Gmail Touchbase

Gmail Touchbase

Maintain professional and personal relationships through periodic, thoughtful email outreach.

Prerequisites

• himalaya configured (see gmail-multi-account)
• Contact CSVs with touchbase tags
• ~/.hermes/email-logs/touchbase-tracker.csv (auto-created)

Contact Tagging

Contacts must be tagged in their CSV with a touchbase_cadence field:

Workflow

Step 1: Check touchbase tracker

# See who is overdue for outreach
cat ~/.hermes/email-logs/touchbase-tracker.csv

Format: email,name,account,cadence,last_contact,next_due

Step 2: Scan sent folders for last interaction

# Check when we last emailed someone
himalaya --account ace envelope list --folder "Sent" --output json | \
  python3 -c "
import json, sys
msgs = json.load(sys.stdin)
for m in msgs:
    if 'target@email.com' in m.get('to',''):
        print(f\"{m['date']} — {m['subject']}\")
        break
"

Step 3: Draft touchbase emails

Per-account tone templates:

ace (Professional/Engineering)

Subject: Checking in — {topic/project reference}

Hi {FirstName},

Hope things are going well. I was {thinking about our conversation / reading about X in the industry / working on a project similar to Y} and thought of you.

{Personalized detail — reference shared project, industry event, mutual connection}

Would love to catch up sometime. Let me know if you have 15 minutes for a quick call.

Best regards,
Vamsee Achanta, P.E.
ACE Engineer Consulting

personal (Casual/Warm)

Subject: Hey {FirstName} — long time!

Hey {FirstName},

Been a while! Just wanted to check in and see how things are going.

{Personal detail — reference family, shared hobby, last conversation topic}

Let's catch up soon — coffee/call/lunch sometime?

Best,
Vamsee

skestates (Business/Formal)

Subject: {Topic} — SKEstates Inc

Dear {FirstName},

I wanted to follow up regarding {specific business matter}.

{Business-relevant detail}

Please let me know if you need anything from our side.

Best regards,
SKEstates Inc
skestatesinc@gmail.com

Step 4: Queue for approval

NEVER send touchbase emails automatically. Always:

1. Present draft to user
2. Wait for approval/edits
3. Send only after explicit "send it" confirmation

Step 5: Update tracker

After sending:

# Log the touchbase
echo "target@email.com,FirstName LastName,ace,quarterly,$(date +%Y-%m-%d),$(date -d '+3 months' +%Y-%m-%d)" >> ~/.hermes/email-logs/touchbase-tracker.csv

Touchbase Candidates by Account

ace — Engineering Network

Priority contacts:

• Former colleagues at lng-a, McDermott, Trendsetter, etc.
• GTM prospect pipeline (link to aceengineer-strategy/)
• SPE/OTC conference connections
• Cadence: monthly for active prospects, quarterly for network

personal — Personal Network

Priority contacts:

• Close friends and family (check, don't email — text/call better)
• Alumni network (TAMU)
• Career mentors/mentees
• Cadence: quarterly for professional, biannual for loose ties

skestates — Business Contacts

Priority contacts:

• Property management contacts
• Tax advisor, CPA, attorney
• Insurance agent
• Cadence: quarterly for advisors, biannual for others

Automation

Weekly reminder cron:

# Every Monday at 8 AM CT
0 8 * * 1 hermes "Load gmail-touchbase. Check touchbase tracker for overdue contacts this week. Report who needs outreach — do not draft or send."

Pitfalls

1. NEVER send without user approval — touchbase is relationship-critical
2. Don't touchbase people who recently emailed us — check inbox first
3. Personalization is key — generic "just checking in" emails are worse than none
4. Respect unsubscribe: if someone doesn't reply to 2 consecutive touchbases, reduce cadence
5. Don't touchbase clients with active billing disputes
6. Track all outreach in CSV to avoid double-contacting