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A Claude skill that turns features into an offer
One line, one paragraph, one page, and the rule that keeps invented numbers out of all three.
Nothing gated, no email address, MIT licensed, adapted from open-source work and credited below
Why this one exists
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.
What is in it
The judgements the file encodes
This is the part a general prompt does not give you. Each one is a decision we have already made and written down.
| It encodes | Which means |
|---|---|
| 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 | The upstream template required 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. |
Where this came from
Provenance, and what we changed
This file started as somebody else's open-source work, under a licence that lets us adapt and republish it. Here is the whole of what that means for this one.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Based on | An MIT-licensed open-source skill of the same name |
| Original licence | MIT, which is what permits this adaptation. |
| Adapted by | TheCold.Ai, on 2026-09-18. |
| What changed |
|
| This file's licence | MIT. Copy it, change it, use it with your own clients. |
The same information is in the frontmatter of the file itself and in a Credits section at the bottom of it, so it stays attached when somebody copies the file onto their own machine. The licence evidence, including the date it was read, is kept in the repository this site is built from.
The file
SKILL.md, in full
Exactly what is committed, frontmatter included. Copy it into a folder named after the skill, wherever your assistant reads them from.
SKILL.md
---
name: offer-definer
description: >-
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
metadata:
based_on: An MIT-licensed open-source skill of the same name
upstream_license: MIT
adapted_by: TheCold.Ai
adapted_on: "2026-09-18"
changes:
- British English throughout; dashes and emoji removed
- Every invented metric in the examples replaced or cut; a rule added that no number is written without a source
- A section added on offers priced on the outcome, with our own fee structure as the worked example
- Currency examples changed to pounds
- The proof line made optional rather than required, because a required proof line is how a fabricated one gets written
---
# 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 does
not want a product. They want the thing that happens afterwards, and they will
decide 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. An
outcome 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 three
different 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 an
advertisement, 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 one
sentence], so [why that matters commercially]."
Then break it into its four parts so the weak one is visible: who, what they
get, how, and why it matters. In most drafts the "why it matters" is missing and
the 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 the
figure. What you do, in one or two sentences. What they end up with. Proof, if
you have any.
Proof is optional here on purpose. A required proof line is how an invented one
gets 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. Some
are 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 to
sell and harder to write, because the offer has to name the event that triggers
payment precisely enough that nobody argues about it later.
Illustrative structure, not a recommendation and not measured from anything: a
fixed monthly fee that covers the infrastructure and the work, plus a fee for
each qualified call that the prospect actually attends, and nothing at all for a
no-show. Written as an offer, that is three sentences, and every one of them has
to 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-priced
offer. You have a retainer with an optimistic name on it, and the first month
will be spent arguing about definitions rather than pipeline.
The reason to bother: an outcome-priced offer moves the risk to the side of the
table that can actually control it, and that is the argument that gets a reply
from 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 with
an invented number is a liability that outlives the campaign, and outbound is
one 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, and
the 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 LinkedIn
version.
**What is wrong with the current version**, two specific things drawn from what
they 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.
---
## Credits
Adapted by TheCold.Ai, a B2B outbound agency in Middlesbrough, England, from an
open-source `offer-definer` 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.
MIT licensed. Copy it, change it, use it with your own clients. Save it as SKILL.md inside a folder named after the skill. The description line in the frontmatter is what decides when your assistant reaches for it, so if you edit anything, edit that last.
When to skip it
This is not worth your time if
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.
A benefit is fifteen hours a week back. An outcome is hitting the number without working Saturdays. The first is about the product's effect on a process; the second is about the effect on the person reading. Most offers stop at the benefit and then wonder why a true statement did not land.
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.