Your first week of cold outreach: a day-by-day checklist

The first week decides whether outreach becomes a habit or a one-afternoon experiment. This plan keeps the numbers small on purpose, so you learn from each email you send.

Day 1: Decide who and what

• Write one paragraph describing your best kind of client: industry, size, city, who signs.
• Write your offer in one sentence a stranger would understand on a phone.
• List ten yes or no questions that rule a company out.

Day 2: Build a list of twenty

• Find twenty companies that fit, by hand, from their own websites and public pages.
• Record where each email address came from. If you would be uneasy saying where, leave it out.
• Label each lead A, B or C. Plan to write only to A and B.

Day 3: Observe

• For each A lead, copy the relevant public text and paste it into your assistant.
• Record one observation and one angle per lead.
• Check dates. Old news is not a hook.

Day 4: Write and send ten

• Draft ten first emails under 90 words, each with one small ask and an easy no.
• Compare every claim with your pasted text.
• Send five in the morning and five after lunch, by hand, from your own domain.

Day 5: Plan the follow-ups

• Decide the angle for each of four follow-ups before any are due.
• Put dates in a sheet: roughly day 3, 7, 12 and 18, skipping weekends and holidays.
• Make the last touch a polite close.

Day 6: Reply and send the next ten

• Answer anything that arrived, the same day if you can.
• Thank anyone who said no. Remove anyone who asked you to stop, and note it.
• Send the next ten first emails.

Day 7: Review

• Count first emails, replies by type, opt-outs and bounces.
• Remember that twenty emails is a tiny sample. It suggests a direction; it proves nothing.
• Choose one thing to change next week, and only one.

Before you call it done

1. Is your domain set up with SPF, DKIM and DMARC? Ask whoever manages your email if unsure.
2. Do you have a Do not contact list that will outlast this campaign?
3. Did you read every email before it went?

From the second week the rhythm is simple: research in one block, write in one block, reply daily, review on Friday. Small and steady is kinder to your domain and to the people you write to.

The Leadloom workbook has this week ready to fill in, with a lead list, a sequence planner and a scorecard, and the playbook explains each day in more depth.