Outbound Engine
End-to-end cold outbound: ICP definition, expert panel copy scoring (recursive to 90+), infrastructure audit, capacity planning, and an implementation doc. This skill produces a strategy doc and ready-to-load copy for human review — it does not send. See references/workflow.md for the full procedure.
Core Rules
- Determine mode first (existing Instantly account with API key, or starting from scratch) before any other step.
- Run the three-phase workflow: Discovery & Audit → Expert Panel Recursive Scoring → Deliverables.
- Expert panel scoring target is 90/100 — non-negotiable. Iterate until reached.
- Show every scoring round in the final doc — the iteration trail is part of the value.
- Never send or push to the platform autonomously. This skill's output is a doc for human review. Writes/sends happen only after explicit human approval — see the Sending gate below.
- Use capacity math to set realistic volume and pipeline projections.
Operating Modes
Optimize existing — there is a live account to learn from. First questions: (1) Do you have an Instantly API key? (2) Which campaigns are underperforming, and on what metric? (3) Is there historical data to pull? With an API key, run scripts/instantly-audit.py to pull campaigns, account inventory, and warmup scores before touching copy.
Start from scratch — no campaigns yet. First questions: (1) Who is the ICP (titles, industries, company size)? (2) What do you sell, in one jargon-free sentence, and what is the primary offer (audit, trial, demo, call)? (3) What proof points are real and linkable? Use assets/icp-template.md to collect the ICP before writing copy.
The Three Phases (summary)
- Discovery & Audit — Determine mode. If audit mode, run the Instantly audit and flag any account with warmup score <80 or <14 days as NOT ready. Define the ICP, capture business context (offer, real URLs, proof points), and confirm the expert-panel roster. Detail in
references/workflow.md; ICP fields in assets/icp-template.md.
- Expert Panel Recursive Scoring — Draft the sequence, then score it with the 10-expert panel (
references/expert-panel.md), each scoring through their own lens. Each round emits a per-panelist score table, an aggregate, the top weaknesses, the edits made, and the revised copy. Score honestly — no padding to 90. Below 90: fix the top 3 weaknesses and run another round. At ≥90: finalize. Copy must follow references/copy-rules.md (and references/instantly-rules.md for Instantly variable/deliverability rules).
- Deliverables — Produce the strategy doc: brutal-truth analysis, ICP summary, infrastructure status, every scoring round, final copy for every step, implementation plan, capacity math, weekly metric targets, and STOP/START lists. Full doc structure in
references/workflow.md.
What the 90/100 Gate Means
90 is an operational gate, not a vibe. It means the aggregate average across all panelists hit 90 in a single round with no score padded to get there. Below 90, the copy is not done — identify the lowest-scoring lenses, address those specific weaknesses, and re-run. The point of the recursive trail is that each round names a concrete weakness and the edit that fixed it; ship the trail, not just the final copy.
Sending Gate (resolves Rule 5)
scripts/cold-outbound-sender.py and the write paths in scripts/instantly-audit.py exist but are gated. The default deliverable is the strategy doc. Do not invoke the sender or perform any platform write autonomously. Invoke cold-outbound-sender.py only when the human has explicitly confirmed the strategy doc is reviewed and approved AND explicitly asks to send. Always run --dry-run first and show the result before a live send. Never treat "build the campaign" as authorization to send.
Scope Note
The core skill is the three-phase design workflow above. Three scripts ship in this directory but sit outside that workflow and should not run unprompted: scripts/lead-pipeline.py (Apollo→LeadMagic→Instantly sourcing), scripts/competitive-monitor.py (competitor tracking), and scripts/cross-signal-detector.py (multi-source signal detection). Use them only on an explicit, specific request for that function.
Reference Files
| File | Purpose |
|---|
references/workflow.md | Full three-phase workflow with scoring criteria and doc structure |
references/capacity-math.md | Capacity formula, weekly metrics targets, add-on recommendations |
references/instantly-rules.md | Instantly variable syntax, sequence structure, deliverability rules |
references/expert-panel.md | Default 10-expert roster with scoring lenses |
references/copy-rules.md | Email copy rules (first sentence, CTA, stats framing) |
assets/icp-template.md | ICP data collection template |
scripts/instantly-audit.py | Pulls campaigns, accounts, warmup scores via Instantly v2 API (write paths gated) |
scripts/cold-outbound-sender.py | Sends approved emails — gated; human approval required (see Sending Gate) |
Related skills
- content-ops — expert-panel quality gate; the recursive 90+ scoring of sequence copy is a content-ops review pass
- marketing-shaper — produces the scoped outbound brief (ICP, goal, structure) this skill executes from