A normal cold email asks a stranger for trust before you have earned any. You say you build good websites, they have heard that from nine other people this month, and nothing happens. A demo flips the order. You show them a working version of their own business, looking better, with their real name and services on it. There is nothing to imagine and nothing to take on faith, which is why the reply rate is not remotely comparable.
The reason this used to stay theoretical is that building a bespoke demo for a stranger took a day, so nobody did it for a lead who might not answer. That is the actual change. Research, audit, build and draft now happen in one run, so the effort per lead drops far enough that showing proof first becomes the normal way to reach out.
prospecting/melbourne-dentists. Everything it produces (the research notes, the audit, the demo site files, the email draft) lands there, which means you can go back and reuse any of it.One prompt, five stages. The instruction to stop and show you the shortlist matters: it is the checkpoint that stops Claude spending twenty minutes building a demo for a business you would never want to work with.
I sell [what you actually sell, for example "website redesigns for local service businesses, $2,500 to $6,000"] and I want you to find me one real prospect and build the whole pitch. Work through these five stages in order, in this one session, and save every output into this folder as you go.
STAGE 1, research. Find businesses of this type in this area: [business type] in [suburb or city]. Look at somewhere between fifteen and twenty five of them using their websites, their Google listings and their social profiles. For each one, note the business name, the website address, the review count and rating, roughly when the site looks like it was last touched, and whether it appears to be run by an owner rather than a chain. Save this as a table.
STAGE 2, shortlist. From that table, pick the three best targets using this filter: strong reviews (a real signal that the business itself works and has money coming in) but a website that is clearly holding them back. Rank them, and for each one write two sentences on why they are worth my time and one sentence on the risk that they say no. Stop here and show me the three before you go further, and tell me which one you would pick and why.
STAGE 3, audit. Once I confirm the target, audit their website properly. Go through: what the site does and does not tell a first-time visitor in the first five seconds, whether there is any social proof on the page at all, where the call to action sits and whether it is findable on a phone, how the site behaves on mobile, page speed and anything obviously heavy, whether basic contact and booking details are one tap away, and whether the copy talks about the customer or only about the business. Write it as a short report with the specific issue, why it costs them customers in plain non-technical language, and the fix. No jargon, no scores out of ten, no padding. If something is genuinely fine, say it is fine, because a fake problem is worse than no email.
STAGE 4, demo. Build a single-page modern website for this exact business using their real name, services, location, hours and contact details taken from their existing site and listing. It should be responsive, fast, accessible, and it must fix the specific issues from the audit rather than just looking prettier. Use plain HTML and CSS in one folder so I can host it anywhere. Do not invent testimonials, prices, awards or claims: if their real site does not say it, it does not go on the demo. Use a neutral placeholder for their logo rather than copying brand assets.
STAGE 5, pitch email. Draft a short outreach email from me to this business. Under 150 words, plain language, no flattery opener, no "I hope this email finds you well". Lead with the single most costly issue from the audit and what it is doing to them, mention that I already built a working version of the fix, and put the demo link in as the entire call to action. Sign it with my real name and business details: [your name, business name, ABN or registration number, phone, and the address details you are legally required to include]. Add a plain line telling them they can reply to opt out of any further contact from me.
Finally, give me a checklist of every factual claim you made across the audit and the email, with where each one came from, so I can verify all of them before I send anything.The filter is doing more work than the prompt is. Great reviews plus a weak website is not a random combination, it is specifically the business that has proven demand and a leak in the funnel.
An attached zip file will not get opened, so the demo needs a live URL before you send anything. Two genuinely free routes:
Claude's first draft is usually one notch too keen. Run it through this second prompt before you send, and read the result out loud.
Here is the pitch email you drafted: [paste it]. Cut it down and make it sound like a person, not a template.
Rules: get it under 120 words. Delete every sentence that is about me rather than about them. Open on the specific thing I noticed on their site and what it is costing them, in their language, not marketing language. One link only, to the demo, and make clicking it the only thing I am asking for. No "I hope this finds you well", no "just following up", no exclamation marks, no em dashes, and do not use the words leverage, elevate, seamless or partner.
Keep my legal sender details and the opt-out line intact, they are not optional.
Then give me three subject lines under seven words each: one that names their business, one that names the specific problem, and one that is plainly curious without being clickbait. Tell me which you would send and why.A demo gets you a conversation, not a contract. Most people who get this far then wing the call, quote a number they regret, and end up building a whole site for the price of the demo. Fifteen minutes of prep fixes that.
I have a call booked with [business name] after they replied to the demo site I built for them. Here is the audit I did and the demo I sent: [paste the audit, describe the demo]. Get me ready.
Write me a call plan: the five questions that will tell me what this project actually needs, in the order I should ask them, with a one line note on what each answer would change about my quote. Then list the three objections most likely to come up for a business of this size (price, timing, "my nephew built the current one"), with a straight answer to each that is not defensive and does not discount on the spot.
Then draft the follow-up: a one page scope of work with what is included, what is explicitly not included, a realistic timeline in weeks, and a payment split with a deposit. Leave the price as a blank for me to fill in, but tell me the range you think fits this business and the reasoning, based on what a new customer is plausibly worth to them. Flag anything in my audit that I should soften on the call because it might sound like criticism of work they paid for.The version of this that works long term is not a thousand automated emails. It is five carefully chosen businesses a week, each with a real demo built for them, each one you would happily have a phone call about. That is also, conveniently, the version that stays on the right side of every rule above.