Skill: Opening Line Discipline
Openers with a named, dated event, a named person and sourced reasons, instead of 'I noticed your company is growing'.
Overview
Cold outreach the recipient can tell was written for them. Every opening Claude drafts carries three elements: a named, dated event, a named stakeholder tied to their role in the first sentence, and two or three sourced bullets on why it lands. Intent-based events are described as activity, never as a decision, and every bullet rests on a real fact or gets cut.
Use cases
SDR sequences that start with a real event
Each opener cites a dated event from the research, such as a new CIO who started in March or research activity on BI-platform comparison topics since May, and addresses a named person by role. Recipients can see it wasn't sent to a list of 5,000.
Intent mentioned without overstating it
When the hook comes from intent data, Claude describes what happened ('engagement with vendor-comparison content in September') rather than 'your evaluation' or 'your trial', so one wrong guess doesn't cost the relationship.
Specific asks instead of 'let me know if you're interested'
Messages close with 15 minutes, an intro to a decision maker, or one yes/no question. If a proof point needs something only the rep knows, Claude asks for it after the draft rather than inventing it.
View full skill
Opening Line Discipline
When to use
- Authoring a workflow that produces outreach (cold email, LinkedIn message, intro request).
- Reviewing a generated opening line for trigger, targeting and lift.
The three-element rule
Every opening must contain:
- A named, dated event. "Research activity on BI-platform comparison topics since May 2026", "new CIO Sarah Lin started in March", "Q4 earnings call named a cloud-migration target".
- A named stakeholder and their role, in the first sentence. The first sentence names the person and ties the event to their role: "Priya, the reporting consolidation your CFO named on the Q2 call will land on the data platform you run." A greeting line alone doesn't count, and "your team" or "the leadership" never does.
- Why it lands, in 2 to 3 bullets. Not a paragraph, not a single sentence: the body of the message.
Missing any element makes the opening read generic, and it converts at the floor.
Why each element
A named, dated event says "I read your account, not a list". Vague references ("we noticed your team is growing") could be sent to anyone.
A named stakeholder and title says "I'm writing to you, not the org chart". A message addressed to "your operations team" gets routed to nobody.
2 to 3 bullets of why it lands is the body. One bullet is too thin; four is a sales pitch.
Intent-based events
When the event comes from intent data, word it the way intent-data-calibration allows. Describe the activity; never claim a decision.
- Good: "Research activity on BI-platform comparison topics since May 2026."
- Good: "Engagement with [vendor]-comparison content in September."
- Bad: "Your BI evaluation", "your trial of [vendor]", "your move away from [incumbent]".
Ground the event in installs before you send it: an intent topic on a product the account already runs at scale is not a buying event.
Anti-patterns
| Anti-Pattern | Why It Fails |
|---|---|
| "I noticed your company is growing fast." | Not named, not dated, not specific. |
| "Your team is in the market for X." | "Your team" is anonymous; X may not be true. |
| "I saw you're evaluating X." | Overstates intent data; destroys credibility if wrong. |
| "I'd love to chat about your strategy." | No targeting, no specific value. |
| "Following up on my last email." | Implies prior contact the recipient may not remember. |
| "Thought I'd reach out because..." plus filler. | Filler before the signal; they delete on the first sentence. |
Composition
{First name}, {named, dated event} {lands on / touches} {what their role owns}.
Why this lands:
- {Concrete reason 1, sourced}.
- {Concrete reason 2, sourced}.
- {Optional reason 3, sourced}.
{Specific ask: 15 minutes, an intro to a decision maker, or an answer to one question}.
"Sourced" matters: each bullet rests on a fact from the notes or a tool result (an HG signal, an SEC filing, a public statement). If you have fewer facts than bullets, write fewer bullets. Never pad with a general claim ("teams like yours often...") or a [placeholder]. If a proof point needs something only the user knows (a customer story), ask for it after the draft, outside the email.
Dates as given. Quote signal dates as they were given ("since 22 Sep"). Don't turn them into relative time ("this month", "recently", "last week"), and don't add years, budgets or plans the notes don't state.
Common pitfalls
- Using the company name without a title. "Hi Acme team" goes to nobody.
- Citing intent without grounding. "Your team is researching X" needs a technographic and spend pairing to land.
- Overstating intent. "Evaluating" in the data means page activity, not a trial. Use descriptive wording.
- Closing with "let me know if you're interested". Replace it with a specific ask: a calendar link, an intro request or a single yes/no question.
Reference
- Full docs for LLMs: https://phoenix.hginsights.com/docs/llms-full.txt
- Related skills:
hg-mcp-calling-rules,intent-data-calibration,hg-fai-vs-contact-search,hg-recent-signals,stakeholder-card-discipline