All levels
Your Focus: Outreach Writing
Stop rewriting AI drafts. Give AI one verified reason to write, then check and cut before you send.
Outreach writing means AI drafts your emails and messages from real research and your own voice, and you check and cut before anything goes out. To move up one level, fix what goes into the draft instead of rewriting what comes out: a verified brief, one clear angle and three of your own emails. This page shows what each answer looks like, how to tell which one is yours and a 30 day plan to move up one step.
In 30 seconds
- The question: "How do you write outreach with AI?" Four answers, scored 0 to 3.
- Your results tip: "Give AI a verified account brief and one clear reason to reach out, then cut flattery and filler. Read the draft aloud: if it doesn't sound like you, rewrite it."
- What moves you up is work you do before the draft: better inputs, so less rewriting after.
- The plan: one step up in 30 days, about 30 minutes a week plus a few minutes per email, then retake the assessment.
The four levels of outreach writing
Each answer word for word, what it looks like in a real week and what keeps people there.
Scroll sideways to see the whole table.
| Score | Your answer | What a week looks like | What usually keeps you here |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 of 3 | "I don't use AI for outreach, or I send what it writes with only light changes." | Every email is written by hand, or a one line request ("write a cold email to this VP") goes out nearly as AI wrote it | AI got only a name and a title. The draft looked fine, so you trusted it, or looked generic, so you gave up |
| 1 of 3 | "I ask for a draft and rewrite most of it because it sounds generic." | AI drafts, then you rewrite the opener, the pitch and the ask | You fix the output, not the input. With no research and none of your emails, every draft starts from the average |
| 2 of 3 | "I give it account research and notes on my voice, then edit for tone and accuracy." | Drafts start close. You fix tone and catch the odd wrong fact | Research goes in whole and unchecked, so the draft uses all of it: three hooks, no clear reason to reply |
| 3 of 3 | "I draft from a verified brief with one clear angle, cut anything generic, check every fact and make it sound like me before it goes out." | You pick the angle before you prompt, give AI only checked facts and send short emails | Nothing yet. The risk is drift: your favorite phrases harden into a template buyers recognize |
What changes between levels is where your effort goes. From 0 to 1, you stop trusting the first draft. From 1 to 2, the effort moves from rewriting after the draft to inputs before it: research and your voice. From 2 to 3, you narrow those inputs to one checked angle, then cut and check on the way out.
Where you probably are
- Check your results screen. Every area shows a bar with your score, such as "1 of 3." That number is your level here.
- Use the tie rule. When scores tie, Outreach writing comes fifth of ten, after Fact checking, Data safety, Workspace setup and Prompt structure. So it's probably in your three because your answer here was at or below most of your others. If Workspace setup or Prompt structure tied with it, they showed up first. Both feed this area.
- Match your profile. Each plan page describes this area at its level, or the habit behind it.
Scroll sideways to see the whole table.
| Your profile | Likely answer here | What your plan page says about it |
|---|---|---|
| Curious Starter (0 to 9) | 0 | No outreach step, but: "Generic output usually means missing context" |
| Occasional Experimenter (10 to 17) | 1 | An email that "could be from any company to any buyer" means: "Add your product, buyer and voice to your context file" |
| Capable Practitioner (18 to 24) | 2 | 2 answer: "Research plus voice notes, then edit." Next point: "A verified brief, one angle, every fact checked" |
| AI Power Seller (25 to 30) | 3 | No outreach step; its rule: "A person approves anything a buyer will see" |
If Outreach writing is one of your three, trust the bar over the profile. It's often a step below your other areas.
Your move up one level
Aim for one step, not the top.
From 0 to 1: stop trusting the first draft
Target answer: "I ask for a draft and rewrite most of it because it sounds generic." Not using AI for outreach yet? Draft one email a day in your company approved tool and rewrite it yourself. Sending drafts nearly as written? Every draft gets the 60 second edit first. How to Tell If Something Was Written by AI shows the tells to cut.
From 1 to 2: fix the input, not the output
Target answer: "I give it account research and notes on my voice, then edit for tone and accuracy." Before you ask for a draft, give AI three of your best emails as voice examples and a short account summary. Save the emails in your seller context file once. I Want My Emails to Sound Like Me builds the full voice kit.
From 2 to 3: one verified angle
Target answer: "I draft from a verified brief with one clear angle, cut anything generic, check every fact and make it sound like me before it goes out." Before prompting, write your angle in one line: a trigger plus a problem the buyer owns. Give AI only the facts that support it, each from a source you opened. One wrong fact in a confident email is a hallucination with your name on it.
Already at 3: keep it fresh
Your advanced tip: "Keep a banned phrase list in your context file and ask AI to critique each draft from the buyer's point of view before you send." Add your own overused phrases, not just the usual ones. Then take the habits to LinkedIn messages and follow up emails.
Example: Alex Rivera, prospecting rep at Ramplight (fictional rep and company from the course labs)
Alex answered 2 here. The brief on Harlow Medical Supply, also fictional, held three possible hooks: six open territory rep roles, a new product line and a podcast interview with Harlow's CEO. Alex's drafts used all three. In week 2, Alex wrote one line before prompting: "Six new reps at once means managers coaching in the gaps." AI got only the job postings Alex had opened, and the other two hooks were cut. Your angle will differ. Pick yours from your brief, not Alex's.
Your 30 day plan
Your results screen gives this area one tip. This page turns it into a month. Weeks 2 and 3 move your effort to before the draft.
What a draft needs before you hit generate
Scroll sideways to see the whole table.
| Input | Where it comes from | Without it, you get |
|---|---|---|
| A verified brief | Your research, with every fact checked against a source you opened (how) | Flattery, or a confident fact that isn't true |
| One angle, in one line | You, from the brief: a trigger plus a problem the buyer owns | Three hooks and no clear reason to reply |
| Your voice examples | Three of your best emails, saved in your workspace | The average cold email |
| An approved proof point | Your company's approved customer examples | An invented case study or number |
At 0 and 1, drafts usually start with none of these. At 2, research and voice, not yet checked or narrowed. At 3, all four.
Scroll sideways to see the whole table.
| Week | Focus | What to do | Done when | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Voice and one framework | Paste 3 of your best emails into your AI workspace as voice examples. Write one email using trigger, problem, proof and ask. Keep it under 90 words. Keep the AI draft next to what you sent | One email sent after the 60 second edit, with its draft saved beside it | About 30 minutes |
| 2 | One angle per email | Before each first email, write your angle in one line from a verified brief. Give AI only the facts behind that angle | 5 first emails, each with its one line angle written down first | 5 minutes per email, plus 10 on Friday |
| 3 | Check, cut, carry | Run the fact and filler check on every draft before you send. Carry the same account into one LinkedIn message and one follow up with a new angle | Every send this week has its facts checked against sources you opened | 5 minutes per send, plus 10 on Friday |
| 4 | Measure and save | Time one email from brief to send and compare it with week 1. Save your best prompt as a prompt template with {placeholders}. Retake the assessment | Two times written down, one saved template, new score | About 30 minutes |
Prompts for outreach writing
Run these in your company approved AI tool. Each matches a week of the plan or a step up.
Prompt
From 1 to 2, and week 1: find what the draft was missing
Below is an AI draft of a prospecting email and the version I actually sent. Compare them line by line. Sort each change I made into one of four causes: (a) you lacked a fact about the account, (b) you didn't know how I write, (c) the line was generic filler or flattery, (d) the ask was wrong. Count the changes in each group. Then tell me which input I should give you before my next draft to prevent the biggest group. Don't rewrite either email.
<ai_draft>
{paste the AI draft}
</ai_draft>
<what_i_sent>
{paste your final version}
</what_i_sent>Prompt
Week 2: pick one angle from your brief
Below is my verified brief on {company}. I'm writing a first email to {name}, {title}, and I sell {what you solve}. List up to 3 possible reasons to reach out now. For each: the trigger from the brief, the problem it likely creates for someone in this role, and the source in the brief that supports it. Mark any reason that relies on a fact without a source as UNSUPPORTED. Recommend one angle and write it in a single line. Then list which facts from the brief I should leave out of this email.
<brief>
{paste your brief}
</brief>Prompt
From 2 to 3, and week 3: the fact and filler check
Here's my draft email and the verified brief it was written from. Don't rewrite anything. Give me two lists:
1. Every claim about the prospect or their company, each matched to the line in the brief that supports it. Mark any claim not in the brief as NOT IN BRIEF.
2. Every line that could be sent to any company in this industry without changes, including warm ups, compliments and summaries of what we do.
I'll fix both myself.
<draft>
{paste your draft}
</draft>
<brief>
{paste your brief}
</brief>Prompt
Week 3: plan the next touches without repeating the angle
My first email to {name}, {title} at {company}, used this angle: {your one line angle}. Using only the verified brief below, suggest a different angle for each of the next two touches: one LinkedIn message and one follow up email. Each angle needs its own reason the buyer might care, and the source in the brief behind it. Don't write the messages yet. Flag it if the brief doesn't support two more angles, so I know to research more instead.
<brief>
{paste your brief}
</brief>Prompt
Already at 3: catch your own template
Below are the last 10 first emails I sent and my current banned phrase list. Find any opener, phrase, sentence shape or ask that appears in 3 or more of the emails. Those are my own habits, and buyers who get several of my emails will notice them. List each with how many emails it appears in. Suggest which ones to add to my banned list and which are fine to keep because they're how I really talk. Use only my emails.
<sent_emails>
{paste your 10 emails, names removed}
</sent_emails>
<banned_list>
{paste your list}
</banned_list>Try it now
Your first 15 minutes
- Open your company approved AI tool. Not sure which it is? Ask your manager, and use only public information until you know.
- Pick one prospect you'll email this week, with a trigger you've confirmed by opening the source yourself.
- Write a short draft, or take your last sent email to a similar buyer. Run this starter prompt: "You are a busy {title} who gets 80 cold emails a day. Score this email from 1 to 10 for how likely you'd reply, tell me where you'd stop reading, then rewrite it to score 8 or higher."
- Don't send the rewrite as written. Take the one change you agree with most, put it in your own words, check every fact and write down the score.
Your outreach writing checklist
0 of 9 done
Ticks are saved in this browser only.
Key idea
Outreach writing improves before the draft, not after it: one verified angle in, less rewriting out.
Related focus areas
Each will get its own page; until then, the guide next to it covers the same ground.
- Account research: your angle comes from a brief; a weak brief means a weak email. Guide: How to Use AI for Account Research.
- Fact checking: prospect emails are medium stakes, so every fact about the prospect needs a source you opened. Guide: How to Use AI for Account Research.
- Prompt structure: naming a framework and a word limit is structure, for every touch. Guide: AI Prompts for Sales.
Is voice your biggest gap? I Want My Emails to Sound Like Me is a 4 week plan for that alone.
Retake the assessment
Retake it at day 30. Answer from what you sent, not your plan: pick the answer that matches how you wrote outreach in a normal week. One step up here adds one point to your total.
Free assessment
What's next
Everything on this page is free, and so is the guide from your results: How to Write Cold Emails with AI That Don't Sound Like AI. For where outreach fits in a rep's week, see AI for Sales: A Practical Guide. The AI for Sales Certification covers it in Session 6: an 8 touch sequence built from your Session 5 brief, every touch edited. Lead a team? See team options.
Frequently asked questions
Is it faster to write outreach myself than to rewrite AI drafts?
Sometimes, at the 1 answer, because the draft starts with nothing. Give AI a brief, an angle and your emails first, so you edit instead of rewrite. Then time one email in week 1 and one in week 4.
What counts as a verified brief?
A short summary of the account where every fact has a source you opened yourself. A good one answers four questions: why this account, why now, why this person and why us.
Can I use the same angle for every touch in a sequence?
No. The first email uses one angle, and each later touch should add a new one, not repeat it. How to Write Follow Up Emails with AI That Add Value has an angle bank.
Why is Outreach writing a focus area when I already use AI for every email?
Because the question measures what goes into the draft and what you check, not how often you use AI. It comes fifth in the tie order, so it shows up when your answer here was at or below most of your others.
Not sure which reading order fits you? Find your path.
AI for Sales Certification
Write one email from one angle today
10 self paced sessions, an optional weekly live class and a graded capstone, all practiced on your own accounts. Membership is $50 a month. Add the $250 certification when you're ready.
Not sure where to start? Take the 2 minute assessment