How Top Reps Run Outbound in 2026

The bottleneck in outbound moved. It is no longer how many touches you can send, it is knowing who to call, why, and what to say when they pick up.

James Buckley sat down with Shara Davoodi, Director of Sales at Nooks, on what actually changed. A poll during the show put sixty-one percent of the audience on the volume play and not getting replies.

Habits worth dropping

Shara went after three. Over-personalization, because value beats trivia and an assumption gives the prospect something to correct, which earns you credit when you get it right. Spray-and-pray dialing and mass email, both finished. And local dialing, matching your number to the prospect's area code, which he says stopped working because buyers recognize the trick. James has had people answer thinking he was their kid's school.

The fourth is the introduction nobody asked for. Beyond what the law requires, get to why you are calling. Shara calls the rest wasted space, and James says the same of email: your name is in the signature, and if they want it they will ask.

Assume you have the right person

Shara's tip for new callers. Do not confirm, assume. If you are wrong they will correct you, and assuming lets you get straight to the reason for the call.

The one-two-three, inside five minutes

Call, then email, then LinkedIn, in the same short window. James has run this as his first touch for fifteen years and does not care which channel replies.

Shara's addition is the most actionable thing here: go look at step one of your sequence. Calls are usually buried at step three or four, so reps do all the other work first, when a connect would have made most of it unnecessary.

He also reframes success. A booked meeting is the goal, but learning one thing is gold: who they are with, when they renew, a feature they dislike.

Multi-thread with your own leadership, not just theirs