Thomas Oakes: Lead With Value in B2B Outreach

Show a prospect how you would help before asking them to book a meeting. In my conversation with Thomas Ryan Oakes of GTM Bud, we worked through a simple example: offer a short video with useful ideas for that buyer's business, then let them decide whether a call makes sense.

This is where B2B video strategy meets outbound. The same expertise you use to answer buyers' questions in public can help you earn a private sales conversation. Start with a problem the buyer recognizes and show your thinking.

Key Takeaways

• Thomas separates the free value offer from the paid service you eventually sell.
• A Loom video can show a prospect specific ideas before they commit to a call.
• Thomas evaluates outreach through targeting, messaging and sending volume.
• Interview transcripts can help AI drafts sound more like the person speaking.
• GTM Bud looks for clients with an established offer that already sells.

What should you offer before asking for a meeting?

Offer a useful first step toward solving the buyer's problem. Thomas calls this a value offer. Your paid offer is the work someone buys. Your value offer gives them a reason to pay attention and a chance to see how you think.

That first step can take several forms. Thomas mentions a report based on information you have, an audit of the prospect's website, a helpful call or a video. The format follows the problem. A video makes sense when showing something is easier than explaining it in a message.

The starting question is specific: what problem keeps your ideal customer up at night that your service can actually help solve? “We should make some content” leaves too much for the buyer to figure out. A concrete idea about their business gives them something to evaluate.

Thomas's advice was to start solving the problem. That is a useful test for a free offer: does the recipient leave with a better understanding or a practical next step? If the only outcome is another request to book a meeting, the useful part is still missing.

What would a useful outreach video look like?

Show the prospect a few relevant ideas and explain why you chose them. We used my business as the example during the conversation.

I work with B2B companies that know YouTube and AI visibility matter to them, but feel stuck about where to start. I asked Thomas whether the first step should be an audit, a checklist or something else.

His suggestion was straightforward. Ask whether the person would like a short video with ideas for getting their B2B YouTube content started. If they say yes, open their website and LinkedIn profile in Loom. Walk through the topics you would address, why those topics matter and how you would begin.

Here is my paraphrase of the invitation, rather than an exact quote: “I have a few ideas for your YouTube content. Want me to send a quick video explaining where I'd start?”

The prospect can accept that without committing to a call. Your job in the video is to make the ideas useful enough that the next conversation feels worthwhile.

Is a customized video worth the extra work?

A customized video gives you room to make the advice fit one business. Thomas argued that this can improve the move from an interested reply to a booked call.

He offered rough estimates during the conversation: around one in three recipients of a customized video might book, compared with one in five or six for a less customized version. Those are Thomas's estimates, not results from a documented study or a test I have run. They are a reason to test the approach, not a conversion promise.

The extra work matters, too. You need to understand the company, choose useful ideas and record the explanation. A reply alone does not tell you whether that effort paid off.

My practical takeaway is to test a small batch and record the whole path: permission to send, video delivered, call booked and whether the call was qualified. Track the time involved as well. That would tell me whether this approach fits my business better than a broader piece of content.

How can AI help outreach sound like you?

Start with the way you actually speak. During the interview, I described my video-first process: record a conversation, get the transcript and use that source to create written content.

Thomas recognized the problem this can solve. Someone can sound natural on a call, then write an outreach message in a completely different voice. A transcript gives an AI writing tool examples of the person's language and rhythm.

That still leaves an editing job. Check that the draft says what you meant, stays relevant to the recipient and does not add facts you never said. A transcript is source material, not automatic approval for the finished message.

Thomas's standard for an outreach message was simple: valuable, relevant and clear. His view is that recipients will increasingly judge whether the message helps them, rather than spend time guessing who or what wrote it. That is his outlook on how buyer behavior may develop.

What should you fix when outreach is not working?

Look at the stages of the funnel before increasing activity. Thomas organized outreach around three questions:

1. Who are you targeting?
2. What are you saying to them?
3. What volume are you sending?

Then look at what happens after a reply. Are the leads qualified? Do they understand the offer? Are calls turning into sales? I raised this because more leads do not solve a closing problem by themselves.

Thomas also described the readiness test for his service: does the business have an established offer that people already want and buy? A promising idea may need more work before it is ready for a larger outreach campaign.

For me, the next experiment is a useful video offered to a relevant buyer. It builds on the expertise and conversations I already have. The question is whether showing that thinking earlier helps the right people take the next step.

Want help choosing the buyer questions your B2B videos should answer? Talk with Digital Accomplice.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a value offer in B2B outreach?

A value offer is a useful first step you give a prospect before selling the paid service. Thomas's examples include a report, an audit, a helpful call or a video about the buyer's problem.

What should I show in a prospecting video?

Show ideas that fit that prospect's business and explain why you chose them. In our YouTube example, Thomas suggested reviewing the company website and LinkedIn profile, then explaining topics and how to get started.

Does a personalized video guarantee more booked calls?

No. Thomas expects customized videos to work better and shared rough conversion estimates. The interview does not provide a controlled test, a documented sample or a guaranteed result.

Can interview transcripts help AI preserve my voice?

They can give an AI tool examples of your actual language and ideas. Both Thomas and I discussed this use, and the resulting draft still needs a human accuracy and voice review.

When is a business ready to scale outbound?

Thomas looks for an established offer that is already generating sales. He also recommends checking targeting, messaging and volume, along with lead quality and what happens on sales calls.

Full Interview Transcript

Dane: Today we are talking with Thomas Oakes from GTM Bud, welcome Thomas.

Thomas: Hello, hello, good to be here.

Dane: Yes, it is nice to have you here. I was thinking before this, like we're kind of two sides of the same coin. I'm really focused on sort of making that content for inbound, and you're really focused on outbound. Although we play nice together, and I was I was really leaning into this idea that if you make video content for inbound, you can also use that in in your outbound. Does that match like your methodology, or what's uh what's your big idea there?

Thomas: I think I mean it's a good point. There's there's and we we do this with a lot of clients actually where we will you know we create a value offer and that can be uh you know some kind of proprietary information you have, like some kind of report on what's going on in the market. It can be, you know, some some kind of audit or something that you're doing of of their site or their, you know, what you're seeing of their company. It can be a call, you know, where you're jumping on a call and like not a sales call, but you're trying to like what some value that you could provide in that call and kind of how you frame that call instead of trying to sell them something.

Dane: Yep.

Thomas: And then it can be a video, and video is is really effective to kind of get across, you know, whatever you might be trying, whatever kind of value you're trying to kind of deliver to them, you know, because people are kind of reticent to just take a call right away. Yeah. So if you do a video first, that can kind of warm them up to be like, okay, this person knows what they're talking about.

Dane: Yeah.

Thomas: And you know, now I want to get on a call with them, especially if we just put like a button on that video. It can be really

Dane: Yeah, and I realized we got a little ahead of ourselves. We didn't really talk about what you do and who you help, and I wanted to kind of let you answer that. But also, like, how has AI changed the way like you approach what you do? You know, I think we've all had to make some pretty big adjustments here.

Thomas: Yeah, for sure. I mean, we just to sum up what we do. I mean, we just help B 2b service providers go and and start conversations with their with their target audience, you know, and we do that through you know LinkedIn primarily and email outreach. So you know, and yeah, we we use a ton of AI. A lot of that is kind of, and we've kind of developed a framework of how we create the value offer for our clients, right? So, and and then finding you know who their ICP is, and then applying that offer in our messaging so that we're not just getting like boring. Hey, this is I'm so great. Let's get on a call type of messages, but really like what is the actual value offer that you can put out into the market to get people to pay attention to you. There's because there's there's really two different two different offers. I think every business needs to have. It's like one is your paid offer. Just what are you actually selling that they pay you money for, and then the other one that we start with is what is your value offer. So what can you like bring to the market to get that attention to prove that you can actually solve their problem because we find that the best way to convince to get that trust and convince someone that you can solve their problem is just to start actually solving the problem. Do it

Dane: first. Yeah, it's funny. Funny how that works is actually showing someone you know what you're doing is how you show them what you know know what you're doing, right? It's

Thomas: like just doing it. Like start like you're actually almost like working with yeah. It's like and then they're like, oh wow, this is great, and then it leads to the next. Yeah,

Dane: what a concept. So, what are your thoughts about you know the whole AI argument in content or like outreach messaging? Like, what is the right way to use AI and what is the wrong way? I think we all know just in general slop is bad and unpersonalized is you know generally not great. But you also like we know we need to be using it and we want to be harnessing it to the you know to maximize efficiency. So like what's what's the line that we don't cross there?

Thomas: Yeah, that's a great question. I think I think like right now we're in this little like transition period where people like to kind of have this eye like there's some sort of investigator of like was that AI or was that not AI? I don't think that that's actually gonna last super long. I think we're in a transition period right now, and I think soon enough, like it's just going to be whether it's valuable or not, right? And you know, I think even we're already seeing it in our own outreach. Like people expect that things are written with AI now. It's just is it over the top and verbose and stupid sounding, and they don't want to read it, or is it just totally you know not valuable to them? So yeah, as long as your message it can be written out by AI or a person, it just has to be you know valuable, relevant, clear. And if you're doing a value offer, ideally it's free. Yeah. So if it hits those points, that's when you're going to get the attention that you're looking for.

Dane: Yeah, one of the methodologies I've sort of leaned into is because I do video and I have like what I call a video first content creation process. Is like starting with a recording like this. After this call, we're going to have a transcript from this video interview, and that is going to be able to AI can use that to then make written content to accompany this that will be in our own voice. It'll use the exact quotes that we use, and for me that's always been sort of like a seemingly safe middle ground. I don't know if that's always the case, but I feel like hey, if you're gonna like split the difference, there is it is it valuable? Is it like my actual words? A lot of it is, so that feels like a safe place to be. I don't know if you're doing anything like that. I think

Thomas: that's a really good point because what I see happen, I mean, seriously, in almost every case, is like I'll have a call with someone, and they will sound some way like they have a way of speaking, right? Everybody has their own unique way of speaking. But then, if they were to go and try to create like outreach messages, the tone is completely different, and it sounds nothing like what they actually sound like, right? Yeah. Um, I think that's a really good use case for AI. Is like have it learn the way you actually speak, and then that's the way you should be. You know, it's a good way to write messages that way, right? Yeah. But people don't have that ability because their speaking mind and their writing mind are like two different brains, right?

Dane: Yeah, it is. It's it's tough. Like we as marketers, we we just like fall into this marketing think, marketing speak, and we just like it's almost like we have to like knock ourselves out of a trance and be like, no, that's not how people talk to each other. So I I found one of the the most effective direct outreach messages I had on LinkedIn is like just reaching out to someone like, hey, can we talk? Like something that simple is like, whoa! You don't have to do a paragraph of this fucking gobbledygook. You can actually just talk to a person like a human. Wow! Imagine that. So like,

Thomas: and if your profile is in good shape and they understand what you do, it's like that might actually work, right?

Dane: Yeah. So I kind of wanted to get your take on like how to do cold outreach right, and you talked about value. Can you get a little deeper about what does that mean? That's like one of those words, like strategy. Like everybody thinks they know what it means, but do they? I don't know if I even really know what value means anymore.

Thomas: Yeah, I mean, we're all we've been you know banged over the head with oh, you gotta you gotta bring value, gotta deliver value, and it's like, well, what does that mean? How do you tactically do that? And so, the way you do it is really think about what is the biggest pain point, the biggest problem, the burning problem that keeps your ICP up at night, like that is relevant and related to the service you deliver.

Unidentified speaker: Right.

Thomas: So, you know, if I were well, let's

Dane: workshop me. Let's workshop me. So my my clients are B 2b SaaS, and they know AI visibility is important, and they know they need to do something with YouTube. But they're kind of like, ah, what do I do? So they're kind of stuck. And so like, I struggle with like, what's the value? Is it an audit? Is it some sort of checklist? Like, what's your what's your thought there?

Thomas: Yeah, I think like for you, it could be like a a quick. It could be a call or a video. Let's say it's a video because you do video. Yeah. So like your value offer to them is you have to think like, well, how if that's their problem as it relates to your service, and a lot of them are thinking about this, how you know they don't know where to get started, right? And they don't know like you know they don't know what they don't know, but they know that they need to do it. And so for you, it could be something like, hey, you know, had some a few ideas on how you could get you know your YouTube channel or whatever really going with some really great B 2b content. Do you mind if I just share a quick video with some of the thoughts I had on how how you could do that? Right, it could be as simple as that. Right, like off the top of my head, but like where it's like, yeah, I mean, they don't have to commit to a call, right? They just get good ideas that are genuine good ideas from you, who's a leader in this space, and it's a very easy thing to say yes to. Like, yeah, send me a quick video, and then you could just pop open your Loom, pop open their LinkedIn and their website. You know what? Here's here are the topics I would hit. Here's why. Boom, boom, boom. And here's how you would get started doing it. And from there, they'd be like, wow, that was awesome. Thanks so much, Dane. Yeah, let me. I have been thinking about this. Let me just book a call.

Dane: So, did I get correctly that you're saying make a customized video for that one person?

Thomas: That would be one idea. Yeah, you could do that, but because you're probably going to book in like one out of three of those or so will book a call with you. Yeah, right. So because the reason why is because a it's a very specific value offer that you're presenting to them, right? So anyone who says yes to that obviously has the problem that you're trying to solve, right? Otherwise, they don't care about a video like that. So you have to be very specific about what the thing is that you're going to send to them, and then they say yes. You send the customized video. That's going to convert at a much higher rate. You know, if it's not customized, you're probably looking more like like one out of five, one out of six. You probably double your conversion rate if you do a customized video. Takes a little bit longer, I get it, but I mean,

Dane: yeah,

Thomas: you know, block calls, then that's what you do.

Dane: Yeah, that's a that's that's a great idea, and I think I should test that. So, the um, I wanted to talk about the idea of diagnosing a business problem because as an entrepreneur, I've had to learn all the roles that a business has, and so I've kind of been in this place for a while. Like I wasn't sure what it was that wasn't working. Do I need more leads? Is it like is it my messaging is the problem? Is it the positioning? Is it the offer? How do you go about like diagnosing what the actual problem is, and like what to solve first, because I can imagine you could solve one problem, but if you can't close, that doesn't matter how many leads you have. For example,

Thomas: yeah, I think you just yeah looking at every stage of the funnel, and like, are you getting you know the number of leads, and then are are those leads qualified or not? Right. So you know, do you want to sharpen your targeting, or do you want to put them through a few questions before they're able to book a call with you, or however you want to kind of qualify your leads first, and then, yeah, I mean, are you, you know, if you're not getting enough leads, then it's an offer problem, right? So, are you? What is your offer? Sharpening that, doing more outreach, doing more volume. You know, if you're talking about strictly about outreach, then there's really only three factors that matter. It's just who are you targeting, what are you saying to them, and you know what's the volume at which you're sending, right? And everything I'm talking about falls into one of those three buckets,

Dane: right?

Thomas: So,

Dane: what's your take on automation for like LinkedIn outreach? I think that's a violation of services, but I I get all these emails and meeting requests for like automation software. So it must be working for somebody. I don't really know what to think about that.

Thomas: Yeah, I mean it's a it's kind of a gray area because like major major corporations do use LinkedIn automation tools at a very high scale, and if LinkedIn wanted to shut that down, they could do it overnight, right? You know, they're they're all running basically on on on the same software. They're all using the same software under the hood to achieve what they're doing with the tools, and so our software does the same thing, yeah. But where I'd say like automation, again in this transition period, it's like for a while it was working well because it was kind of novel to get a half decent message on LinkedIn, and now like we get so many, but they're just not very good messages. They're not valuable. They're not clear. They're not relevant. They just get deleted right away, right? And so that's really the problem we're trying to solve. Is is, and I think we are solving it really well actually right now. Is just making sure that who you're reaching out to is spot on, that they're actually they're active on the platform. That's a big piece of it. And then what's the strategy? You can't just be pitching your service. It's like, how are you going to start helping this person? So we we we every every one of our clients like that's the the lens that we look at it through is how can you start helping your ICP, and that's how we're going to run the campaign and then create messaging that's just very clear and written for that specific person in the campaign.

Dane: Yeah. So, as a parting thought here, I wanted to just kind of ask, like, for your potential clients, is there something that's happening in their growth or their business where they weren't ready for a service like yours, but they become ready? Is there like a threshold or some some line that they cross to be like, okay, now this makes sense, and it didn't before?

Thomas: Yeah, I think the biggest thing is just: Do they already have an established offer that is working right now? You know, you know, kind of like you, you know, product market fit, right? Like, do they do they have something that the market wants, and are they already kind of in their motions, taking calls, making sales? Like, is their offer polished and kind of market ready?

Dane: Yeah,

Thomas: that's probably the biggest thing I see that where we're talking to folks where they're perhaps like not quite qualified to work with us is just because they got a great idea but they just don't have it kind of polished enough to go to market with it yet. Yeah, every business goes through that. There's no avoiding it.

Dane: Yeah. Okay. Well, that's great insight. I that's been top of mind for me. So thank you for sharing your your insights here. And if people want to learn more or reach out to you, what's a good place to find you?

Thomas: Just LinkedIn is great. I'm just Thomas Ryan Oakes

Dane: on LinkedIn. Awesome. Well, thanks again for a great conversation.

Thomas: Yeah. Thank you, Dane.