Cold email playbooks

A playbook is a full sequence: which email, which call, in what order, with what wait. Each one below is built from the email frameworks and from the four step types in the Sequencer. Build it once, and every rep on your team runs the same play. The Sequencer is in early access, on Enterprise, Enterprise+ and Admin seats for teams in the early access program.

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How to read a playbook

Each table is one sequence, top to bottom.

• Wait is what you set under How long after the previous step. A step’s wait starts when the step before it finishes: when the email is sent, or when the rep logs the call.
• Step is the step type to pick: Email, Email (you send it), Call or To-do.
• Steps only run inside your sending window, which is Monday to Friday, 8 AM to 5 PM unless you change it. So a “1 day” wait on a Friday lands on Monday.

Two settings do a lot of the work for you:

• When they reply is set to Stop the sequence on every new sequence. A prospect who answers never gets the next email.
• Email steps after the first send as replies in the same thread. Turn on Start a new email thread on a step that needs its own subject.

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Call-first cold outbound

The default play for a new list. Seven steps over about two weeks. The email makes the call expected, and the call does the selling.

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Trigger sprint

For accounts where something just changed: funding, a new leader, a hiring push. Short and fast, because a trigger goes stale. Five steps in about a week. To run step 1 as an automatic Email, put each account’s trigger in a column called trigger before you upload the list, and use {{custom.trigger}} in the template.

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Rip and replace

For accounts that already use a competitor. Seven steps over about three weeks. The emails ask and the calls listen. Nobody is told they chose badly. Before you start:

• Put the tool each account uses in a column called tool, so step 1 can use {{custom.tool}}.
• Write a battle card for each competitor on the list.
• Check anything you plan to say about the other product against their own website, and note the date.

Switching tools in the middle of a contract is a hard ask, so the renewal date matters more than the first call. When you learn it, move the person to Not now, later and set the wait so The Not Now lands a few months before the renewal.

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Find the right person

For when a call or a reply ends with “that’s not my area”. Two short steps for the person you reached, then a fresh start with the person they name. When you have the name, add that person to Call-first cold outbound and open the first email and the first call with the referral.

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Not now, later

For prospects who gave you a real “not now”. A slow sequence that keeps your promise to come back. Four steps over about five weeks. Change the 30-day wait to match what they told you. If they said “after the summer”, wait until after the summer.

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Re-engage an old conversation

For closed-lost deals and leads that went quiet months ago. Start from the Re-engage starting point, which is four steps over 21 days, and swap in these frameworks.

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No-show rescue

For a prospect who booked a meeting and didn’t turn up. Three steps in three days.

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Roll a playbook out to your team

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Next steps