Always give Claude a role before you give it a task

Before you ask Claude to do anything, tell it who it is. This is the single highest-leverage prompt engineering technique, and most sales reps skip it entirely.

Why it works

Claude — like any AI — produces better outputs when it has a clear identity to work from. A role sets the tone, expertise level, writing style, and decision-making framework for everything that follows.

Examples

Weak: "Write me a cold email to a VP of Sales."

Strong: "You are a senior SDR with 8 years of B2B enterprise experience. Write a cold email to a VP of Sales at a 500-person SaaS company who recently hired a new VP of Marketing. The email should use a trigger-based hook, stay under 100 words, and end with a low-commitment CTA."

Sales-specific roles that work well

• "You are an elite enterprise SDR with 10 years of experience in financial services sales."
• "You are a MEDDIC-certified discovery coach."
• "You are a senior proposal writer who has closed 7-figure enterprise deals."
• "You are a Customer Success Manager at a SaaS company with 200+ enterprise accounts."

The rule

If you wouldn't trust advice from a random person on the street, don't ask AI without giving it credentials first. Role assignment is how you give Claude the right expertise for your task.