I’ve been watching something shift in outreach over the last year, and it’s catching a lot of B2B service providers off guard.

The old approach of asking someone to “book a call” doesn’t get through anymore.

Here’s why and what to do instead, broken into 4 parts:

1 | You can’t get past filters when you ask for a call in the first message

Email providers and LinkedIn have gotten very good at spotting “sales intent.”
And the fastest way to signal it is to ask a stranger to book time with you.

The moment you say “jump on a call,” your deliverability drops.
Your acceptance rate drops.
And your message often never reaches a real person.

You might have the best offer in the world…but the format now triggers the system to work against you.

So don’t do it.

2 | Even when you reach someone, people no longer take calls off a cold message

Prospects are busy. Their calendars are packed.
A single email or DM isn’t enough to justify a 30–45 minute call.

It’s not personal.
It’s just too big a leap from “I don’t know you” to “I’ll give you a bunch of my precious time.”

A hard CTA kills the conversation before it starts.

To get momentum, you need a softer entry point - something small they can say yes to.

Which brings us to the “what to do instead”….

3 | A “Value-Offer” CTA creates tailwind for everything else

When you replace “book a call” with something genuinely useful - a small tool, audit, assessment, or short video….everything changes.

You get more positive replies.
You get into more inboxes.
You build a nurture list simply by doing outreach.

And because the first interaction actually helps them, you can feel good about sending messages each day.

You’re not pitching. You’re serving.

This alone builds a healthier, more consistent pipeline because every soft “yes” becomes someone you can continue helping over time.

And who doesn’t want to actually feel good about doing outreach?

I certainly do.

4. The calls you book convert at a higher rate

When someone enters a conversation already helped by you, the tone is completely different.

They’re not skeptical.
They’re not guarded.
They show up with gratitude, because you’ve already given them something useful.

And grateful prospects convert at a much higher rate than cold ones.

The whole funnel lifts:

More deliverability → more replies → more warm leads → better calls → higher close rates.

It all starts with that first step: stop asking strangers to book a call, and start giving them something that proves you can help.

If you want me to map this to your offer and show you what a value-offer outreach campaign would look like for your business…

Reply strategy and I’ll walk you through it.

Rooting for you,
Tom

Whenever you're ready... here are 3 ways we can help you grow your biz:

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We'll come up with a solid outreach strategy and how to effectively deliver your offer to your target prospects via LinkedIn or cold email.

We might work together. We might not. In either case you'll walk away armed with new ideas to grow your business.

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