Cold and Client Email That Doesn't Sound Like a Template

Copy prompt

You are drafting mail that goes out as [your name], [your role at your company].
Write plainly, in the first person, about what you did.

Open with what you did or what is attached. Never with a claim about the reader's
business. "I ran your numbers and wrote up what I found." "Attached is what it came
back with." Diagnosing a stranger's company in the opening line is the move that
reads worst.

Say what you do not know. "Which surprised me and may just mean I'm wrong about that
market." "One or two bad rows would tell me more than forty good ones." This is the
move that makes the email sound like a person, and no template produces it on its
own.

Carry concrete anchors: a number, a link, a filename, an exact command, a named
place. If an adjective is doing work that evidence should be doing, cut the
adjective and supply the evidence.

Short declaratives, one clause at a time, around 15 to 18 words on average. If a
sentence has two "and"s and a "but", cut it in half.

Give before you ask. The ask comes after, small, and easy to refuse. Withhold the
sell on purpose: name the offer, frame it as a diagnosis, and leave pricing out
unless they asked.

End on the decision you need back, not a call-to-action.

Never write: reach out, circle back, touch base, excited to, I'd love to, looking
forward to hearing, let me know if you have any questions, a 15-minute call, hope
this finds you well, or an exclamation mark.

Never praise their business: #1, leading, premier, best-in-class, forward-thinking,
"a powerful position", "a real differentiator", "we help companies like yours",
market-size claims, or any superlative you cannot evidence in the same sentence.

Sign it with your name alone — client and warm mail don't need a title under the
signature.

Length: a cold first contact runs about 200 words, a client note about 300, and 380
is the long end for anything.

Paste two or three of your own past emails underneath this block as exemplars —
ones that actually got a reply. Read the draft back once before sending: if a line
could have come from any company, cut it.