Here's the truth about cold emails: Most sales reps focus solely on pushing their product, missing a crucial element - building genuine connections through relevance and trust.
Enter the REAL framework—Relevance, Evidence, Action, Loyalty. Developed by Brian Clark, this approach transforms cold outreach into compelling conversations that resonate with prospects while building lasting relationships.
Think of REAL as a bridge between your prospect's challenges and your solution, where every element builds upon the last to create trust and drive action.
But here's the catch: Creating relevant, evidence-backed emails that drive both immediate action and long-term loyalty isn't easy.
Most sales reps struggle to balance immediate conversion goals with relationship building, often ending up with either pushy sales pitches that alienate prospects or vague messages that fail to drive action.
This is where AI steps in.
Tools like ChatGPT can help sales reps craft REAL framework emails that connect, convince, and convert while laying the groundwork for lasting relationships.
In this blog, we'll explore the REAL framework, provide a ready-to-use ChatGPT prompt for creating cold emails, and share why this approach stands out from traditional cold outreach methods.
What Makes REAL Work?
The power of REAL lies in its psychological foundation. Rather than focusing solely on immediate conversion, it creates a pathway from initial relevance to long-term loyalty through evidence and clear action steps.
1. Relevance: The Connection Catalyst
The first component focuses on immediately connecting with your prospect's current challenges or opportunities. This isn't about generic pain points—it's about demonstrating deep understanding of their specific situation and industry context.
2. Evidence: The Trust Builder
The evidence phase provides concrete proof of your solution's effectiveness. This section helps prospects move from interest to confidence through real data, case studies, or testimonials that validate your claims.
3. Action: The Clear Path Forward
With relevance established and evidence provided, your action step becomes a natural progression. This section focuses on specific, actionable next steps that align with the prospect's needs and the proof you've presented.
4. Loyalty: The Relationship Foundation
The final component looks beyond the immediate sale to establish the groundwork for a lasting relationship. This demonstrates your commitment to long-term value and partnership.
💡 ChatGPT Prompt: REAL FRAMEWORK
Write a REAL (Relevance-Evidence-Action-Loyalty) Style cold email to {{Fullname}} from {{Company}}.
These are inputs about my company which I'm trying to sell:
Ideal Customer: {ICP}
What does my product do? {Description}
The value we provide for the user: {Value Proposition}
What pain points do we solve? {Painpoints}
Competitor Advantage: {Competitor Advantage}
How we have helped people: {Case Study}
This is the input about the prospect: {Prospect_Research}
Write the subject in the following format:
Keep it simple, stating the main topic of the email. Avoid being overly creative or fancy. Limit it to 3-4 words max.
Write the email in the following format:
Relevance: Start by addressing a challenge that's likely relevant to the prospect. Tie it into a broader industry trend or issue they might be experiencing, specifically relating to their daily work or business needs.
Evidence: Share a brief, relatable example or case study from {Case Study} showing how our product has resolved a similar issue for another company. Provide specific results or outcomes to establish credibility and demonstrate your product's impact.
Action: Highlight our product as the solution, referring to {Description} and focusing on a feature or benefit from {Value Proposition} that directly addresses the prospect's challenge. Keep it concise and actionable, explaining how it aligns with their specific needs.
Loyalty: End with a non-pushy CTA - either "Worth a chat?" or "Worth exploring?".
Guidelines:
Keep the email under 80 words.
Use a friendly, direct tone.
Make sure to bring forth all the mentioned elements of formatting.
Avoid vague terms like "streamline," "optimize," "maximize," etc.
Be as specific as possible without making assumptions about the prospect.Sample Output:
Conclusion
The REAL framework and prompt provided are your blueprints for writing cold emails that not only convert but also build lasting relationships.
But the real challenge is scaling this approach for hundreds of prospects. Even with AI, executing this effectively at scale is a struggle.
That's why we built SDRx—an AI outbound agent that handles everything from in-depth prospect research to perfectly timed follow-ups, creating qualified pipeline without the manual grind.
By analyzing prospect behavior and leveraging advanced copywriting frameworks like REAL, SDRx generates highly personalized emails at scale, ensuring every outreach is relevant, evidence-backed, and relationship-focused.
Want to use AI to create personalized, relationship-building emails for every prospect?
Book a demo of SDRx today.
