Protocol ID: SAL-01Category: Outbound Sales

The "Spear"
Cold Email.

The Executive Summary

"If you are sending 500-word essays, you are spam. If you are sending 50-word questions, you are a peer. The Spear targets a 15-30% Reply Rate by respecting the executive's time (Mobile-First)."

  • Mobile First: No scrolling allowed.
  • 3-Sentences: Strict brevity constraint.
  • Soft CTA: Ask for interest, not time.

2. The Economic Reality (Math)

Most founders aim for quantity. The Spear aims for conversion.

MetricStandard (Spam)Spear Protocol
Open Rate20% (Reputation Burn)60% (Burner Inboxes)
Reply Rate1% (Annoyance)15% (Engagement)
Result (1k sent)2 Replies (0 Meetings)90 Replies (21 Meetings)

3. The Infrastructure (Prerequisites)

If your email lands in Spam, the copy doesn't matter. Build the rails first.

Step 1: Burner Domains

Never send from your main domain. Buy secondary domains (e.g. @getexeluma.com). Protect your primary SEO and invoices.

Step 2: DNS Trinity

SPF: "I am allowed."
DKIM: "I am unhacked."
DMARC: "Quarantine fakes."
Google blocks you without these.

Step 3: Warm Up

Do not blast Day 1. Use automated warm-up tools (Instantly.ai).
W1: 10/day. W2: 20/day.
Max: 50/day per inbox.

4. The Algorithm (Writing The Spear)

Component A: The Subject (Gatekeeper)

Mimic an internal memo. Lowercase. Boring.

BAD: "Unlock 10x Growth For Exeluma" (Ad)
GOOD: "growth at exeluma" (Internal)
BAD: "Partnership Opportunity" (Sales)
GOOD: "question about [Topic]" (Peer)

Component B: The Hook (Icebreaker)

First sentence must be about THEM.

"Saw you just hired a new VP of Sales—congrats on the Series A." (Specific).

Component D: The CTA (Soft Ask)

Never ask for a meeting (Marriage). Ask for interest (Date).

BAD: "Can you meet Tuesday at 2pm?"
GOOD: "Worth exploring?"
BAD: "Here is my calendar link."
GOOD: "Open to seeing how it works?"

5. The Templates (Copy/Paste)

// Template 2: The "Competitor" SpearSubject: question about [Competitor]

Hi [Name],

Noticed you're using [Competitor] for your analytics.

Most users we talk to love their UI but hate that it crashes with over 50k rows. We built [My Tool] to handle heavy data loads without lag.

Worth a chat if you're hitting those limits?

Best,
[Name]
// Template 3: The "Asset" Spear (Highest Reply)Subject: list of 50 leads

Hi [Name],

I ran a search and found 50 e-commerce CEOs in [City] that match your ICP perfectly.

I put them in a spreadsheet. Happy to send it over so your team can hit them this week.

Want me to send the file?

Best,
[Name]

6. The "Spam" Physics

How to land in Junk

  • HTML Heavy: Images/Logos > Text = "Newsletter" (Promo Tab). Fix: Plain Text Only.
  • Links First: Links in first email trigger filters. Fix: Ask permission to send link.
  • Trigger Words: "Free", "Guarantee", "$", "Click here".

8. The Connection

Generate Your Spear.

The Exeluma "Spear Generator" uses AI to scrape your prospect's LinkedIn and write the personalized hook for you.