--- name: cta-designer description: >- Designs the ask at the end of a cold email or LinkedIn message so it gives something away instead of demanding a meeting. Use when asked what call to action to use, how to end an outreach message, what to offer a prospect, how to get a reply, or what to ask for at each step of a sequence. Use before finalising any outreach copy, because the ask decides whether the rest of the message gets a reply. license: MIT metadata: based_on: An MIT-licensed open-source skill of the same name upstream_license: MIT adapted_by: TheCold.Ai adapted_on: "2026-09-05" changes: - British English throughout; dashes and emoji removed - The friction rating rewritten as words rather than coloured circles - A rule added that nothing offered may contain a link in a first email - A rule added that an offered asset has to exist before the message is sent - The paid-on-attendance worked example added, which is how we are paid ourselves --- # CTA designer ## The idea Most outreach dies at the ask. "Would you be open to a thirty minute call?" is high friction, entirely about the seller, and offers the reader two options they both dislike: ignore it, or commit time to something they have not yet agreed is a problem. The alternative is an ask that carries its own value. It hands over something useful before anybody buys anything, so the reply comes from curiosity rather than obligation. A good ask: - Gives something useful with nothing attached to it. - Does not mention your product and does not pitch. - Implies no obligation. "Happy to send it over if it is useful." - Is specific to their situation: their sector, their role, a signal, a pain. - Needs one word or one sentence back, not a diary slot. ## Step 1: gather the context Before writing anything, check the conversation for: - **The company type**: sector, size, stage. - **The person**: role, seniority, the thing that actually keeps them busy. - **A signal**: something that changed recently. - **Your offer**: what problem you solve, and how. - **The channel**: email, LinkedIn, or a voice note. If the person's pain or your offer is missing, ask one or two direct questions. Do not produce generic asks. Specificity is the entire mechanism. ## Step 2: write five asks Produce five, across different angles. For each one give: - The ask itself, ready to paste into the message. - Its type, from the list below. - Its friction: low or medium. - One sentence on why it works here. At least three should be low friction. Never propose a call as the ask at this stage. The call comes after the reply, and it comes more easily then. ## The five types ### 1. The observation Name something public about their company and offer the analysis behind it. > "Noticed the second depot opened in Darlington. Put together a short read on > how firms handle scheduling across two sites without doubling the admin. Want > me to send it over?" Works because it is already personalised, they feel seen, and the reply is one word. ### 2. The comparison Offer them a view of where they sit against people like them. Almost nobody ignores that. > "Been comparing quote turnaround times across firms your size in the North > East. Most sit further behind than they expect. Want the figures?" Works because a comparison creates relevance instantly. Only offer it if you actually have the comparison. ### 3. The thing you already made Offer a specific, named asset tied to their problem. Not a guide. Something that sounds built. > "Wrote a one-page checklist on what to verify before a list goes anywhere near > a sending domain. Built it from cleaning up other people's. Want it?" Works because the asset exists, it is theirs to keep, and the specificity is what signals that you know the work. ### 4. The signal Use a recent event as the hook, and offer something that matches the moment. > "Saw the three new field roles went up last week. When headcount moves that > fast the handover usually breaks first. Put together how other firms sequenced > it. Worth sending?" Works because it is timely and it proves you looked. Do not open with congratulations. It is the most common opener there is and it says you know exactly one thing about them. ### 5. The question Instead of offering something, ask one sharp question that surfaces the problem and proves you know their world. > "Quick one. Are quotes still going out by hand, or has that moved? Asking > because most firms this size tell me that is where the week goes." Works because it makes them think about the pain. If the answer is no, or it is messy, they reply, and the reply is the conversation. ## Step 3: pick the top one or two | Situation | Best type | |---|---| | A strong recent signal exists | The signal | | The reader lives in numbers: operations, finance, analysis | The comparison | | The role has one concrete recurring problem | The thing you already made | | You know their specific situation well | The observation | | You want to qualify before offering anything | The question | | LinkedIn, where shorter is better | The question or the signal | | First email | The observation or the comparison | | Step three or later | The thing you already made, which justifies coming back | ## Step 4: fit it to the sequence Asks should change as the sequence goes on. Never use the same type twice in a row. - **Step 1**: observation or comparison. Establish that this is aimed. - **Step 2**: the thing you already made. Add value, prove the expertise. - **Step 3**: the question. Flip the angle and make them think. - **Step 4 and later**: proof, or the direct ask for fifteen minutes, once something has been given. ## Three rules the upstream version does not have **No links in a first email.** If the ask offers a document, offer to send it on reply. Do not attach it and do not link it. A first email from a domain that has never written to this person is the worst possible place to put a URL, and the offer works better as an offer than as a download anyway. **The thing has to exist.** If the ask offers a checklist, a comparison or a short read, that document has to be written before the campaign sends. An ask that produces a reply you cannot fulfil within a day is worse than no ask, and "I will put something together" is how a warm reply goes cold. **Say who is being asked.** In the UK, whether a person may lawfully receive a cold email depends on the legal form of the business, not on whether the address is a work address. Sole traders and ordinary partnerships in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are individual subscribers and cannot be emailed on a cold list, however good the ask is. That check belongs before the copy, not after it. ## Worked example Illustrative figures. These are not measured from any account. An agency is paid a fixed monthly fee plus a fee per qualified call that the prospect actually attends. Nothing is paid for a no-show. That changes what the ask has to do: a reply is not the finish line, and neither is a booking. The only event that pays is a person turning up. So the ask is written to produce a reply that can be qualified in one exchange, and the call is offered afterwards, in a message that already contains the thing the reply asked for. A calendar link in a first email produces bookings from people who were curious for four seconds, and those are the ones who do not attend. The general form: the more your commercial model depends on attendance rather than volume, the further down the sequence the meeting ask belongs. ## Quality bar An ask passes if all five are true: - The reader could use the thing even if they never buy from you. - Your product is not mentioned. - It needs one word or one sentence back. - It is specific enough that it could not have been sent to a thousand people. - There is no urgency and no pressure in it. If any of those fail, rewrite it before showing it to anyone. ## Not for you if - You want a higher booking rate this week. This trades bookings for attended meetings, and the first number usually goes down before the second goes up. - You have nothing to give away and no intention of making anything. Every type here except the question needs something real behind it. - You are selling something the reader already knows they need and is actively shopping for. Then the direct ask is the correct one, and this is friction. --- ## Credits Adapted by TheCold.Ai, a B2B outbound agency in Middlesbrough, England, from an open-source `cta-designer` skill published under the MIT licence. What changed is listed in this file's frontmatter under `metadata.changes`. The licence terms are reproduced in the LICENSE file of the download bundle at thecold.ai/claude-skills/. Not affiliated with Anthropic, or with the authors of the upstream files.