Your buyers ask AI who to pick. Make sure it’s you.
Gets you selected acrossChatGPTClaudeGeminiPerplexity
RocMode shows you whether AI picks you or your rival, finds the work that changes it, builds that work, and sends it to you to approve. Then it proves what moved.
We ask ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity the questions your buyers ask, and show where they pick you and who they pick instead. Free, no login. What’s the Score? Or sign up free and try everything for 14 days.
RocMode · Live read · Monday by Nine (example)
Asking ChatGPTBefore
The AI marketing and sales platform
Marketing and sales, rebuilt for the age of AI.
Your website in. A whole marketing and sales team’s work out. RocMode learns your brand from your site, then does the work: strategy, website, ads, social, PR, partners, email, design, and the deck that wins the deal. You approve every piece.
Other tools do one job. This does all of them, as one story.
Other AI guesses. This works from your facts and proof.
Other tools stop at the post. This follows it to the signed deal, and learns what won.
How it works
KnowWhere you really standActWhat to fix firstCreateWe build the work. You approve itProveDid it move?
Know · Step 1 of 10
It gets you. It gets your customers. It connects the dots.
Everything about your brand, your buyers and your rivals, sorted and connected.
Then it works out what to say, where, when and why. It’s the brain behind every step.
Builds: Customers · Offerings · Rivals · Proof
RocMode · BrandGraph · sample data
Following one momentCISO · Comparing · “Who’s the best managed security provider for a hospital group?”Moment found
Brand core3 found
Voice3 found
Visual identity3 found
Products and services3 found
Pricing3 found
Personas and markets3 found
Pains, gains, jobs3 found
Journeys and objections3 found
Proof and trust3 found
Content3 found
Competitors and partners3 found
Team2 found
Halvard Security35 facts
Two hospital case studies/partners
FactClaimProofAI-suggestedExample: Halvard Security, an invented managed security provider.
Reading halvardsecurity.com.au, socials, reviews and listings…
Halvard SecurityBrandGraph
12areas, all connected
3personas
15moments
6rivals
Sample data
Your customers
Customers
›
Personas
›
Journeys
›
Pains, jobs, objections
›
Moments
What you sell
Products and services
›
Offerings
›
Value proposition
›
Differentiation
Your rivals
Competitors
›
Industry
›
Expectations
›
Gaps to exploit
Moments + offerings
Opportunities
›
Campaigns
›
Ads
›
Sales
Content gaps
›
Content
›
Website
So it knows
What to say.Where. When. Why.
Moment foundCISO · Comparing · “Who’s the best managed security provider for a hospital group?”
Know · Step 2 of 10
Your strategy, from everything it knows.
Positioning built from your offerings and the gaps your rivals leave.
Claims you can’t back get cut before anyone sees them.
Seen isn’t selected. AI picks the brands it can tell apart.
Every era of marketing had its visibility number, and AI mentions are just the newest. Most AI tools still sell you visibility. But being mentioned isn’t being chosen, and for the first time you can measure the pick itself.
BroadcastAwareness
Media buyingReach
SearchRankings
SocialFollowers
AIMentions
What countsSelected
What AI made cheap
Making things.
Posts, pages, ads and reports in minutes
Anyone with a login can do it
Your competitors have the same tools
Sell on volume and you compete on price.
What AI made measurable
Being chosen.
Brand ABrand BYouBrand CBrand D
Buyers ask AI who to pick, and it names a few brands
You can ask the same questions and see who’s named
So you can see, moment by moment, where you win and lose
Compete on this and you compete on results.
See it on your brand
See how often AI picks you. Free.
We ask the AI assistants your buyers use the questions they really ask, many times each, at every step of their journey. Then we show where you’re picked, where you’re passed over, and who wins instead.
Your free Selectability Score asks the AI assistants the questions your buyers ask, without your name in them. You see who gets picked, at which moment, and the three gaps to fix first.
Email reaches people who already know you, with the one thing they need next, in words they can forward.
It's the oldest channel in this playbook and the most misused. Most firms run it as a broadcast: a newsletter on a schedule, a promotion when sales are slow, a sequence for every download. That reaches everyone and answers no one. This playbook runs it the other way: a message exists only because someone, at a known moment, has a question it answers.
Email belongs to the Relationship category: your system, talking to people you already know. That gives it two jobs. Inside a relationship, it keeps the people around a deal or a review informed at the moments they'd otherwise wonder: is it on track, are the savings real, what happens next. Around the relationship, it keeps Kestrel's thinking in front of people who aren't buying yet, through a newsletter worth reading, cut from Content's core pieces.
Email writes every message other builds send. Automation decides when a message goes; the pitch decides what goes in the proposal; Customers decides when to ask for a referral. The words come from here, written once, in the brand's voice, checked against Credentials.
In RocMode: the Email studio. Sample data.
The footprint, and what it reads from the chain
In Kestrel's map, email leads 3 cells and 3 moments, all during and after the review, where a busy executive needs to know without asking:
Moment
Who
Their question
Delivery
COO
"Are we on track, and what are they finding?"
Delivery
Finance director
"Are the savings real, and are they being counted properly?"
Extend and refer
Finance director
"Are the savings showing in the accounts?"
It supports 14 more cells, among the widest support of any build: the business case moments for the COO, owner and finance director (7 of them), the investor's trigger, week zero and the plant manager's weekly tasks, the follow-on for the COO, owner, plant manager and investor, and the improvement lead's delivery and next review. In almost all of them, another build decides the moment and email carries the words.
What it reads, and never rewrites:
From
It takes
Identity
The voice, and the words to use and avoid
Credentials
Every claim and figure a message states
Where you stand
Which moment each message serves, and the chooser's question
Content
The core pieces the newsletter is cut from
The pitch and Automation
When each message goes, to whom, and what happens on a reply
Its slice of the Score, and its own audit
Email's part of the Selectability Score is Answered and Believed at the moments after the signature: does the COO know how it's going, and does the finance director believe the savings?
Kestrel today, the 3 moments email leads
Answered
Believed
Preferred
Bought
Moment score
COO · delivery
75
80
80
75
78
Finance director · delivery
45
50
70
65
57
Finance director · extend
40
45
60
50
49
The pattern is clear: Kestrel keeps the COO informed and leaves the finance director to guess. The COO hears from the engineers on site; nobody writes to the finance director until the invoice. Yet the finance director decides the next review, and their "are the savings real?" is the question every future proposal has to answer.
The audit.
What Kestrel sends today
To whom
What it misses
Engineers' weekly notes, each in their own format
The COO, sometimes
The finance director; a consistent record of findings and savings
A final report
The COO
A plain summary the finance director can check against the accounts
Nothing after the review
—
The 90-day check; the programme decision; the referral
A quarterly newsletter of firm news
1,400 contacts, all of them
Any question a reader has. Opened by 14%, answered by none
The newsletter is the same mistake as the old blog: it exists because a calendar said so.
Step 1: the shape, the lifecycle programme
Email's shape is the lifecycle programme: the streams of messages a relationship goes through, from first contact to the next piece of work. Every category has the same skeleton; what changes is how long each stream lasts and who reads it.
Canon is just the welcome and the newsletter: everyone does them, so their absence would be noticed. The opening is in the streams almost nobody runs: delivery, results and renewal. That's where Kestrel's moments are, and where its competitors leave the finance director guessing.
Step 2: coverage, one message per question at each step
The coverage unit is a message per question per step. For each of the 17 cells email leads or supports, take the chooser's question and ask: is this answered best by a message arriving on its own, at the right moment? If yes, it gets a message.
Stream
Moments
Messages
Welcome
Investor trigger; any enquiry
2: an acknowledgement with a next step; for investors, the portfolio note
Newsletter
Trigger and framing, for four choosers (supporting Content)
1 a month, cut from the core pieces: 12 a year
Deal
COO, owner and finance director building the case (9 moments)
3: the business case kit with their figures; the board paper; a note before the board meets
Onboarding
Plant manager and improvement lead · buying; improvement lead · scope
3, written here, sent by Automation's week-zero flow
Delivery
COO, finance director and plant manager · delivery; improvement lead · delivery
3 a week for six weeks: Monday tasks, the Friday update, the finance director's savings tally
4: the results summary; the 90-day check; the programme note; the referral ask
Re-engagement
Investor and improvement lead · extend
2: the portfolio note; "running the next review yourselves"
That's 14 messages written once, three weekly templates, and a monthly newsletter. Every message has a moment; none is there because a sequence needed a fourth email.
Step 3: gaps, biases and jobs
Moment
Stage
Bias
The job
Finance director · delivery: "Are the savings real?"
Believed
We follow others
A weekly savings tally from week three: each finding, its value, how it was counted, and who on the client's side agreed it
Finance director · extend: "Are they showing in the accounts?"
Believed
Losses loom larger
The 90-day check: the finding, the figure, a single question, "does this match what you see?"
COO · delivery: "Are we on track?"
Answered
A hard choice stalls
One Friday update in one format: what was found, what changed, what's next, what's needed from them
Plant manager · delivery
Answered
A hard choice stalls
Monday tasks short enough to read on the floor; SMS if they prefer
COO, owner and finance director · building the case
Believed
Losses loom larger
The kit and the board paper sent with a covering note in each reader's terms, not one note for all
COO · extend: "Do we go into the programme?"
Preferred
A hard choice stalls
The results summary with the programme's cost and its likely return, side by side
Owner · extend: "Would I tell another owner?"
Preferred
We follow others
The referral ask, only after confirmed savings, made easy: one forwardable paragraph
Every newsletter reader
Known
Familiar feels safe
A newsletter that answers one buyer question a month, from Content's pieces; firm news moved to a short footnote
The biggest gap is one person. The finance director is written to at none of the moments where they decide what Kestrel is worth.
Kit cover note per reader; board paper note; pre-board note
9
The deal owner, from the pitch
Coverage
P1
Onboarding
Week-zero messages to plant manager, improvement lead, procurement
3
Automation (week zero)
Coverage
P2
Newsletter
One a month, cut from Content
4 choosers' trigger and framing
Marketing lead
Canon, coverage
P2
Welcome
Acknowledgement; investor portfolio note
2
Automation (enquiry response)
Canon
P2
Re-engagement
Portfolio note; "running the next review yourselves"
2
Automation (re-engagement)
Coverage
P3
Every moment email leads or supports has a message; every message has a sender. The two P1 streams are the ones no competitor runs.
Rejected, with reasons:
A five-email sequence after every download. Nobody downloading a cost article is waiting for five emails. One acknowledgement, then the newsletter if they ask for it.
Promotional emails. Kestrel has nothing to discount, and no moment asks for an offer.
The firm-news newsletter. Replaced. News survives as two lines at the foot of the monthly issue.
Personalisation by first name only. It answers nothing. Personalise by role and moment, or not at all.
The anatomy library
Message type
Parts, in order
Length
The update (Friday, delivery)
Subject: the week and the headline finding · What we found · What changed on the floor · What's next · What we need from you, if anything
Under 200 words
The tally (finance director)
The running total, with its range · Each finding: value, how counted, who agreed it · What isn't counted yet, and why
A table and three lines
The check (90 days)
The figure we said · One question: does it match? · How to reply in one line
Under 100 words
The cover note (deal)
The reader's question, answered in the first line · What's attached and why it's theirs · The one thing to do · Who to call
Under 120 words
The ask (referral)
What was achieved, in their figures · The ask, specific: one person, one call · A paragraph they can forward · An easy no
Under 150 words
The newsletter issue
One buyer question, in the subject · The answer, in the first paragraph · One figure, sourced · A link to the full piece · Two lines of firm news
300 to 500 words
Five rules hold for every message:
It comes from a person, by name, who will read the reply.
The subject line answers or names the question. Never "Update" or "News".
One thing to do, or nothing. An update with three asks gets none of them done.
Every figure is signed or theirs.
It can be forwarded as it is. The COO forwards the Friday update to the board; write it for the board.
Briefs: the programme brief, then a brief for every message
STREAM Delivery
RUNS Each week of a review, weeks 1 to 6
MESSAGES Monday tasks (plant manager); Friday update (COO, copied to
the
finance director from week 3); savings tally (finance
director,
from week 3)
MOMENTS COO, finance director, plant manager · delivery
FROM The lead engineer, by name
SENT BY Automation: review rhythm, from the delivery tracker
VOICE Plant language; findings in the plant manager's words
OWNER Head of delivery
MEASURE Replies that confirm or correct a finding; the COO forwarding
MESSAGE The savings tally
JOB Believed · finance director · delivery · we follow others
THEIR QUESTION "Are the savings real, and are they being counted properly?"
ANSWER FIRST The running total, with a low and a high, and how it's counted
PROOF Each finding agreed by a named person at the client
THE ONE THING Tell us if any line doesn't match your view
GUARD No finding counted until the client's own person has agreed it
The finished example: Hartwell's week four, and the 90-day check, written in full
Three messages from Kestrel's review at Hartwell Plastics, the account from the Pitch Playbook. Hartwell, its people and its figures are invented.
1. The Friday update, week four. To the COO, Lena Marsh; copied to the finance director, Tom Avery.
Subject: Week 4 at Hartwell: warm-up scrap after changeovers is the biggest loss so far
Lena, four weeks in, here's where we are.
What we found. After each mould change on lines 2 and 4, the first 40 minutes of parts are mostly scrap while the tool comes up to temperature. That's nine changes a week, and the largest single source of the 5.8% scrap rate. What changed on the floor. Dave's crew on line 2 trialled pre-heating the next mould during the last hour of the run. Warm-up scrap fell by about two-thirds on the four changes we measured. What's next. The same trial on line 4 next week, and a look at regrind ratios, which drift on night shift. What we need from you. Nothing this week.
Priya Raman, lead engineer, Kestrel Advisory
2. The savings tally, week four. To the finance director, Tom Avery.
Subject: Savings found so far at Hartwell: A$185,000 a year (range A$150,000 to A$210,000)
Tom, this is the running tally, and how each line is counted. A finding only appears here once someone at Hartwell has agreed it.
Finding
Annual value
How it's counted
Agreed by
Warm-up scrap after changeovers, lines 2 and 4
A$96,000
Scrap kg saved × material cost, from your own scrap logs
Dave Okafor, plant manager
Regrind ratio drift on night shift
A$58,000
Virgin material saved at your current resin price
Anna Lee, quality lead
Compressed-air leaks
A$31,000
Metered kWh saved × your tariff
Sione Taufa, maintenance lead
Not counted yet: the line 4 trial, until it's measured next week. If any line doesn't match your view, reply and I'll walk you through it.
Priya Raman
3. The 90-day check. To Tom Avery, 90 days after the review closed with A$214,000 agreed.
Subject: Hartwell, 90 days on: are the A$214,000 of savings showing?
Tom, when the review closed in December, we agreed savings of A$214,000 a year, mostly scrap and resin. Three months on, does that match what you see in the accounts?
A one-line reply is plenty: "yes", "about A$x", or "not yet". If it's not showing, I'd like to understand why, and we'll come back on site to find out.
Priya Raman
What to notice. Each subject line is the answer. The update is written for the board as much as the COO, because it will be forwarded. The tally counts nothing the client hasn't agreed, which is why the finance director believes it, and why, at 90 days, a "yes" becomes a signed case for the next proposal. And none of the three asks for anything the reader can't do in a minute. Three messages, for one week and one check, at one client.
Templates
The message inventory (one row per message; the build's single list)
ID
Stream
Moment (chooser · step)
Their question
Subject line
From
Sent by (person or flow)
Claims used
Live?
The stream brief
STREAM [name] RUNS [when, how long]
MESSAGES [each one, to whom]
MOMENTS [chooser · step]
FROM [a named person] SENT BY [person or flow]
VOICE [from Identity: words to use and avoid]
OWNER [who reads the replies]
MEASURE [the stage it serves]
The message brief
MESSAGE [name]
JOB [stage · chooser · step · bias]
THEIR QUESTION [in their words]
SUBJECT [the answer, or the question]
ANSWER FIRST [the first line]
PROOF [signed claims, or their own figures]
THE ONE THING [what they do, or nothing]
GUARD [passes only if it can be forwarded as it is]
The newsletter plan (one row per issue)
Month
The buyer question
Chooser
Core piece it's cut from
The one figure, with source
Footnote news
In the campaign plan
Every campaign has an email moment, usually more than one. The rule: a campaign's emails are written from its core piece and sent to people for whom its question is live, never to the whole list.
Kestrel campaign
The issue or message
To whom
The annual benchmark
The newsletter issue on the headline finding; a personal note from a partner to past clients with their sector's figure
Newsletter readers; past clients by sector
"Before you buy another line"
The issue "What flat output really costs"; a cover note with the kit for anyone who downloads it
COOs and finance directors on the list
Board season
A dated note to finance directors in live deals: the kit, ready for this budget round
Live deals only
Owners' round table
The invitation, from the speaker, by name; the write-up afterwards
Owners on the list; attendees
Results from the year's reviews
A results issue: what the year's reviews found, confirmed by clients
Everyone on the list, once a year
Running it
Who owns what. At Kestrel, the marketing lead owns the message inventory, the voice and the newsletter. Every message in a deal or a review is sent in the name of the person who'll read the reply: the deal owner, or the lead engineer. The head of delivery signs the delivery templates; the managing partner signs anything that states the way out.
When
What happens
Weekly, during each review
The Friday update and the tally, checked by the lead engineer before they go
Monthly
One newsletter issue, from the content plan; replies read and answered
Quarterly
Every template re-read against the claims register and the voice; unsubscribes and replies reviewed
When a claim changes
Every message that states it, the same week
Yearly
The list cleaned: anyone who hasn't opened in a year is asked once whether to stay
Permission. Messages in a deal or a review go to the people in it, about it. The newsletter goes only to people who asked for it. Keep the two lists apart, so nobody joins the newsletter because they once signed a contract.
Common mistakes
The mistake
The stage it breaks
The bias it ignores
At Kestrel
Instead
Writing to the champion only
Believed, for the finance director
Losses loom larger
The finance director heard nothing until the invoice
A message to each person whose moment it is
Broadcasting to the whole list
Known, worn down
Good enough beats best
Firm news to 1,400 people, 14% opening
One buyer question a month, to people who asked
Subject lines that hide the point
Answered
A hard choice stalls
"Update", "Newsletter Q3"
The answer in the subject
Counting savings nobody agreed
Believed
We follow others
Totals the finance director couldn't check
Only findings a named client person has agreed
Sequences for their own sake
Preferred
Good enough beats best
Five emails after a download
Send what someone is waiting for, then stop
Sent from "the team"
Believed
Familiar feels safe
noreply@ on the final report
A named person who reads the reply
Asking for the referral too early
Preferred
Losses loom larger
A referral ask in the final report, before any savings showed
After the 90-day check, and only after a yes
Messages written in the flow tool
Believed
Familiar feels safe
Terms in an automated email that didn't match the contract
Every message from the inventory, every claim from Credentials
Judging by opens
All, unseen
Good enough beats best
A 30% open rate celebrated
Replies, confirmations and forwards to the board
The bias to watch in the team: the curse of knowledge again, in its email form. The engineer knows what "OEE up 6 points" means; the finance director needs the money.
The business check and the measures
Revenue: the delivery and results streams protect the next review at every client and make the proof for every new one. If only one stream can be built, build the savings tally and the 90-day check.
One truth: every figure in every message matches Credentials and the client's own records.
The offer: the 90-day check asks a question the firm must be ready to hear "no" to. Decide in advance what Kestrel does when savings aren't showing.
Capacity: the Friday update takes the lead engineer 20 minutes with the template, an hour without it.
Measure
What it tells you
Stage
Finance directors who reply to the tally during the review
Whether the savings are being believed as they're found
Believed
90-day checks answered, and the share answered "yes"
Whether results are real, and becoming proof
Believed
Friday updates forwarded inside the client
Whether the update is written for the board
Answered
Programme or next-plant decisions within 60 days of results
Whether the results stream leads somewhere
Preferred
Referrals given after a "yes"
Whether proof turns into the next client
Preferred
Newsletter replies per issue
Whether the issue answered a question
Known
The Loop for this build
Each quarter the Loop (step 11) reads replies and decisions beside the Score's delivery and extend moments, and asks: did the people we wrote to believe the results, and act on them?
What the Loop finds
What it means
What changes
Tallies sent, finance directors silent
The tally isn't in their terms, or isn't reaching them
Rewrite in the money and method they use; check the address
90-day checks answered "not yet"
Savings aren't sticking
A Customers job, not an email one: the 90-day visit
Results sent, no programme decisions
The results summary doesn't lead to a choice
Put the programme's cost and return beside the results
Newsletter opens high, replies none
Issues answer nothing anyone asked
Pick next quarter's questions from sales calls
Updates forwarded to boards
The delivery stream is working
Use the format in proposals: "here's what you'll get every Friday"
What Kestrel's first year would look for. Finance directors replying to the tally during the review, which nobody did last year. Then the 90-day checks: if most say "yes", Kestrel has more confirmed cases in a year than it has in its history, and the finance director's "consultants overstate savings" has an answer in every proposal.
Shapes by business type
Business type
Typical mode
The streams that usually matter most
B2B professional services
Committee or owner-led
Delivery updates, results and renewal, a newsletter that answers buyer questions
B2B software
Committee
Onboarding to first value, usage and adoption notes per role, renewal and expansion
Considered consumer (finance, health, education)
Considered personal
Application progress, plain-language documents, reminders before deadlines, annual reviews
Ecommerce
Quick choice or habitual
Order and delivery, replenishment, reviews after use, a few well-chosen offers
Local services
Owner-led or considered personal
Booking confirmations, the day-before reminder, a follow-up after the job, seasonal reminders
Marketplaces
Varies on each side
Seller onboarding and payouts; buyer order updates; trust and safety notices
Feeling a bit overwhelmed?
You should be, a little. One firm: seven streams, 14 messages written once, three weekly templates for every review, a monthly newsletter cut from the content plan, every figure agreed by a named person at the client, and two lists that must never mix. Most firms send a quarterly newsletter of their own news and wonder why the finance director never believes the savings.
RocMode does part of the heavy lifting:
Emails and sequences, drafted on brand. RocMode's Email Studio drafts your messages and sequences in your voice, from your strategy.
The moments behind every message. Your choosers, their steps and their questions, mapped from what's known about your brand, so each message starts from a question someone actually has.
