write-outreach

name	write-outreach
description	Writes and evaluates cold outreach — email, LinkedIn, Twitter/X, iMessage/SMS, platform proposals — with signal-based personalization, channel-specific craft, and rubric scoring. Handles first-touch compose and reply-to-inbound modes. Use to draft or critique an individual outbound message. Not for campaign orchestration or sequence design (use plan-campaign), landing-page or headline copy (use write-copy), paid-ad copy (use write-ad), or sourcing/list-building. Brand voice: see create-brand.
argument-hint	[target/signal + channel + mode, or reply text to respond to]
allowed-tools	Read Grep Glob Bash WebSearch WebFetch
metadata	{"version":"1.2.0","budget":"deep","estimated-cost":"$1-3"}

Write Outreach — Orchestrator

Communication — Horizontal. Ready-to-send outbound across email, LinkedIn, Twitter/X, platform proposals. Multi-agent strategy → draft → voice → critic → humanmaxxing pipeline.

Core Question: "If I removed the personalization, would this email still make sense? If yes, the personalization isn't working."

Why this skill exists, philosophy, methodology, principles, scope boundary, when NOT to use, what it pulls from elsewhere, history: references/playbook.md [PLAYBOOK].

Critical Gates — Read First

1. Mode + channel + target + proof are non-negotiable. Missing-Input Hard Blocks fire (BLOCK) when any of these are absent and not resolvable from artifacts. Signal can be missing with weak-signal flag; prior_touches required for touch 2+.
2. One ask per message, low-friction in touch 1. "Quick 30-minute call?" in touch 1 is too expensive for zero trust. Default to interest-question CTAs.
3. You > me ratio enforced structurally. First sentence (after salutation) does NOT start with "I" or "My." you/your-count must exceed I/we/our-count. Critic auto-fail when violated.
4. Humanmaxxing runs ONCE as terminal pass with protected_tokens. Running humanmaxxing twice strips specificity. Post-humanmaxxing Specificity regression check is automatic, not judgment — drops ≥2 or named entity/number absent → revert to critic-approved draft.
5. Never argue with a "no" in reply route. Breakup mode is default for firm not-interesteds. Critic auto-fails any reply that re-pitches after clear rejection, regardless of dim scores.

Quality Gate

Before delivering, the critic agent verifies (5 dimensions, 0-10 each):

• Peer voice ≥ 6 — sharp human, no vendor-speak ("leverage", "synergy", "best-in-class", "I hope this finds you well")
• Signal connection ≥ 6 — personalization connects to the ask; remove-the-opener test passes (email shouldn't still make sense without it)
• CTA friction ≥ 6 — one ask, low-friction; no "30-min call" in first touch
• You > me ratio ≥ 6 — "you/your" dominates "I/we/our"; reader's world, not yours
• Specificity ≥ 6 — concrete proof (number, named outcome, named company); no "leading provider" / "trusted by many". Every proof line also passes the competitor swap test — if a rival vendor could send it truthfully, it's generic; independent auto-fail. Procedure: references/_shared/copy-validation-rubric.md (shared across the write-* skills).

Gate: Total ≥ 35/50 AND every dim ≥ 6. Total 35-39 with all dims ≥ 6 = PASS as DONE_WITH_CONCERNS. Any dim < 6 = FAIL regardless of total.

Below threshold → full Layer 2 chain (composer → voice-auditor → critic) re-runs with feedback (max 2 cycles).

After critic PASS, humanmaxxing is the terminal pass. Orchestrator then re-runs critic's Specificity dimension only on humanmaxxed text — if Specificity drops ≥2 OR any named entity/number present pre-humanmaxxing is absent post-humanmaxxing, revert to critic-approved draft. Protects the specificity anchor the critic just scored.

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Before Starting

Per references/_shared/before-starting-check.md [PLAYBOOK] — load product-context.md + icp-research.md + campaign-plan.md (if Route C), identify any prior touches for the same target slug, check freshness windows on ICP / product-context (>30d → recommend research-icp re-run with soft gate).

Artifact	Source	Required?
research/product-context.md	research-icp	Recommended — voice adjectives + accuracy constraints + proof points
research/icp-research.md	research-icp	Recommended — primary persona + VoC pain language
docs/forsvn/artifacts/marketing/campaign-plan.md	plan-campaign	Optional — if outbound is part of a broader campaign (Route C)
docs/forsvn/experience/product.md	(any skill)	Optional — Product — proof points key if user previously persisted

Pre-Dispatch

Run the canonical Pre-Dispatch protocol (references/_shared/pre-dispatch-protocol.md [PROCEDURE]).

Needed dimensions: mode (services-sell / saas-sell / partnership-sell / community-sell), channel (email / LinkedIn / Twitter DM / other), target (name + role + company), trigger (specific signal + strength 1-5), desired outcome (reply / call / resource open / connection accept), bridge (problem we solve that connects to trigger), proof (case studies + logos + metrics + testimonials).

Framework selector (strategist hook). From recipient seniority + decision profile (data-driven / emotional / brevity-obsessed) + relationship warmth, the strategist shortlists the top 2-3 body frameworks (PAS, AIDA, QVC, BAB, PASTOR, …) + a one-line reason, then commits to one. Library (structure + best-for + worked example per framework) + the selector decision table: references/frameworks/cold-email-frameworks.md. Distinct from structures.md (which picks message shape from signal strength); the two compose.

Full read-order + Warm/Cold Start prompts (7-question Cold Start) + Missing-Input Hard Blocks + Pre-Writing Assembly + write-back map + --fast behavior: references/procedures/pre-dispatch.md [PROCEDURE].

Mode Resolution

Per references/_shared/mode-resolver.md [PROCEDURE] — this skill is budget: deep; --fast flag collapses Layer 1b parallel (strategist + proof-selector) to sequential and skips the post-humanmaxxing Specificity regression check. --fast does NOT skip Cold Start, Critical Gates 1-5, or Missing-Input Hard Blocks (per marketing-skills CLAUDE.md "Safety gates supersede --fast"). Session execution profile (single-vs-multi): inherit per references/_shared/execution-policy.md.

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Agent Manifest

8 sub-agents across two layers (1a solo + 1b parallel + Layer 2 sequential + reply-route variants). Full table with per-agent focus, inputs, layer placement, and shared-reference loads: references/agent-manifest.md [PROCEDURE]. Shared craft catalogs: references/channels/, references/modes/, references/frameworks/, references/anti-patterns.md, references/proof-types.md.

Routing + Dispatch

Three routes — Route A (compose: first-touch or follow-up), Route B (reply handling), Route C (called by another skill). Full pseudocode (Layer 1a SOLO → 1b parallel → MERGE → Layer 2 sequential → critic gate + rewrite loop → terminal humanmaxxing + Specificity regression), spawn mechanics, single-agent fallback, chain position, skill deference: references/procedures/dispatch-mechanics.md [PROCEDURE]. Load at Layer 1a dispatch entry.

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Artifact Contract

• Paths: docs/forsvn/artifacts/marketing/write-outreach/[slug].md (final draft), [slug].rationale.md (angle + framework + CTA logic), [slug].critic-score.md (5-dim scorecard)
• Lifecycle: pipeline — overwrite on re-run for same (target, channel, touch); increment touch suffix in slug for new touches in a multi-touch sequence
• Frontmatter fields: skill, version, date, status, channel, mode, touch, route, critic_total
• Consumed by: human reader (Route A/B), plan-campaign (Route C — reads critic_total, touch, route, mode, channel, status for sequencing next touches)
• Cross-stack contract: schema changes require atomic update of format-conventions.md § "Frontmatter field order" — never silently drift

Full template + per-field format rules (slug derivation, channel/mode/touch/route field values, critic_total format, re-run convention) live in references/format-conventions.md [PROCEDURE].

Slug grammar: <target>-<company>-<channel>-t<N>[-suffix] (e.g., jane-acme-email-t1). Full artifact template (channel/mode/touch enums, critic_total format, slug derivation rules): references/format-conventions.md [PROCEDURE].

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Anti-Patterns

references/anti-patterns.md [ANTI-PATTERN] — ~50 banned phrases (zero-tolerance) + reply killers + 9 orchestrator anti-patterns + 4 cross-cutting marketing-stack rows. Re-read before any output ships.

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Durable Rules (protected)

Completion Status

Every run ends with explicit status:

• DONE — passed critic + humanmaxxing, ready-to-send
• DONE_WITH_CONCERNS — delivered, flags noted (stale ICP, weak signal, rubric 35-39)
• BLOCKED — missing target + ICP, or missing proof + product-context; state what's needed
• NEEDS_CONTEXT — recommend research-icp or provide prior touches

Next Step

After receiving the message: send, wait for reply or cadence (7-14 days typical), re-invoke with prior touches for next touch. For reply, use Route B.

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Worked Example

End-to-end Route A + FAIL-handling cycle-2 + voice-auditor BLOCKED + Route B (reply) snippet: references/examples/write-outreach-walkthrough.md [EXAMPLE].

References

• references/playbook.md, format-conventions.md, anti-patterns.md, proof-types.md
• references/procedures/{pre-dispatch, dispatch-mechanics}.md
• references/_shared/{before-starting-check, mode-resolver, pre-dispatch-protocol, marketing-foundations}.md
• Domain catalogs (loaded by agents at dispatch): references/channels/, references/modes/, references/frameworks/
• 8 sub-agents in agents/; critic.md holds the canonical 5-dimension rubric