Outbound is really hard right now, but not for the reasons you might think.
It’s not harder because of email spam filters.
And it’s not harder because people don’t pick up the phone anymore.
❌ The Real Reason Your Buyer Doesn’t Respond
Most reps reach out with things like:
- “Just want to introduce myself and our company…”
- “Let’s do a quick call so you know your options when budgeting season comes around...”
- “Is there a reason you haven’t looked into us before?”
The problem? You have NOTHING to offer.
This only works when the buyer is in shopping mode (only ~3% of your buyers). And most of your market? They’re not. They’re not aware of the problem, not feeling enough pain, and definitely not browsing for solutions.
So if there’s no immediate need, the only way to earn their attention is by making it worth their time to meet with you—even if they never decide to buy.
And that comes down to your offer.
There are Four Attention-Grabbing Levers you can use to get a buyer’s attention:
- Volume – More activity, more touches. (This one’s saturated.)
- Relevance – Better targeting and messaging.
- Delivery – Great soft skills…strong email copy, great tonality, etc.
- Offer – What they actually get by saying “yes” to a conversation.
Of those, your offer is the easiest to implement.
Let’s walk through three types of offers you can leverage immediately to book more meetings:
- Good - Pitch The Blind Date
- Better - 1:Many Offers
- Best - 1:1 Offers
Good - Pitch The Blind Date
This offer is all about positioning who the buyer will be meeting with. You hype up the AE, sales engineer, or yourself. Show them that meeting with you will be worth their while.
Example: A client of ours sells an automated welding solution. The manufacturing industry is facing a massive shortage of welding talent.
Their SDRs pitched it like this:
“I’d love to introduce you to Eric. He’s worked with a dozen manufacturers like Caterpillar, Karavan, and more, who are all facing similar challenges. He’ll walk you through how they’re automating the most difficult welds and dealing with the labor shortage. Even if nothing comes of it, you’ll walk away with a better understanding of how the industry is solving this.”
Even if the buyer isn’t shopping, they gain value from the conversation itself.
Better - 1:Many Offers
These are high-quality, reusable insights that still feel tailored.
Think: competitive benchmarks, industry research, or best practice guides.
Example: We have a client that sells to ecomm brands. They conducted a mystery shop of 400 competitors to analyze response times, customer service channels, etc.
Their reps used those insights to open cold calls with:
“Hey Katie, I submitted a ticket on your site, and it took about 48 hours to get a response. It was about 3x longer than folks like Patagonia and the North Face. Again, it’s Jason. Mind if I share more about why I’m calling?”
That’s an offer that feels immediately relevant and valuable. It gets a conversation started immediately. And it’s a great tool to entice the buyer to meet with you.
You can also include executive dinners in this category.
Best 1:1 Offers
These are custom-tailored experiences or resources created specifically for the prospect.
It’s you and your organization putting in serious effort to customize the offer. This works best at the enterprise & strategic levels.
Examples:
- A free risk analysis benchmarking their performance against their competitors.
- A personalized audit of a website checkout flow.
- Visiting and experiencing the brand firsthand, then sharing insights.
- Offering free data, licenses, or pilots.
- Hosting workshops with their team and your internal experts.
These take more work, but they convert like crazy.
You’re not just showing that you understand the account — you’re proving it. And you’re providing massive value.
Want more like this? Here’s my offer:
If you want more replies, stop asking, “Have you heard of us?”
Start asking, “What would make spending time with us valuable, even if they don’t buy?”
Level up your offer, and your outbound results will improve significantly.
Want more?
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