Tools
Word processor, Claude (Projects)
Price
Free with Claude's Free plan
Time
Half a day, once
Level
Beginner

You ask AI to reply to a prospect. It writes a lovely message, but announces a delivery time you cannot meet and forgets your travel fee. The problem is not the tool: it only knows about your business what you told it in the conversation. Anthropic's documentation puts it well: treat Claude like a brilliant new employee who knows neither your norms nor your workflows.

This is the method I suggest before any AI agent project with a client: first write down what a new employee should read on day one. It works for any small business, whether it uses AI by hand in a chat or is preparing an automation.

The 8 documents to gather

  1. The company sheetWho you are, what you do in one sentence, service area, opening hours, public contact details, legal status. One page at most.
  2. The offerEach service: who it is for, what is included, what is not, the result for the customer. The "what we do not do" part prevents a lot of invented promises.
  3. The pricesRates, conditions (deposit, travel, rush jobs), validity date. If your prices are calculated case by case, write down the calculation rule and tell the AI never to give a final amount.
  4. The processThe real steps, from first request to invoice, with the lead times you actually meet, not the ones you would like to meet.
  5. The FAQThe twenty questions your customers ask most, with your real answers. Pull them from your recent emails and calls.
  6. The email templatesYour five best messages already sent (reply to an inquiry, quote follow-up, appointment confirmation and so on), with customer names and contact details removed.
  7. The toneFormal or informal, words to use and to avoid, message length, signature.
  8. The rulesWhat the AI must never do: promise a date, grant a discount, discuss a dispute. And when it should hand over to a human.

Writing rules that make the difference

  • One document, one topic. A separate "prices" file can be updated without touching the rest.
  • A date at the top of each file. When two versions contradict each other, you and the AI will know which one is right.
  • Plain text. Headings, lists, short sentences. A scanned PDF or a heavily formatted table reads poorly: convert it to Markdown if needed.
  • Facts, not intentions. "We reply within 2 business days" rather than "we are very responsive".

Here is the skeleton of the most important document, the prices. Copy it into your word processor and fill it in.

Template
# Prices and conditions
Last updated: [date]

## Rates
- [Service 1]: [price] [excl. or incl. tax], includes [what is included]
- [Service 2]: ...

## Conditions
- Deposit: [amount or percentage, when]
- Travel: [rule]
- Usual lead time: [real lead time]

## What the AI must never do with these prices
- Give a final amount without my approval
- Grant a discount
- Quote a rate that is not on this list

Give them to Claude, then audit them

Upload your eight files to a Claude project: a workspace with its own knowledge base, available even on a free account (five projects at most, 30 MB per file according to Anthropic). Step-by-step setup is covered in the tutorial make Claude answer from your documents only. In the project instructions, allow the AI to say it does not know, as Anthropic recommends.

Before the first real use, run this audit in a conversation inside the project. It is the step that prevents bad surprises.

Prompt
Read all the documents in this project. You will soon be answering my customers from these documents only.

1. List the contradictions between documents (prices, lead times, conditions), quoting the exact sentence from each document.
2. List 15 questions a customer could ask that the documents do not answer.
3. Spot vague sentences that could push you to promise something (deadline, result, discount).
4. Flag any customer personal data (name, email, phone) left in the documents.

Do not fix anything yourself and do not invent any answer: just give me the list, ranked by severity.

A real-life example: a cleaning company fills in its eight documents, then runs the audit. The AI notices that the FAQ promises a visit "within 24 hours" while the process says 48, and that no document says whether cleaning products are supplied. Two five-minute fixes, before a customer gets the wrong answer.

Good to know

  • Up-to-date documents beat complete documents. Plan a review whenever your prices or offer change.
  • Even with good documents, AI can make mistakes: keep a human review on everything that goes out to a customer.
  • These documents also help train an employee or a contractor. If you work with Claude Code, they pair well with a CLAUDE.md file.

Be careful. Do not put any password, full bank details or customer personal data in these documents. On a consumer Claude plan, check the "Model Improvement" setting in your privacy settings: it decides whether your chats may be used to improve the models.

Sources

Once these documents are ready, they become the foundation of an AI agent that answers your customers with your own rules.