> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.salesfinity.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # First-touch frameworks > Five ways to open a conversation with someone who has never heard of you: The Trigger, The One Problem, The Lookalike, The Short Question and The Switch. A first email has one job: get a reply, or make your call the next day a little warmer. It is not there to explain your product. These five frameworks each earn that in a different way. Read [how placeholders work](/sequencer/email-frameworks#placeholders) before you paste one into a step. Text in square brackets is for a person to write. ## The Trigger **Use it when** something has just changed at their company: a funding round, a new leader, a hiring push, a new office, a product launch. **Step type:** **Email (you send it)**, because the trigger is different for every account. **The shape** 1. The change, in one line, stated as a fact. 2. The problem that change usually creates. 3. A question that asks whether it is true for them. ```text theme={"system"} Subject: [the trigger, in three or four words] Hi {{first_name}}, [One line about the trigger. No "I saw that" or "congrats".] When that happens, [the role] usually ends up [the problem it creates]. Is that showing up at {{company}} yet, or is it handled? [Your name] ``` **Example** (made-up details) ```text theme={"system"} Subject: 12 new SDRs Hi Dana, Northgate has twelve SDR roles open this month. When a team grows that fast, the new reps usually spend their first weeks dialing voicemail instead of having conversations, and ramp stretches out. Is that showing up at Northgate yet, or is it handled? Alex ``` **Why it works.** The first line is about them and is checkably true, so it reads as written for one person. The question is easy to answer either way, and both answers start a conversation. **Make it yours** * If you have the trigger in your list, put it in a column and use `{{custom.trigger}}`. Then the step can be an automatic **Email**. * Leave out the trigger if it is more than a few weeks old. Old news reads as a mail merge. ## The One Problem **Use it when** you have a list of people in the same role and no specific trigger for each one. **Step type:** **Email**. The same words fit everyone in a well-built list. **The shape** 1. One problem that people in their role have, in their words. 2. What it costs them, in plain terms. 3. A question: is this you? ```text theme={"system"} Subject: {{title}} question Hi {{first_name}}, Most [their role] I talk to say the same thing: [the problem, the way they would say it]. It usually means [what it costs: time, pipeline, a missed number]. Is that true at {{company}}, or have you already solved it? [Your name] ``` **Example** (made-up details) ```text theme={"system"} Subject: SDR manager question Hi Dana, Most SDR managers I talk to say the same thing: reps make a hundred dials a day and have four real conversations. It usually means the team hits its activity target and still misses its meeting target. Is that true at Northgate, or have you already solved it? Alex ``` **Why it works.** A problem stated the way the reader would say it shows you know their job. You have asked for nothing but a yes or a no. **Make it yours** * Write one version per role. A VP and a team lead do not have the same problem. * One problem. If you list three, they remember none. ## The Lookalike **Use it when** you have a real customer the prospect would recognize as a peer. **Step type:** **Email** if one story fits the whole list, otherwise **Email (you send it)**. **The shape** 1. A company like theirs, and the situation it was in. 2. What changed, in one line. 3. A question that hands them the comparison. ```text theme={"system"} Subject: how [peer company] handled [the problem] Hi {{first_name}}, [Peer company] was in a spot that may sound familiar: [their situation, one line]. They [what they changed], and [the result, only if you can back it up]. Is {{company}} dealing with the same thing? [Your name] ``` **Example** (made-up details) ```text theme={"system"} Subject: how Brightline handled ramp Hi Dana, Brightline was in a spot that may sound familiar: fifteen new SDRs and a quarter to get them productive. They moved the new reps onto shared call blocks with a manager listening in, and stopped reviewing calls a day late. Is Northgate dealing with the same thing? Alex ``` **Why it works.** What a peer did is easier to believe than what a vendor claims. The story does the selling, and the question lets them place themselves in it. **Make it yours** * Only name customers who have agreed to be named, and only quote results you can back up. * Pick the peer for the reader: same industry, same size, or same role. * For an automatic step, put the peer in a column and use `{{custom.peer}}`. ## The Short Question **Use it when** you want the lowest-effort reply possible, or you are restarting a thread that went quiet. **Step type:** **Email**. **The shape** 1. One sentence of context. 2. One question. ```text theme={"system"} Subject: {{company}} + [topic] Hi {{first_name}}, [One sentence: why you, why now.] [One question they can answer in a line.] [Your name] ``` **Example** (made-up details) ```text theme={"system"} Subject: Northgate + outbound Hi Dana, I work with SDR teams that are adding headcount this year. Who at Northgate decides how new reps get their first conversations? Alex ``` **Why it works.** There is nothing to skim, and a two-line email is easy to answer in two lines. **Make it yours** * This is the easiest framework to send lazily. The context sentence still has to be true for the person reading it. * It pairs well with a call the next day: "I sent you two lines yesterday" is an easy opener. ## The Switch **Use it when** the account already uses a competitor, and you are asking them to replace it. **Step type:** **Email** if the tool each account uses is in a column of your list, otherwise **Email (you send it)**. **The shape** 1. Name what they use, plainly and without a dig. 2. The one reason teams move from it to you, said about you and not about them. 3. A question that lets them say whether they have felt it. ```text theme={"system"} Subject: {{custom.tool}} at {{company}} Hi {{first_name}}, I understand {{company}} runs [the job] on {{custom.tool}}. The teams that move from it to us usually do it for one reason: [the one thing you do differently]. Have you run into that, or is {{custom.tool}} doing the job? [Your name] ``` **Example** (made-up details) ```text theme={"system"} Subject: Acme Dialer at Northgate Hi Dana, I understand Northgate's SDR team makes its calls on Acme Dialer. The teams that move from it to us usually do it for one reason: they want each rep on several lines at once, so the hour goes to conversations and not to ringing. Have you run into that, or is Acme Dialer doing the job? Alex ``` **Why it works.** You show that you know their setup, and you don't tell them they chose badly. Both answers help you. "It's doing the job" tells you to come back at renewal. "Actually, yes" starts the conversation you wanted. **Three ways to run it** | When | Change it like this | | - | - | | You don't know what bothers them about the tool | Drop the middle line and ask about timing instead: "I'm not asking you to switch today. When does your contract with them come up?" | | A customer of yours made the same move | Send [The Lookalike](#the-lookalike) with that customer as the peer: what they ran before, why they moved, and how long the move took | | They could try you without leaving their tool | Offer a side-by-side: "Would you run both on the same list for a week and compare?" Only offer it if you can really run one | **Keep it honest** A rip-and-replace email is the easiest one to get wrong, because it is about someone else's product. * **Say only what you can point to.** State nothing about the other product unless it is on their own website or in their own docs, and note the date you checked. Pricing and features change. * **Talk about what you do, not what they lack.** "We do this" is a fact you own. "They can't do this" is a claim you have to prove. * **Don't mock the choice.** Someone at that company picked the tool, and it may be the person reading your email. * **Name only customers who agreed to be named**, and quote only results you can back up. **Make it yours** * Before you upload your list, put the tool each account uses in a column called `tool`. It becomes `{{custom.tool}}`. Only add people whose tool you know: a blank comes out empty, and **Preview as a sample contact** marks it **Would be blank**. * Write a [battle card](/coaching/battle-cards) for each competitor before the first call. When a prospect says "we're happy with what we have", the rep has the answer, and [Live Assist](/live-assist/overview) can put it on screen the moment the tool is named. * For the full sequence, see [Rip and replace](/sequencer/email-playbooks#rip-and-replace). ## Next steps The Heads-Up, The Double Tap, The Recap, The Right Person and The Not Now. Full sequences that chain these frameworks with call steps. This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.