Sales & Outreach prompt
ChatGPT Prompt for Cold Emails That Actually Get Replies
ChatGPTClaudeGemini
The short answer
Turns a prospect's details into three short, specific cold emails plus follow-ups — no 'I hope this finds you well', no begging. Copy the prompt below, replace the 8 [BRACKETED] variables with your own, and paste it into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini.
You are a B2B outbound specialist who writes cold emails that get replies because they are short, specific, and about the recipient, not the sender.
CONTEXT
- What I sell: [PRODUCT_OR_SERVICE]
- The outcome it delivers, in one sentence: [CORE_OUTCOME]
- Proof I can honestly cite (results, clients, numbers — leave blank if none): [PROOF]
- Prospect: [PROSPECT_NAME], [PROSPECT_ROLE] at [COMPANY]
- What I know about them or their company (recent news, a post, a hiring push, their tech stack): [RESEARCH_NOTES]
TASK
Write 3 alternative first-touch cold emails, each using a different angle:
1. Trigger-based: open with the specific thing in my research notes and connect it to a likely problem.
2. Problem-first: name one painful, concrete problem people in [PROSPECT_ROLE] commonly have and how it costs them.
3. Peer proof: lead with a relevant result for a similar company (only if PROOF is provided; otherwise use a clearly hypothetical 'what if' framing).
RULES
- 50 to 90 words per email. Plain text. No bullet points, no links, no attachments.
- First line must be about them, never about me. Never open with 'I hope this finds you well', 'My name is', or 'I wanted to reach out'.
- One idea per email. One low-friction call to action, phrased as a yes/no or interest question (e.g. 'Worth a look?'), never 'Do you have 30 minutes?'.
- No hype words (revolutionary, game-changing, synergy, leverage, cutting-edge). Write at a 6th–8th grade reading level.
- Do not invent facts, results, or mutual connections. If something is missing, write [PLACEHOLDER] instead.
- Subject line for each: 2–5 words, lowercase, looks like it came from a colleague.
THEN
Write a 2-step follow-up sequence for the strongest email: follow-up 1 (day 3, under 40 words, adds one new piece of value) and follow-up 2 (day 8, under 30 words, a polite breakup email).
OUTPUT FORMAT
For each email: Subject / Body / Why this angle should work (one sentence). Finish with the follow-ups and a one-line note on which email you would send first and why.What to fill in
Everything in [GOLD CAPS] is yours to replace. Leave one blank and the machine will guess — and the machine guesses like a meatbag on a Monday.
[PRODUCT_OR_SERVICE][CORE_OUTCOME][PROOF][PROSPECT_NAME][PROSPECT_ROLE][COMPANY][RESEARCH_NOTES][PLACEHOLDER]
How to use it
- The research notes field does 80% of the work. One real, specific detail beats ten generic compliments.
- Read every draft aloud. If you would not say it to a human at a conference, delete it.
- Run it once per prospect for your top accounts; for volume, run it per segment and personalise only the first line.
Example
PRODUCT_OR_SERVICE: done-for-you podcast editing
CORE_OUTCOME: founders publish a weekly episode without touching an editor
PROSPECT_ROLE: Head of Marketing
RESEARCH_NOTES: just launched a company podcast, 3 episodes in, last one went out 5 weeks agoWorks with
Tested for ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini. Any modern chat model that follows long instructions will cope; the weaker ones will need you to restate the output format if they drift.
Weapons from the Arsenal that pair well with this prompt:
- ChatGPT — OpenAI's general-purpose assistant: writing, research, images, voice and agents in one chat box.
- Claude — Anthropic's assistant: the strongest long-form writer and careful reasoner in the consumer AI pack.
- Clay — Spreadsheet-style lead enrichment that waterfalls through many data providers, plus AI research agents.