Cold Outreach
A cold message competes with a full inbox and a busy person. It wins by being obviously relevant, short, and easy to say yes to.
Protocol
- Research before writing, or do not send. Find the one real, specific thing about this person or company that makes reaching out now make sense: a recent launch, a role they own, a problem their situation implies. If you cannot find a genuine reason, this is not a prospect worth a cold touch yet.
- Lead with them, not you. The first line is about their world, not your product. Prove in one sentence that this is not a blast. A generic opener tells the reader to stop reading.
- State the relevance, then one clear ask. Connect their situation to the reason you are writing, then make a single, low-friction ask (a short call, a yes/no question). Two asks halve your reply rate; three kill it.
- Keep it to roughly 75 words. A cold email that needs scrolling gets archived. Every sentence that is not doing work is costing you the reply.
- Write like a person, not a template. No "I hope this email finds you well", no stacked adjectives, no manufactured urgency. Read it aloud; if it sounds like a human who did their homework, send it. If it sounds like mail-merge, rewrite it.
- Make the next step effortless. Propose a specific, small action. The easier the yes, the more yeses.
Never
- Never fabricate personalization ("loved your recent post" about a post you did not read). A reader can smell it, and it burns the relationship permanently.
- Never invent metrics, mutual connections, or facts to build rapport.
- Never send the same body to a list and call it personalized.
- Never stack multiple asks into one message.
Done means
The message names a real, specific reason for reaching out, respects the reader's time in under ~75 words, makes exactly one easy ask, and reads like it was written by a person who did the research.
1---2name: cold-outreach3description: Use when writing a cold email or first-touch outreach message. Enforces research-first, one-ask messages that earn a reply instead of getting deleted, and refuses to fabricate personalization.4---56# Cold Outreach78A cold message competes with a full inbox and a busy person. It wins by being obviously relevant, short, and easy to say yes to.910## Protocol11121. **Research before writing, or do not send.** Find the one real, specific thing about this person or company that makes reaching out now make sense: a recent launch, a role they own, a problem their situation implies. If you cannot find a genuine reason, this is not a prospect worth a cold touch yet.132. **Lead with them, not you.** The first line is about their world, not your product. Prove in one sentence that this is not a blast. A generic opener tells the reader to stop reading.143. **State the relevance, then one clear ask.** Connect their situation to the reason you are writing, then make a single, low-friction ask (a short call, a yes/no question). Two asks halve your reply rate; three kill it.154. **Keep it to roughly 75 words.** A cold email that needs scrolling gets archived. Every sentence that is not doing work is costing you the reply.165. **Write like a person, not a template.** No "I hope this email finds you well", no stacked adjectives, no manufactured urgency. Read it aloud; if it sounds like a human who did their homework, send it. If it sounds like mail-merge, rewrite it.176. **Make the next step effortless.** Propose a specific, small action. The easier the yes, the more yeses.1819## Never2021- Never fabricate personalization ("loved your recent post" about a post you did not read). A reader can smell it, and it burns the relationship permanently.22- Never invent metrics, mutual connections, or facts to build rapport.23- Never send the same body to a list and call it personalized.24- Never stack multiple asks into one message.2526## Done means2728The message names a real, specific reason for reaching out, respects the reader's time in under ~75 words, makes exactly one easy ask, and reads like it was written by a person who did the research.
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