Big Idea

The argument in one line.

A cold outreach message gets more replies when it asks for the smallest possible response, a single letter, and gives the prospect an easy, even funny, way to say no.

Who This Is For

Read if. Skip if.

READ IF YOU ARE…

You send cold LinkedIn DMs to prospects or clients and get more silence than replies.
You run or manage outbound sales for an agency, freelance service, or B2B product and want a lighter first touch.
You want a simple way to sort prospects into hot, warm, and not-interested without building out a CRM.

SKIP IF…

You're doing warm outreach to people who already know you. This template is built for total strangers.
Your outreach channel doesn't reward a quick reply, such as a cold email inbox with heavy filtering on short messages.

TL;DR

The full version, fast.

After sending around 100,000 LinkedIn DMs, the creator distilled his best-performing cold outreach message into what he calls the ABCD method. Instead of asking a stranger to read a long pitch and write a thoughtful reply, the message ends by asking for a single letter: A to book a call, B for more info, C for not right now, or D, a version of 'F off, leave me alone.' The swear word disrupts the prospect's inbox enough to get the whole message read, builds goodwill through humor, and respects that the prospect owes the sender nothing. Because the reply is just one letter, prospects self-segment by intent, which lets the sender build targeted follow-up sequences for each group instead of guessing who's actually interested.

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Chapters

Where the time goes.

00:00 – 00:36

01 · Intro

Harry Long opens by citing his own DM volume (around 100,000 sent) and promises the single template that outperformed everything else he's tested.

00:36 – 02:21

02 · The ABCD method

He introduces 'inbox dynamics': prospects don't owe strangers a reply, so the DM should ask for the smallest possible response, a single letter, A, B, C, or D, instead of a full written reply.

02:21 – 03:06

03 · A real DM example

He reads a full example message: a short intro, a value line about client results, and the ABCD close, including the D option worded as a swear word telling the prospect to F off.

03:06 – 06:20

04 · Why it works

The profanity in option D disrupts the prospect's inbox enough to get the whole message read, builds goodwill through humor, and hands control back to the prospect. The letter reply also lets the sender instantly sort prospects into hot, warm, and not-interested.

06:20 – 08:30

05 · How to master it

After a subscribe ask, he explains the deeper payoff: prospects self-segment by replying A, B, C, or D, producing the kind of clean CRM segmentation marketing teams normally spend months building, with each letter group getting its own follow-up sequence.

08:30 – 09:59

06 · Method recap and CTA

He recaps why the message works, then pitches his paid community, Founder Labs, with a 7-day free trial.

Atomic Insights

Lines worth screenshotting.

A cold DM that only asks for a single-letter reply removes almost all the friction that makes strangers ignore sales messages.
Ending a cold LinkedIn DM with an option that tells the prospect to say 'F off' if they're not interested gets the message read, because the profanity is disruptive enough to stop the scroll.
Nobody owes a stranger their time, so a cold DM that respects that fact outperforms one that asks for a long, thoughtful reply.
When a prospect can reply with one letter, they self-segment into hot, warm, and not-interested groups without any extra work from the sender.
A single-letter reply system turns unanswered cold DMs, previously impossible to interpret, into clean, actionable sales data.
Giving a prospect permission to reject you, instead of ignoring you, builds goodwill because it puts them back in control of the conversation.
Segmenting leads by A, B, C, or D reply lets a sender build a different follow-up sequence for each group instead of one generic nurture sequence.
A prospect who replies 'not interested' is treated as valuable data, not a failure, because it tells the sender exactly where to stop spending time.
The same segmentation that normally takes a marketing team months to build inside a CRM happens automatically when prospects sort themselves by letter.
A humor beat placed right before the ask can outweigh the awkwardness of sending a cold sales message in the first place.

Takeaway

One letter is easier to answer than a paragraph

COLD OUTREACH

A cold message respects the prospect's time when it asks for the smallest possible response, and a single-letter reply doubles as an instant way to sort who's actually worth pursuing.

02The ABCD method

A cold message is an intrusion on someone else's time, so asking for a full thoughtful reply is a bigger ask than most cold DMs earn.
Ending a cold DM with a single-letter reply option (A, B, C, or D) removes almost all the effort required from the prospect.
Lowering the effort needed to reply is often more valuable to response rate than improving the pitch itself.

03A real DM example

An effective cold DM stays short: one line of context, one line of proof, then the reply options, nothing more.
Naming a concrete result, like clients signing 10+ deals a month, does more convincing work than describing a service in the abstract.

04Why it works

A disruptive element, like an unexpected swear word, can be enough to stop someone from skimming past a cold message.
Giving a prospect an explicit, low-stakes way to reject you builds goodwill, because it signals you already respect their time and their right to say no.
A single-letter reply isn't just easier for the prospect, it's also a filter: it tells the sender exactly who's worth pursuing and who isn't.
Rejections that arrive as clear signals are more useful than silence, because silence gives no information at all.

05How to master it

When prospects sort themselves into reply categories, the resulting lead list is already segmented, no manual tagging or CRM setup required.
Each reply category can drive its own follow-up sequence: a prospect who wants a call gets pushed to book, one who wants more information gets a nurture sequence first.
Building a follow-up sequence around how a prospect actually responded, rather than treating every lead the same, is what turns a single message into a repeatable system.

Glossary

Terms worth knowing.

Inbox dynamics: The idea that a cold message is intruding on someone else's time and attention, so the sender should act accordingly instead of assuming the recipient owes them a response.
ICP: Ideal Customer Profile, the type of prospect a business targets because they're the most likely to buy or benefit from what's being sold.
Lead segmentation: Sorting prospects into groups, such as hot, warm, or not interested, so follow-up messaging can be tailored to where each one actually stands.

Resources

Things they pointed at.

09:09productFounder Labs ↗

Quotables

Lines you could clip.

00:44

“Nobody owes you their time. You're not entitled to a response to your message.”

Blunt reframe of cold outreach etiquette, works as a standalone hook→ TikTok hook↗ Tweet quote

02:56

“That is actually one of my favorite parts of this LinkedIn DM, here's why. It's incredibly disruptive.”

Counterintuitive claim invites the viewer to find out why swearing helps close a sale→ IG reel cold open↗ Tweet quote

04:56

“I like receiving a D where someone's telling me to F off as much as I do an A, because then I know not to waste any more time on that prospect.”

Reframes rejection as useful data, a mindset line that stands alone→ newsletter pull-quote↗ Tweet quote

06:49

“That is crucial sales intelligence, crucial segmentation that normally marketing teams will spend months and months trying to achieve in their CRM, being done for you while you've got your feet up like this.”

Strong before/after value claim for automated lead segmentation→ TikTok hook↗ Tweet quote

The Script

Word for word.

Read-along

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See every word as it's spoken — crank it to 2× and still catch all of it. The same dual-channel trick behind Amazon's Kindle + Audible.

metaphor

Would you believe that I've now sent around 100 ,000 DMs on LinkedIn? So I've seen firsthand when it comes to cold LinkedIn outreach, what works, what doesn't. what gets replies and what gets ignored.

And of everything I've ever tested, one message performed the best by an absolute mile. So in this video, I'm going to save you those five hard years of trial and error that I had testing out LinkedIn DMs and give you the exact template I know works best. It's so simple yet so effective.

You can copy and paste this message and start sending it out from your LinkedIn account and the results will be insane. Let's get into it. So my whole strategy here is what I call the ABCD method.

And the whole thing is based on one idea, inbox dynamics. Because here's the truth about sending cold LinkedIn DMs that no one understands. Nobody owes you their time.

You're not entitled to a response to your message. you're in their inbox taking time out of their day and you need to act as such yet so many people are so entitled to expect a stranger who doesn't know they exist to give them the time of day read their message and reply in full i'm sorry but the world doesn't work like that you can't have a huge ask in your cold dm because they don't know you they have no investment to you you're a nobody it's a huge ask to expect someone who doesn't even know you exist yet to spend five minutes reading your long linkedin dm and then spend another five minutes replying to it perfectly it's never gonna happen so that's why my ABCD method is the best thing I've ever tested because it flips that entirely instead of asking or expecting a long reply to my message I just ask for one letter response either A B C or D that's all they have to do it removes so much friction that now the prospect needs to do is spend one moment replying with a letter and then they can move on with their day but there's so many other clever things that are going on here and when it comes to psychology and sales before i get into that let's quickly go through exactly what this message looks like so the message will probably start like most other dms do a short intro to who you are and a few sentences about their pain points speaking to them as a prospect and then after i've done that short intro i'm going to say please let me know where you're at

by replying with a single letter. A, I'm interested, let's book a call. B, I'm interested, please tell me more.

C, I'm interested, but not right now. Or D, I'm not interested at all, leave me alone. Now let me quickly read you through a real life example of this template deployed in a DM.

The message can read something like this. Hi, first name, I won't keep you for long. I run a marketing agency and I want to offer you exactly what you're looking at right now, LinkedIn DM automation as a service.

Some of our clients are signing 10 plus deals per month by targeting their ICPs. linkedin with us we offer a completely done for you service meaning zero headache please let me know where you're at by responding with one of the following letters a i'm interested let's book a 15 minute call b i'm interested tell me more c i'm interested but not right now d f off and leave me alone drop a letter and have a great day look how short that message is it respects their time from the first line and yes d is actually swearing saying f off that is actually one of my favorite parts of this linkedin dm here's why when that prospect opens that dm one of the first things they're going to read because it jumps out of the page from you is the words f off it's incredibly disruptive they're thinking what's this person saying in my linkedin dms swearing instantly they have to read the message and when they read the message they realize you're actually giving them the opportunity to tell you to f off firstly that's very unlike most sales people in their linkedin dms that just want to pick themselves up you're actually going if you're not interested you can tell me to f off and that's quite a funny thing to do so instantly you've maybe made them chuckle you're starting to build goodwill with the prospect as well as being funny and disruptive to their inbox it works another way that's so crucial it respects the inbox dynamic it puts you on the back seat sending the dm as you should be because you're sending a dm in their inbox taking

time out of their day and it puts them in the driving seat. If they want to tell you to F off, they can. You're saying, I know I'm sending a sales DM here.

If you want me to F off, I will do that for you. It respects the inbox dynamics. Whereas most people that send a message in the LinkedIn DMs, they act so entitled that they are owed someone's time, they're owed someone's attention.

It doesn't work like that. So from first opening your DM, they're disrupted to see, whoa, what's that swear word in the DM? That's made them read the whole thing.

Now they have goodwill attached to you because you've maybe made them chuckle they've realized you're a nice guy you've put yourself on the back seat and now they're primed to actually read your message that's where the first part comes in which is now being received so much better because they have that goodwill attached they're laughing and you have their attention so when they read that message which is an intro to yourself your business your services and a quick sentence about how you help them suddenly they're so much more receptive to that now again the beauty of this message and this framework is twofold it's so easy for them to reply the prospect They just need to give you a letter, A, B, C, or D.

Boom, then go on with your day. But it's also so valuable for me because I then get to group them as A, B, C, or D. I then get to know what prospects I should be spending time on.

I like receiving a D where someone's telling me to F off as much as I do an A because I then know, okay, that prospect's not interested. I know not to waste any more time on that prospect. What is horrible in sales is when you've got loads of people who haven't replied and you don't really know if they're a good fit or a bad fit.

Are they a prospect? Are they a lead? Who knows?

Now you know exactly. how and who you should be spending time on. And even with those who are interested, you then know who is the hottest of the good leads.

You know who said, I'm interested, let's book a call. Boom, let's cut all the fluff. I'm not gonna sell you anything else.

Let's jump on a call. You also know the person who says, I'm interested, but not right now. You can maybe ask some prompting questions.

Why not now? You can address where they exactly are in their journey because you have that sales intelligence. You have that information.

So this framework is so good because it works twofold. Prospect makes life very easy for them, but also. for you it makes life so much easier for you it really is a game changer now before i get into probably my favorite part of this video which is a really cool thing you can do when sending this dm i want to quickly call out that if you are enjoying this video please do like and subscribe this is just one video i'm doing on a massive series on linkedin how to sell on linkedin how to grow as an influencer on linkedin how to sign clients on linkedin everything you are trying to do on linkedin we will cover in this channel and i'll help you get there i'm trying to build the biggest linkedin community here on youtube and i want you to be a part of it so please subscribe and let's back to the video now the final thing i want to go through is why i think this message goes from an 8 out of 10 or a 9 out of 10 to a 10 out of 10 and why it is such a gold mine for anyone trying to sell on linkedin and the answer is in lead segmentation and follow -up because let's think what's actually happening here your data your leads is segmenting in real time in fact not just in real time but they're self -segmenting the leads are self -tagging they are grouping themselves are they a interested

to book a call are they b interested but need more information c interested but not right now or D, not interested at all. That is crucial sales intelligence, crucial segmentation that normally marketing teams will spend months and months trying to achieve in their CRM being done for you while you've got your feet up like this.

How cool is that? What does this help you do? Well, one, it helps you to create a very clean database in your CRM of hot leads, warm leads, and cold leads slash do not message leads.

But also it means you can tailor very targeted sequences to target each group because you know exactly exactly where they stand what do I mean by this I mean in terms of nurturing and follow -up actions so for example let's take the A's you know they're ready to book in a call so you should create an email sequence automation that pushes them on a frequent basis to booking a call until they have done so.

The Bs, you know that they're interested, but they want a bit more information. So let's tailor an email sequence targeted to them. That gives them a bit more information, maybe some case studies, maybe some information about your services, how you can help people like them.

Then at the end of that, then offer to book on a call because they've got what they wanted. They're interested, need more information. They've got the information, then they can move forward.

The Cs, they're interested, but not right now. Okay, let's bookmark that information. Maybe in six months, I'll send them an email.

a series of emails asking if now they're ready for the service it really is that simple it allows you to be so so clever in your lead segmentation and lead follow -up literally the best marketing teams in the world would die to have a crm that clean that polished and that grouped it's done for you like that and it's done for you by the prospects so that's it i hope you found it useful that is the best linkedin sales dm i've ever written using a framework i came up with personally called the abcd method just a quick recap of why it's so good respect Respecting inbox dynamics, you're respecting their time, only asking them to reply with a letter, A, B, C, or D.

The D, which is a swear word, asking them to tell you to F off if they're not interested, strikes humor, goodwill, and disrupts their inbox, and it means the whole rest of the DM is much better received. Suddenly, they're reading the whole of your LinkedIn sales DM with a completely new approach, one of optimism, and they're much more likely to reply to it.

When they do reply, they reply with just one single letter, easy for them, easy for you. You can then easily send them on their way and group them as you want to. group them and create targeted email campaigns based on where they are in the funnel.

Now, if you're watching this video, I imagine that you're trying to grow on LinkedIn and trying to make some money on LinkedIn. If I'm right in that assumption, I want to invite you personally to join my online community called Founder Labs. It's a community for people like you and me to grow on LinkedIn together.

I've collected all my best tips on LinkedIn across the board and put them into a series of training videos for you to take. It really is groundbreaking some of the information on there and it's going to help you achieve your goals on LinkedIn. much, much quicker.

I've actually arranged a seven -day free trial so you can join today completely free of charge and get that knowledge free. Also, you'll have some cool opportunities to talk with me one -on -one or in a group setting, join Q &As, and speak to other people who are in the same position as you. The link to join the community is in the description.

See you there. As always, thanks for watching this video. I appreciate you guys that tune into these LinkedIn YouTube series so much.

I've got a lot more exciting content for you, so make sure you subscribe and like to not miss out. Have a great day and thanks for watching.

The Hook

The bait, then the rug-pull.

Harry Long says he's sent about 100,000 cold DMs on LinkedIn, and one template outperformed everything else he tested. Instead of asking a stranger to read a pitch and write back, it asks for a single letter, and it uses a swear word to make sure the message gets read at all.

Frameworks

Named ideas worth stealing.

00:38model

The ABCD Method

A: I'm interested, let's book a call
B: I'm interested, tell me more
C: I'm interested, but not right now
D: I'm not interested, tell the sender to F off and leave me alone

A cold DM template that closes by asking the prospect to reply with a single letter instead of writing a full response, built around the idea that a stranger owes the sender nothing.

Steal forany cold outreach channel (LinkedIn, email, cold call follow-up) where the goal is a fast qualifying reply instead of a long one

CTA Breakdown