To sell is to serve. Period.

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Said another way from the buyer's perspective:

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"Do you want something from me? Or do you have something to give me?"

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This couldn't be truer with outbound in 2026.

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When you start by taking (AKA making an ask for time, with no guarantee of any value in return)...your email reply rate literally drops by 44% (Gong).

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This sounds like:

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"free tomorrow at 2pm?"

"does next Tues work at 3pm?"

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Buyers get hammered with asks like this all the time.

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Start your outbound interactions with a give.

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✅ Make offers

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Give the buyer something in return for spending time with you.

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Doing this can increase reply rates by up to 28% (Gong).

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An offer is NOT:

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- A free demo

- Gifts or gift cards

- A "meet and greet"

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✅ Three example offers

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#1: Pitch The Blind Date

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Position who the buyer will be meeting with. Hype up the AE, sales engineer, or yourself.

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"Our welding solutions engineer, Paul, is working with Hitch manufacturers like CURT to help overcome the welder shortage and produce consistent, high-quality welds. Interested in a quick intro?"

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#2: 1:Many Offers

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High-quality, reusable insights that feel tailored. Competitive benchmarks, industry research, or best practice guides.

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"We ran a benchmarking analysis with a few of your peers like Ultromics and MEDRhythms find avg. study start times, drop-out rates, insights on how they shorten build times. Interested in seeing how you stack up?"

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#3:1:1 Offers

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These are custom-tailored experiences or resources created specifically for the prospect. This works best at the enterprise & strategic levels.

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"We compiled a report of how WCUS stacks up against the top schools in WA & OR. Free next week to run through the report together?

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~~~

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This is what it means to sell with integrity in 2026. To lead with the buyer. To have their best interest at heart.

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My good friend and mentor Mark Hunter just came out with his newest book today.