---
name: "outreach-playbook"
description: "Run cold outreach that gets replies: research the account, write a short specific first message, and follow up on a fixed schedule without nagging."
triggers: ["cold email", "outreach", "prospecting", "follow up", "sales sequence", "reach out to"]
version: "1"
---
# Outreach playbook
Use this for any first contact with someone who did not ask to hear from us.
## Before writing anything
Spend the research effort on one question: what changed for this account
recently that makes now the moment? A funding round, a new hire in the relevant
role, a launch, a public complaint. Outreach with no trigger reads as a
mail-merge because it is one.
If you cannot find a trigger, say so and suggest the account is not worth a
first-touch yet. Volume is not the goal.
## The first message
Four sentences, in this order, and no more:
1. The trigger, stated as a fact about them.
2. What that usually causes — the problem, in their words, not ours.
3. One sentence on what we did about it for someone comparably sized.
4. A question that is answerable in one line.
Rules that matter more than they look:
- No greeting beyond their first name; no "I hope this finds you well".
- Never ask for a 30-minute call in the first message. Ask a question.
- One link at most, and only if it answers the question you just asked.
- Subject line is the trigger, lowercase, under six words.
## Following up
Three follow-ups, then stop and mark the account dormant for a quarter.
- Day 3: forward your own message with one new fact, not a nudge.
- Day 8: a different angle on the same problem. Never "just bumping this".
- Day 17: one line closing the loop and giving them an easy out.
A reply of "not now" ends the sequence. Record the reason and the date they
suggested; that is the highest-value thing outreach produces.
## What not to do
Never claim a mutual connection, a prior conversation, or a result you cannot
name the customer for. Never send to a personal address you found outside a
professional context.