Talking Points

When To Use

You want help thinking about what to say, not a message that sounds written by a machine. You have chosen one reason to write to one person. This answers: what are the two or three things worth saying, and what does each one rest on?

When Not To Use

If you have not chosen a reason, run Reason to Write first. If the message is already written, use Message Checklist. If you want the message written for you, this is the wrong skill by design.

Inputs

• The reason you chose and why it is useful to them.
• The numbered facts from your briefs or scan, or links you paste; your Useful Material Match if you ran it.
• Any history of your own with this person or their organisation, in your words. If you have none of this, I start from the reason and one sourced fact, and mark the points as a first draft.

Approach

Talking points, not drafts, described generically. A point is a note to write from: what you could say, why it matters to them, and what it rests on. The judgement is in stopping before the sentences. The failure it prevents: three points pasted together and sent, which reads exactly like the outreach your reader has learned to ignore and sounds nothing like you.

Workflow

1. Ask at most three questions: the reason you chose, the one thing you most want them to take away, and anything you will not mention.
2. Pick the material for that one reason only. A congratulate point is about their event; a share point is about the thing you share and the fact that makes it fit; a conversation point is about the topic, never the service.
3. Write two or three points, each three or four sentences, as notes in the second person ("you could mention..."). Never in the reader's voice, never as lines ready to send.
4. Put a source on every fact: its fact number with link and date, or "your history" for something only you know. A fact I cannot source is dropped, not softened.
5. Keep your offer out. If a point only works when your service is named, it moves to "left out" with that reason.
6. Check against thin research: a thin brief gives thin points. Two honest points beat three where the third is filler.
7. No greeting, no sign-off, no assembled message. End by handing the writing to you.

Output Format

# Talking Points
Person: [name] | Reason (you chose): [reason] | What you want them to take away: [your words]
## Points
1. **[short label]** [Three or four sentences: what you could say and why it is useful to them.] Rests on: [F# / P#, link, date] or [your history]
2. **[short label]** [Three or four sentences.] Rests on: [ ]
3. **[short label, optional]** [Three or four sentences.] Rests on: [ ]
## Left out
| Point or fact | Why it is left out |
|---|---|
| [item] | [no source / private / only works next to your offer / you asked] |
## Decision
[Your name] writes the message in their own words from these points by [date], or decides the points are too thin to write from.

Done When

• There are two or three points, all for the one chosen reason.
• Every fact has a source or is marked as your history.
• No point mentions your offer or service.
• There is no greeting, sign-off or assembled message anywhere.

Quality Bar

• Points are notes, never sentences ready to paste.
• Nothing goes beyond the research and your own history.
• Nothing private and nothing guessed about the person.
• A point about them comes before any point about you.
• Claude gives points; you write every word of the message and send it yourself.

Next

Run reach-cold-email-outline (Cold Email Outline) to set your own words into a frame for a first email.

About the makers

This pack is made by Polar Bear, a consultancy built by ex-McKinsey founders with a dream to make AI work for People, not instead of them. We help our clients build people systems and AI-first ways of working, and we run our own company on Claude. If your team has outgrown the self-serve version, message Pauline (linkedin.com/in/paulinebertry).