Review Criteria -- Business Artifact Review

Cialdini Ethical Boundaries

Each principle has a clear line between ethical influence and manipulation:

Test: "Is this representing genuine value honestly, or fabricating value deceptively?"

Legal Compliance Checklist

CAN-SPAM Requirements

• Physical mailing address present in email
• Subject line honestly represents content (no deceptive "Re:" or "Fwd:" on first contact)
• Functional unsubscribe mechanism (must work within 10 business days)
• "From" field accurately identifies sender
• Commercial nature disclosed if not obvious

GDPR Requirements (EU Prospects)

• Lawful basis for processing: legitimate interest (B2B prospecting) or consent
• Data minimization: only necessary data collected
• Right to erasure: process for deletion requests
• No special category data without explicit consent
• Privacy notice accessible

Email Deliverability Standards

• SPF, DKIM, DMARC authentication configured
• Sending limit: 50-100 emails per mailbox per day
• Bounce rate: under 2%
• Spam complaint rate: under 0.3%
• Domain warming: 3-6 weeks before scaling (start 5-10/day)
• Dedicated sending subdomain (not root domain)

Numerical Benchmarks

Outreach Metrics

Pipeline Metrics

Pricing Benchmarks

TAM/SAM/SOM Validation

• TAM: Total addressable market via top-down industry data -- acceptable as directional only
• SAM: Must have bottom-up calculation (ICP count x avg deal size) -- "1% of TAM" is not a methodology
• SOM: Realistically achievable in 12-18 months given current resources -- for a 3-person company, SOM over EUR 1M year 1 needs strong justification

Unit Economics

• CAC payback: under 12 months for services, under 18 months for SaaS
• LTV:CAC ratio: minimum 3:1, target 5:1
• Gross margin: 70%+ for SaaS, 50%+ for services/consulting

Copywriting Framework Checks

PAS (Problem-Agitate-Solution)

1. Problem: specific, researched pain point (not generic)
2. Agitate: emotional amplification of consequences (not fear-mongering)
3. Solution: clear offer tied to the specific problem

BAB (Before-After-Bridge)

1. Before: prospect's current painful state (researched)
2. After: desired future state (specific, measurable)
3. Bridge: how your offer gets them there

Signal-Based Personalization

Every outreach must reference at least one verifiable business signal:

• Leadership changes (14-25% reply rate impact)
• Funding rounds (12-20%)
• Hiring surges (10-18%)
• Earnings call mentions (10-15%)
• Technology changes (8-15%)

Flag generic outreach with no signal reference as HIGH severity.

Negotiation Validation

Ackerman Sequence Check

Target price -> offers at 65% -> 85% -> 95% -> 100% of target

• Each increment decreasing (shows approaching limit)
• Final number: precise, non-round (e.g., EUR 14,850 not EUR 15,000)
• Verify math: each step correctly calculated from the target

BATNA Validation

• Is the alternative specific and actionable? ("Walk away" is not a BATNA)
• Is it realistically available? (Can you actually execute the alternative?)
• Does it have known value? (What specifically would you get?)
• For a 3-person company: losing a deal hurts more -- BATNA must account for this

ZOPA Check

• Seller's reservation price (minimum acceptable) defined?
• Buyer's reservation price estimated with evidence?
• Zone exists (buyer max > seller min)?
• If no ZOPA: flag that negotiation may be futile

Size-Credibility Calibration (3-Person Company)

Flag these claims as credibility violations:

• "Our team of experts" (you have 3 people -- say "our team" or name them)
• "Industry-leading" anything (prove it with evidence or remove)
• Fortune 500 client logos without verifiable relationship
• "Trusted by hundreds of companies" (if actual client count is under 20)
• "Enterprise-grade" for a bootstrapped consultancy
• Claims of 24/7 support with 3 people
• Scale language ("we serve clients globally") without evidence of global delivery