1 is about giving it that once and for all, then checking what it does with it.
