Skill: Opening Line Discipline
Outbound that gets replies — named events, named buyers, sourced reasons, no 'noticed your company is growing'.
Overview
Cold outreach that the recipient knows wasn't blast-sent. Every opening Claude generates carries three elements: a named and dated event ('Tableau evaluation, May 2026'), a named stakeholder with their title (not 'your team'), and 2–3 sourced bullets explaining why-it-lands — the rhythm that gets replies in an inbox flooded with generic 'I noticed your company is growing' messages.
Use cases
BDR sequences with reply rates that aren't embarrassing
Every opening line cites a real, dated event from HG signal — Tableau evaluation in May, new CIO appointed in March — and addresses a named individual by title. Recipients can tell at a glance the message is for them, not for a list of 5,000.
AE intro requests that warm leads forward
Same pattern applied to intro requests: named recipient, named referral path, 2–3 bullets of why-this-meeting-matters. Champions are willing to forward an intro that respects their reader's time.
View full skill
Opening Line Discipline
When to use
- Authoring a workflow that produces outreach (cold email, LinkedIn message, intro request).
- Reviewing a generated opening line for triggers + targeting + lift.
The three-element rule
Every opening must contain:
- A named, dated event — "Tableau evaluation, May 2026", "new CIO Sarah Lin started in March", "Q4 earnings call mentioned cloud-migration target".
- A named stakeholder + title — "Jane Doe, VP Sales Operations" — not "your team" or "the leadership".
- Why it lands, in 2-3 bullets — not a paragraph; not a single sentence; the body of the message.
Missing any element → the opening reads generic and converts at the floor.
Why each element
Named, dated event says "I read your account, not a list". Vague references ("we noticed your team is growing") fail the test — they could be sent to anyone.
Named stakeholder + title says "I'm writing to you, not the org chart". A message addressed to "your operations team" gets routed to nobody.
2-3 bullets of why-it-lands is the body. One bullet is too thin; four is a sales pitch. Two-or-three is the rhythm that lands.
Anti-patterns
| Anti-pattern | Why it fails |
|---|---|
| "I noticed your company is growing fast." | Not named, not dated, not specific. |
| "Your team is in the market for X." | "Your team" is anonymous; X may not be true. |
| "I'd love to chat about your strategy." | No targeting, no specific value. |
| "Following up on my last email." | Implies prior contact that the recipient may not remember. |
| "Thought I'd reach out because…" + filler. | Filler before the signal — they delete on the first sentence. |
Composition
{Named stakeholder + title}, {Named, dated event} suggests {connection to your offer}.
Why this lands:
- {Concrete reason 1, sourced}.
- {Concrete reason 2, sourced}.
- {Optional reason 3, sourced}.
{Specific ask — 15 minutes, intro to a decision-maker, response to one question}.
The "sourced" qualifier matters: each reason should reference an HG signal, an SEC filing, or a public statement. Generic claims weaken the open.
Common pitfalls
- Using the company name without a title. "Hi Siemens team" sends to nobody.
- Citing intent without grounding. "Your team is researching X" needs a technographic + spend pairing to land.
- Closing with "let me know if you're interested". Replace with a specific ask — calendar link, intro request, single yes/no question.
Reference
hg-fai-vs-contact-search— naming the right stakeholderhg-recent-signals— what counts as "recent"stakeholder-card-discipline— verifying the recipient