---name: offer-definerdescription: >- Turns a product description or a list of features into an offer somebody would reply to, at three lengths. Use when asked how to frame an offer, what to say in a cold email, how to pitch a product, how to explain what we do, how to turn features into outcomes, or for a one-liner or value proposition. Use after the audience is decided and before any outreach copy is written, because copy cannot rescue an offer nobody wants.license: MIT--- # Offer definer You turn "what we do" into "what you get", in language somebody would answer. The problem with most outreach is that it describes the product. The reader doesnot want a product. They want the thing that happens afterwards, and they willdecide whether to keep reading in about four seconds. Weak: "An AI-powered personalisation platform with fifty integrations."Better: "Three times the meetings without another salesperson." The second is only better if it is true, which is where most of the work is. ## Step 1: get to the outcome Ask for, or extract from their website: - What do you do? Their own answer, usually about features.- Who is it for?- What problem does it solve?- What is different after somebody uses it?- What does it cost them to do nothing?- Any results you can name and stand behind. Then climb the ladder. Most descriptions stop two rungs too early. | Rung | Example ||---|---|| Feature | Automated personalisation || Capability | A thousand messages researched in an evening || Benefit | Fifteen hours a week back || Outcome | Quota without working Saturdays | Always reach the outcome. A benefit is what the product does for their diary. Anoutcome is what it does for their year. ## Step 2: write it at three lengths ### One line For subject lines, openers and first impressions. Three variations, in threedifferent shapes: - Outcome and speed: "[Verb] [outcome] in [time]"- Outcome and effort saved: "[Verb] [outcome] without [thing they hate]"- The move: "From [where they are] to [where they want to be]" Lead with the outcome. Be specific. Stay believable. If a line sounds like anadvertisement, it will be read as one. ### One paragraph For an email body or a LinkedIn message. "We help [a specific audience] [a measurable outcome] by [the approach in onesentence], so [why that matters commercially]." Then break it into its four parts so the weak one is visible: who, what theyget, how, and why it matters. In most drafts the "why it matters" is missing andthe writer has not noticed. ### The full offer For a page or a call. Problem, in their words. What it is costing, quantified if you can source thefigure. What you do, in one or two sentences. What they end up with. Proof, ifyou have any. Proof is optional here on purpose. A required proof line is how an invented onegets written. If there is no proof yet, say what you are confident of and why,and leave the space empty. ## Step 3: cut it to the channel - **Subject line**: five to seven words, about them, teasing the outcome rather than describing the email.- **Email opener**: two sentences. Something observed, then the outcome.- **LinkedIn**: about eighty characters. A question or an observation, never a paragraph. ## Offers priced on the outcome Worth its own section, because it changes what the offer has to say. Most B2B offers are priced on the work: a retainer, a day rate, a licence. Someare priced on the result: a fee per qualified meeting that the prospect attends,a fee per placement, a share of what is recovered. The second kind is easier tosell and harder to write, because the offer has to name the event that triggerspayment precisely enough that nobody argues about it later. Illustrative structure, not a recommendation and not measured from anything: afixed monthly fee that covers the infrastructure and the work, plus a fee foreach qualified call that the prospect actually attends, and nothing at all for ano-show. Written as an offer, that is three sentences, and every one of them hasto survive a lawyer: - What counts as qualified, decided by criteria the buyer agreed before the campaign started.- What counts as attended, and who decides.- What happens when a meeting is rebooked rather than missed. If you cannot write those three sentences, you do not have an outcome-pricedoffer. You have a retainer with an optimistic name on it, and the first monthwill be spent arguing about definitions rather than pipeline. The reason to bother: an outcome-priced offer moves the risk to the side of thetable that can actually control it, and that is the argument that gets a replyfrom somebody who has been burned before. ## Numbers No figure appears in an offer unless you can say where it came from. - A result from your own work: name the client, or the sector and the period.- A published figure: name who published it and when.- An illustration: label it as one, in the sentence, not in a footnote. An offer with a specific number is far stronger than one without. An offer withan invented number is a liability that outlives the campaign, and outbound isone of the few channels where the recipient keeps the evidence. ## What to output **The offer.** One sentence, the audience, the pain it answers, the outcome, andthe proof if there is any. **The three one-liners**, each labelled with its shape. **The paragraph**, then its four parts listed separately. **The full offer**, in the five parts above. **By channel**: three subject lines, the two-sentence opener, the LinkedInversion. **What is wrong with the current version**, two specific things drawn from whatthey gave you rather than from a list of common mistakes. ## Quality bar Before handing anything over, check each version: - Does it survive "so what?" asked twice?- Is it specific: a number, a timeframe, a named audience?- Is it believable to somebody who is sceptical by default?- Is it in plain words?- Is it about what they get rather than what you do?- Can every number in it be sourced? If the answer to the last one is no, cut the number rather than softening it. ## Not for you if - You want a positioning exercise. This writes the offer for outreach, which is narrower and more disposable than positioning.- You have no audience yet. An offer written before the audience is a guess with formatting.- Your product genuinely is the outcome and everybody knows it. Some things are bought by name, and dressing them up costs you. The problem with most outreach is that it describes a product, and nobody wants a product. They want what happens afterwards. This file climbs from the feature to the outcome, writes the offer at the three lengths outbound actually needs, and adds two things the original did not have: a section on offers priced on the result rather than the work, and a rule that no figure appears unless you can say where it came from.
The ladder, and where most descriptions stop
Feature, capability, benefit, outcome. A benefit is what the product does for their diary; an outcome is what it does for their year. Most drafts stop two rungs early, which is why they read as descriptions rather than as offers.
Three lengths, because outbound needs three
One line for a subject or an opener, one paragraph for the body of an email, one page for a call. They are the same offer at three resolutions, and writing the paragraph before the line is what stops the line from being a slogan.
Offers priced on the outcome, and the three sentences they need
A fee per result is easier to sell and harder to write. The file makes you name what counts as qualified, what counts as delivered, and what happens when it is rescheduled rather than missed. If you cannot write those three sentences you have a retainer with an optimistic name on it.
Proof is optional, on purpose
Most offer templates require a proof line. A required proof line is how an invented one gets written. Here, if there is no proof yet, you say what you are confident of and why, and the space stays empty until there is something true to put in it.
Every number carries its source
Your own result names the client or the sector and the period. A published figure names who published it. An illustration says so in the sentence rather than in a footnote. An offer with a specific number is far stronger than one without, and an offer with an invented one is a liability that outlives the campaign.
Written here, from the first line, and kept current by the people who send with it.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Written by | TheCold.Ai, a B2B outbound agency in England. |
| Published | 2026-09-18, and revised in place since. There is no draft flag on a skill, so nothing goes in that we would want back. |
| This file's licence | MIT. Copy it, change it, use it with your own clients. |
This is not worth your time if any of these is true. We would rather you closed the tab than installed something that cannot help you.
- You want a positioning exercise. This writes the offer for outreach, which is narrower and more disposable than positioning.
- You have no audience yet. An offer written before the audience is a guess with formatting.
- Your product is bought by name and everybody knows what it is. Then dressing it up costs you.
Want it run for you instead?
These files are the judgement. The sending infrastructure, the lists and the replies are what we run daily for clients.
Questions about this skill
Straight answers. If yours isn't here, ask it on the call: we'd rather tell you no than sell you the wrong thing.
What is the difference between a benefit and an outcome?
Why is the proof line optional?
What is an outcome-priced offer?
The rest of offer and angle: cta-designer. Everything sits on the library page, next to the ask at the end of the email, which is the one people usually want after this. What we do for money is outbound, and none of it is a condition of using this.
Claude is a product of Anthropic. TheCold.Ai is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to Anthropic.