Cold Email Skill

Cold email works when it's short, clearly about them, and asks for one small thing. Most cold email fails because it's a feature dump that's all about the sender. This skill writes a tight, personalised email built on a real trigger or relevance hook, with a single low-friction ask — plus the follow-ups that actually drive most replies. (For job-search / networking outreach, use outreach-message; this is B2B sales prospecting.)

Required Inputs

Ask for these only if they aren't already provided:

• Who you're emailing — role, company, and the segment/ICP.
• The relevance hook — a real reason to contact them now (a trigger event, a specific pain in their role/industry, a mutual connection).
• What you offer — the outcome you drive for people like them (not your feature list).
• Proof — a comparable customer, a result, a number.
• The ask — ideally low-friction (a 15-min call, a relevant resource, an "open to it?" reply).

Output Format

Cold Email: [offer] → [persona]

Subject lines — 3 options, short (≤6 words), specific, no clickbait or "Quick question."

The email (≤120 words):

• Opener — the relevance hook: something true about them (trigger, pain, connection). Not "I hope this finds you well."
• Value — the outcome you drive for people in their seat, with one proof point. One or two sentences.
• Ask — one clear, low-friction request, phrased to make "yes" or even "not now" easy.
• Signature — minimal.

Follow-ups — 2 short ones (send ~3–4 days apart): a value-add nudge (a resource/insight, not "just bumping this") and a graceful breakup email ("I'll close the loop — want me to circle back next quarter?"). Most replies come from these.

Note — what to personalise per prospect (the one line that proves it isn't a blast), and the one metric to watch (reply rate, not open rate).

Deeper Materials

• references/reply-rate-calibration.md — line-by-line calibration of what actually moves reply rates, with honest expectations

Quality Checks

• Under ~120 words and skimmable on a phone
• Opens with a real, specific relevance hook about the recipient
• Frames value as the prospect's outcome, with one proof point
• Exactly one low-friction ask
• Includes 2 follow-ups (value-add + graceful breakup)
• Subject is specific and honest (no bait)

Anti-Patterns

• Do not open about yourself ("We're a leading platform…") — lead with them
• Do not feature-dump — one outcome + one proof beats a capability list
• Do not stack asks or ask for too much ("30-min demo" cold) — make the first yes tiny
• Do not use fake personalisation ("loved your post!") — be specifically, verifiably relevant or don't claim it
• Do not skip follow-ups or make them "just checking in" — each must add a reason to reply

Based On

B2B cold-email practice — relevance/trigger-led openers, one-outcome value, single low-friction ask, value-adding follow-up cadence.

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Supporting file: references/reply-rate-calibration.md

Reply-Rate Calibration — what actually moves cold email, line by line

Field-calibrated guidance for judging a draft. Rates are directional (B2B, decision-maker targets); the ordering of what matters is the durable part.

The hierarchy of what matters (most → least)

1. Who it's from and to — right person ≈ 10× the best copy edit. A mediocre email to the right owner beats a brilliant one to the wrong department.
2. The first line in the preview pane — it's the real subject line. If it could open an email to anyone, it opens replies from no one.
3. The specific observation — one verifiable fact about them (their pricing page, their job post, their outage last Tuesday). This is the line that proves a human looked.
4. The size of the ask — replies scale inversely with commitment. "Worth a look?" out-pulls "Can we book 30 minutes?" roughly 2-3×.
5. Subject line cleverness — last, despite the folklore.

Line-by-line judgments

• Subject: 2-5 words, lowercase-adjacent, zero adjectives. Internal-forward energy ("data pipeline question") beats marketing energy ("Transform your data stack!") every measured time.
• Opener: never "I hope this finds you well" (reads as merge-field), never your company's founding story. The observation goes first.
• The bridge: one sentence connecting their situation to why you exist. If it needs two sentences, the targeting is wrong.
• Proof: one number with a name attached ("cut Meridian's close time 40%") — unnamed numbers read as invented.
• Ask: one question, answerable with one word. Two asks = zero answers.
• Length: 50-100 words. Above 120, reply rates fall off a cliff — it signals the sender's time matters more than the reader's.

Honest expectations to set in the output

Good cold email to well-researched lists: 3-8% reply. Anything promising 20%+ is selling something. Two polite follow-ups (day 3, day 8) roughly double cumulative replies; the fourth email converts relationships into spam reports.

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Supporting file: skills/outreach-message/SKILL.md

Outreach Message Skill

Cold outreach fails when it's long, generic, and all about the sender. The ones that get replies are short, specific to the recipient, and ask for one easy thing. This skill writes that — a message tuned to who you're contacting and what you want (a referral, a chat, a recruiter intro), with a hook that proves you didn't blast it to 200 people.

Required Inputs

Ask for these only if they aren't already provided:

• Who you're messaging — name, role, and your relationship (cold, 2nd-degree, alum, met-once).
• The ask — referral, intro, coffee chat / advice, recruiter follow-up, or reconnect.
• The context — the role/company you're targeting, and a genuine, specific reason you're reaching out to them.
• Your background — one or two lines of relevant credibility.
• Channel — LinkedIn connection note (≤300 chars), LinkedIn DM, or email.

Output Format

Outreach: [ask] → [recipient]

Produce the message(s) tuned to the channel:

• Subject line (for email) — specific and human, not "Quick question" or "Networking."
• The message — short (LinkedIn DM ≈4–6 sentences; connection note ≤300 chars):
  • Hook — the specific, genuine reason you're contacting them (their work, a shared connection, something real). Not "I came across your profile."
  • Who you are — one credibility line.
  • The ask — one clear, low-friction request ("15 minutes?", "would you be open to referring me?", "any advice on X?").
  • Easy out — make "no" graceful; it raises reply rates.
• A short follow-up — one polite nudge to send if there's no reply in ~5–7 days.

Offer 2 variants when tone is unclear (warmer vs. more direct), and a note on what makes it work.

Quality Checks

• Opens with a specific, genuine reason for contacting this person — not a template hook
• Short and skimmable; respects the channel's length norms
• Exactly one clear, low-friction ask
• Gives the recipient an easy, graceful way to decline
• Sounds like a person, with a credibility line — not a résumé dump
• Includes a polite follow-up for no-reply

Anti-Patterns

• Do not write a long message — every extra sentence lowers the reply rate
• Do not make it about you — lead with why them, then a tight credibility line
• Do not use a generic hook ("I came across your profile") — it signals a mass blast
• Do not stack multiple asks — one easy request, or none will be answered
• Do not be pushy in the follow-up — one graceful nudge, then stop

Based On

Cold-outreach / networking practice — specificity, brevity, a single low-friction ask, and graceful follow-up.