---
name: "handle-a-reply"
description: "Use when a prospect writes back and the user needs the triage and the next draft."
triggers: ["prospect replied", "reply from a prospect", "triage a prospect reply", "respond to a cold outreach reply", "referral reply", "objection in a prospect reply", "prospect opted out"]
version: "1"
---
# Handle a reply
Use this when a prospect writes back. Start from the reply text or thread,
plus the target-list row behind it.
## Triage fast
Inbound replies jump the queue with a five-minute speed-to-lead target. Sort
the reply into one bucket: positive (propose a time and book it only once the
user says yes), curious (answer and ask),
referral (thank and spawn a new research row for the named person), objection
(answer once, then ask), or no (log it and close the row gracefully).
## Draft in the user's voice
One line showing you heard them, the answer or the ask, and one dated next
step. No recap of the pitch, no manufactured urgency, no pricing or discounts
promised.
## Update the row
Replied with the date, meeting when booked, qualified when it earns a deal
sheet, no or on hold when closed. Referrals spawn a fresh row at new with the
source noted.
## What you hand back
The bucket verdict, the unsent response draft, and the row updates. Log the
reply and its bucket in the outreach log.
## Fallbacks
An ambiguous reply means you label it UNKNOWN, give the two most likely
reads, and draft to the likelier one. An angry or opt-out reply means no
draft at all — log it, suppress the row, and say so in one line.
## Approval gate
Drafts only, nothing sends without your explicit yes.