Claude prompts for small business owners, ready to copy.

What makes a Claude prompt work for a small business?

Good prompts give Claude the real material, say who the output is for, fix the format and tell it what not to invent. Most weak output comes from a request that left one of those out.

Every prompt below follows the same shape. Replace anything in square brackets with your own material. Paste real notes, emails and documents rather than describing them. Then read the output as the person who will receive it. These are the prompts we use as the companion to altr's free Claude workshops for Tampa Bay small businesses; the next one is Tuesday, October 20, 2026 at COhatch West Tampa, and you can bring your own version of any of these to work on in the room.

Before you paste anything, know your own rules. Customer records, employee files, financial account details and passwords should only go into a business workspace your company controls, and some should not go in at all.

Which prompts help with customer follow-up?

Follow-up is where small businesses lose the most time and the most deals. These three turn rough notes into a message you can review and send.

1. Follow-up after a call

You are writing a follow-up email from me to a customer after a call.
Here are my rough notes from the call: [paste notes]
Write a short email that thanks them, restates what they asked for in
their words, lists what I promised and by when, and ends with one clear
next step. Plain, friendly tone. Under 150 words. Do not add promises
that are not in my notes.

Paste in: your raw call notes, even if messy. Check: every date and commitment matches what you actually said.

2. Reply to a difficult message

A customer sent the message below. Draft a calm reply that acknowledges
the problem, says what we will do, and gives a realistic timeframe.
Do not admit fault beyond what the facts support and do not offer a
refund or discount. Give me two versions: one shorter, one warmer.
Message: [paste message]
What actually happened: [one or two sentences]

Paste in: the customer's message and your honest version of events. Check: tone, and that nothing commits you to money or blame you have not agreed to.

3. Chase an unanswered quote

I sent the quote below [number] days ago and have not heard back.
Write a brief, low-pressure check-in that reminds them of the one thing
the quote solves for them, asks whether anything is holding them up,
and offers a short call. No guilt, no fake urgency. Under 90 words.
Quote summary: [paste]

Paste in: a summary of the quote and what the customer cared about. Check: that it sounds like you, and that the problem it names is really theirs.

Which prompts help with proposals and quotes?

Claude is good at structure and at reading like a buyer. It should never be the source of your prices.

4. First draft of a proposal

Draft a one-page proposal from my business to the client below.
Use these sections: the problem in their words, what we will do,
what they will get, timeline, what we need from them, next step.
Use only the scope and figures I give you. If something a proposal
needs is missing, list it at the end as a question instead of guessing.
Client and situation: [paste]
Our scope and pricing: [paste]

Paste in: the client's request and your scope and prices. Check: the questions list at the end, and every number against your price sheet.

5. Turn a scope into line items

Turn the job description below into a clear list of line items a
customer can understand. Group related work, use plain names, and flag
anything that sounds like more than one job hidden in one line.
Do not add prices. Job description: [paste]

Paste in: a job description or your own notes on the work. Check: that nothing you normally charge for has been merged away or dropped.

6. Pressure-test a proposal

Read this proposal as a skeptical buyer. List the five questions they
are most likely to ask, the one sentence most likely to confuse them,
and anything that sounds like a promise we may not be able to keep.
Be direct. Proposal: [paste]

Paste in: your finished draft. Check: which objections are real, then fix the draft yourself.

Which prompts help with documents?

Long documents are where Claude saves the most reading time, and where checking matters most. Ask for citations so you can verify quickly.

7. Summarize a long document

Summarize the document below for a busy owner. Start with three
sentences on what it is and what it asks of us. Then list deadlines,
dollar amounts, obligations and anything unusual, each with the
section or page it came from. If the document is unclear on a point,
say so. Document: [paste or attach]

Paste in: a contract, lease, policy, RFP or long email thread. Check: each item against the cited section. Summaries miss things; the citations let you check fast.

8. Compare two versions

Compare version A and version B below. List every change that affects
money, dates, responsibilities or risk, quoting both versions side by
side. Ignore formatting and wording changes that do not change meaning.
Version A: [paste]
Version B: [paste]

Paste in: both versions of an agreement, quote or policy. Check: the original documents for any change that matters. Do not rely on the comparison alone for a legal decision.

9. Write a process down

Here is how I do [task], explained out loud: [paste or dictate]
Turn it into a step-by-step checklist a new employee could follow.
Number the steps, note where a judgment call is needed and what good
looks like, and list any tools or files they need. Ask me about any
step that is unclear before you finish.

Paste in: a rough explanation of a task you do by hand. Check: that a new person could actually follow it. Have one try it.

Which prompts help with day-to-day operations?

Operations work is repetitive and written, which makes it a good fit. The last prompt helps you find what to hand over next.

10. Weekly status update

Turn these notes into a weekly update for [audience]. Sections: done
this week, next week, blocked or at risk, decisions needed. One line
per item. Put anything at risk first. Notes: [paste]

Paste in: your running notes, task list or messages from the week. Check: that nothing at risk was softened or left out.

11. Meeting notes to actions

From the meeting notes below, list every action item with an owner and
a due date. If an owner or date was not stated, write "unassigned" or
"no date" rather than guessing. Then list decisions that were made and
questions left open. Notes: [paste]

Paste in: meeting notes or a transcript. Check: the unassigned items, which are usually the ones that get dropped.

12. Find the repeated work

Here is a list of what I did last week: [paste calendar, task list or notes]
Group the tasks by type. For each group, estimate how often it repeats,
whether it follows the same steps each time, and whether it is mostly
writing, looking things up, or deciding. Suggest the two groups most
worth handing to Claude first and explain why.

Paste in: a week of calendar entries, tasks or notes. Check: the suggestions against what you know. This is a starting list, not a verdict.

How do you turn a good prompt into a Project instruction or a Skill?

Once a prompt works three or four times, stop retyping it. Move the parts that never change into a Project instruction, and if the task has steps Claude should follow every time, package it as a Skill.

1. Split the prompt into the fixed part (tone, format, "do not invent prices") and the variable part (today's notes).
2. Put the fixed part in the Project instructions for that kind of work, such as a "Customer follow-up" Project, and add a good past example as a file.
3. Make it a Skill when there are steps. A Skill is a folder with a SKILL.md file that says when to use it and how to do the job, plus any templates. Our guide to writing a SKILL.md that gets used walks through it, and the difference from connecting live systems is in Claude Skills vs MCP.
4. Keep checking. A saved instruction removes typing, not review.