For IT Consultants ·
What you'll accomplish
The discovery call ends and you're staring at a rough transcript, knowing you'll spend the next hour re-reading it and rebuilding your notes before you can even start the statement of work. Upload the transcript and your own SOW template to Claude, ask it to pull the scope directly from what the client actually said, and you get a first draft in one pass instead of a note-taking session followed by a separate drafting session.
This guide covers one SOW from one discovery call. It doesn't build a reusable intake form or chain several tools together. That's a separate, more advanced setup for later.
What you'll need
Export the transcript from whatever tool recorded the call (Teams, Zoom, or a dedicated note-taking app). You want the raw text, not just your handwritten summary, since the point of this workflow is pulling scope language directly from what the client said.
What you should see: A text file or document with the full back-and-forth of the call, usually with speaker labels.
Read through the transcript once and remove or replace anything that shouldn't leave your machine: specific dollar figures the client mentioned, any credentials or account numbers said out loud, and any third-party names or details the client shared about their own vendors or staff that go beyond what's needed to scope the work.
What you should see: A cleaned transcript that still contains everything needed to write an accurate scope, minus the details that were never yours to share.
Troubleshooting: If the client mentioned a specific number for their budget, note it separately for your own pricing decision rather than leaving it in the text you upload. You don't need Claude to see the number to draft the scope of work.
Go to claude.ai and sign in. Start a fresh conversation for this engagement so the context stays specific to this one SOW.
What you should see: An empty chat window with the message box and a "+" icon.
Click the "+" icon in the lower-left of the message box and choose "Add files or photos," or drag both files onto the chat window. Attach the cleaned transcript and your practice's SOW template in the same message.
What you should see: Both files appear as attachments above the message box before you send anything.
Troubleshooting: If your SOW template lives only as a Word file with heavy formatting, export a PDF copy first. Claude reads the text content either way, but a PDF keeps the section structure clearer.
Ask Claude to pull the scope items, deliverables, and any client-stated timeline directly from the transcript, and to structure the result using your template's own sections and headings, not a generic proposal format.
What you should see: A draft SOW with your template's section headings filled in with language traceable back to specific things the client said on the call.
Before this goes anywhere near the client, reread the deliverables and exclusions sections against the transcript itself. Confirm that everything listed as in scope was actually discussed, and that anything the client explicitly said was out of scope, or that you know should be excluded, is listed as an exclusion.
What you should see: A version where you've either confirmed or corrected every deliverable and exclusion, not just skimmed the draft for tone.
Troubleshooting: Claude sometimes infers a deliverable from context that the client didn't actually request (a reasonable next step, but not something they agreed to pay for). Cut anything you can't point to in the transcript.
Add your own pricing structure, since you deliberately kept dollar figures out of what you uploaded. Do a final read for tone. Then move it into your usual document for signature.
What you should see: A complete SOW ready for your standard review and send process.
Follow-up scope clarification:
The client mentioned wanting help with printer setup but didn't confirm
it as part of this engagement. Should that be in scope, an exclusion,
or a note to clarify before signing? Base your answer only on what's
in the transcript.
Timeline extraction:
Pull every date, deadline, or timeline expectation the client mentioned
in this transcript and list them separately from the main SOW.
Assumptions section:
Based on this transcript, draft an Assumptions section for the SOW,
covering anything the client implied but didn't explicitly confirm
(access, timing, existing infrastructure).
Tone check:
Read the Deliverables and Exclusions sections back to me and flag
anything that sounds like it came from general industry practice
rather than something the client actually said.