Course resource
Outreach Templates
Cold email, follow-ups, and broadcast messaging — written to get replies rather than to get sent.
The thing that decides everything
Relevance beats volume, and it is not close. A hundred messages that clearly required research beat a thousand that did not. AI makes personalisation cheap; use it for that, not for scale.
The test: could this message have been sent to anyone else on your list? If yes, it will be ignored.
Cold outreach
Structure: why them specifically → the observation → what you do, briefly → a low-friction ask.
Write a cold email to [PERSON, ROLE] at [COMPANY].
What I know about them specifically: [FROM THEIR SITE, POSTS, JOB ADS,
NEWS — something real]
Why this is relevant to them now: [THE TRIGGER]
What I do: [ONE SENTENCE]
What I want: [A CALL / A REPLY / AN INTRODUCTION]
Rules:
- Open with the specific observation, not with me
- Under 100 words
- One ask, and make it small
- No "I hope this finds you well", no "I wanted to reach out",
no "quick question"
- Do not compliment them generically
- If I have no genuine reason to contact them, tell me so rather than
inventing one
That last rule is worth keeping. If the model cannot find a real reason, you do not have a prospect.
The research step first
Here is what I found about [COMPANY]: [PASTE — their site copy, recent
posts, job ads, news]
What is changing for them right now?
What problem does that create?
Which of my services connects to it?
What is the single most specific thing I could reference that shows
I actually looked?
Use only what I pasted. Do not add facts from your training data.
Follow-ups
Most replies come from follow-ups. Most people send one message and stop.
Follow-up 1 — new angle, not a bump
Original message: [PASTE]
Sent: [WHEN]
Write a follow-up that adds something new — a relevant example, a
different angle, or a useful resource. Do not restate the original.
Do not use "just following up", "bumping this", "circling back".
Under 60 words.
Follow-up 2 — make it easy to say no
Write a final follow-up that:
- Acknowledges they are busy, in three words not a sentence
- Offers a clear out ("if this isn't relevant, just say and I'll stop")
- Leaves the door open without being needy
Under 50 words.
The explicit out gets more replies than any amount of persistence, and the replies are more honest.
The cadence that works
| Day | Message |
|---|---|
| 0 | Initial |
| 4 | New angle |
| 11 | Different value — a resource, an example |
| 21 | Easy out |
| — | Stop |
Four messages. Then stop, genuinely. Add them to a list you contact when something actually changes.
Broadcast and list messaging
Whether it is email, WhatsApp or anything else, the rules are the same and the compliance stakes are higher.
Before you send anything to a list:
- Everyone on it opted in, and I can show when and how
- There is a working unsubscribe or opt-out, and it is honoured immediately
- The sender is identifiable
- It complies with the platform's business policy — messaging platforms have stricter rules than email, including template approval and time windows
- It complies with local law on unsolicited commercial messaging
- Personal data in the list is handled per your privacy policy
Buying a list and messaging it is illegal in many jurisdictions and gets you blocked in most platforms. It is also the reason cold outreach has a bad name.
The broadcast prompt
Write a broadcast message to [SEGMENT], who opted in for [REASON].
The message: [WHAT YOU ARE TELLING THEM]
Why it is relevant to this segment specifically: [REASON]
What I want them to do: [ONE ACTION]
Rules:
- Under [N] words — this is a phone notification, not an email
- Lead with what is in it for them
- One link, one action
- Conversational, not broadcast-voice
- Include the opt-out
Segmentation matters more than copy. A relevant message to 200 people outperforms a clever one to 2,000, and does not cost you the list.
Quality control
- Every fact about them is verified — wrong details are worse than no personalisation
- Name, company and role spelled correctly
- The specific reference is genuinely specific
- One ask
- Nothing invented about their business
- I would not be embarrassed if they forwarded it to a colleague
That last check kills most bad outreach.
Tracking
| Sequence | Sent | Replies | Positive | What worked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Track reply rate, not open rate. Opens are unreliable and measure nothing you care about.
When outreach is the wrong tool
- When you have no genuine reason to contact them
- When your offer is not clear enough to explain in one sentence
- When you have not talked to any existing customers recently — do that first
- When you are using it to avoid the harder work of being findable