Writing Outreach That Sounds Like a Human Who Did Homework
A guide to writing outreach that sounds like sales reps did their homework into the buyer: Six signals separate humans with research from templates or AI.
Why This Voice
Buyers pattern-match every cold message into template, AI, or human. The voice is the cheapest signal of which category the message belongs to.
Six Human Signals
Varied sentence length, light contractions, one specific fact, one direct claim, one light ask, clean sign-off without re-pitching.
Practical Workflow
Draft from a strategy brief, AI first pass, rep edit for signals, read aloud once. The 60-second edit is non-negotiable.
Three Quick Tests
Read-aloud catches stiffness. AI-tells scan catches generic phrasing. Smart-friend test catches over-formality.
Common Mistakes
Asking AI to be more human, over-correcting toward casualness, and closing with a re-pitch are the three failures that undermine the voice.