Qualification

Qualification Skill

Write the structured variables for AI prospect qualification. These variables feed any qualification step that scores or filters individual prospects against an ICP.

Output Contract

qualification.md must follow a fixed structure so downstream campaign tooling can parse it reliably. Hard rules this skill must honor:

• Exactly three H2 headings (case-insensitive match): ## Audience Description, ## Qualification Criteria, ## Disqualification Criteria.
• At least 2 of 3 sections must be populated (non-empty). Fewer is a hard parser error.
• No other H2 headings in the file - they'd be silently ignored.

Required Context

1. Read plan.md from the plan folder - Broad ICP definition
2. Read search-strategy.md from the plan folder - Search filters already applied. Never restate any of these dimensions in the prompt.
3. Read {workspace}/research.md - Client overview, detailed ICP info, competitors ({workspace} = the client campaign workspace, default ./cold-email/{slug}/ under the current directory)

Core Principles

• Write short, trust the AI - The qualification AI is smart. Give it a brief, plain-language brief and let it reason. A few high-signal lines beat an exhaustive rulebook. No long enumerations of titles, industries, or product names.
• Never repeat the search filters - search-strategy.md already bounds the list (headcount, geography, titles, seniority, industries). Do NOT restate any of it - not in the audience description, not as a criterion. If the filter sets a headcount range, the prompt says nothing about headcount. Qualification only catches what the filters can't see.
• Don't over-qualify - Keep it loose. Qualification is a safety net, not a precision filter. When data is incomplete or ambiguous, qualify.
• Disqualification over qualification - Prefer audience_description + a few disqualification_criteria only. Add qualification_criteria only when there's a real positive signal worth confirming.
• Always exclude competitors - The one disqualifier that's always worth including.

See references/qualification-guide.md for detailed guidelines and examples.

Workflow

Step 1: Load Context

• Read plan.md for the broad ICP
• Read search-strategy.md for what's already filtered
• Read client context and research for competitor info and ICP nuances
• Read references/qualification-guide.md

Step 2: Write Qualification Variables

Keep the whole thing short. A sentence or two per section is plenty - the AI fills in the judgment.

Audience Description (always required):

• One plain sentence on who we're targeting. 5-20 words.
• No headcount, geography, title lists, or industries - those live in the filters.

Disqualification Criteria (strongly preferred):

• A few binary deal-breakers the filters can't see (e.g. competitor, wrong business model).
• 2-4 lines. Always include competitor exclusion. Don't pad the list.

Qualification Criteria (optional - usually skip):

• Add only when there's a genuine positive signal worth confirming. Most campaigns don't need it.

Step 3: Write qualification.md

Keep it lean - short lines, no filter dimensions restated:

# Qualification Prompt

## Audience Description
[One plain sentence on who we're targeting. No headcount, geography, titles, or industries.]

## Disqualification Criteria
- [Competitor exclusion]
- [One or two more deal-breakers the filters can't catch, e.g. B2C model, agency/consultancy]

## Qualification Criteria
(Optional - usually skip. Only add a real positive signal worth confirming.)

Output Handling

Workflow mode (plan folder provided):

1. Write qualification.md to the plan folder root
2. Confirm: "Qualification prompt saved to {plan_folder}/qualification.md"

Standalone mode:

1. Return the output inline to the user

Variable Definitions

The three structured fields used for qualification:

• audience_description - short description of who the target audience is
• disqualification_criteria - conditions that disqualify a prospect (bullet points)
• qualification_criteria - optional conditions that qualify a prospect (bullet points)