The Equity Exchange
Every give is a trade: when you offer something, ask for something of equal weight back.
Human truth
People give things away to be helpful and think it builds the relationship. A give with nothing asked in return teaches the other side that your time is free.
The parts
The give
Anything you offer: your time, a demo, a discount, a feature, a concession. Each one is an opening offer in a trade, whether you name it or not.
The ask
What you request back: a next meeting, a commitment, data, a referral, a signature. The ask is how the give turns into progress instead of a favor.
Proportion
The ask should weigh the same as the give. Too big and it feels like a shakedown. Too small and you teach people to undervalue what you offered.
When to reach for it
A rep keeps giving discounts, demos or feature promises and nothing moves. A partner or customer asks you to prioritize them. Someone asks for your time. You're deciding whether to say yes to a customer request.
The essay
E
very interaction at work is a trade.
When you give something, you're making an offer. Your time. A demo. A discount. A spot on the roadmap. A concession in a contract. The question is what comes back.
Most people never ask. They give and hope it turns into something. A rep sends a discount to keep a deal warm. A team says yes to a customer request because no feels rude. A partner asks to be prioritized and gets it. Each one feels generous. Each one teaches the other side that what you offered was free.
The equity exchange is the habit of asking. When I give something, I ask for something back, of equal weight. A next meeting. A real commitment. Data. A referral. A signature.
The weight matters. A big ask for a small give feels like a shakedown. A small ask for a big give tells people your work is cheap. Keep them in proportion and both sides know where they stand.
It runs the other way, too. When someone asks for my time, they're offering an exchange, whether they say so or not. Figuring out what they actually want, and giving them a fair trade for it, is how you show you know how to manage relationships instead of using people. On a sales team, answering those exchanges well can matter more than any single close.
One move makes the whole thing easier. People would rather edit than create from scratch. So when I make an ask, I fill in the answer for them. Here's a time for the next meeting. Here's a draft of the commitment. They only have to change what's wrong. That lowers the cost of their side of the trade, and makes it far more likely they'll make it.
I haven't written this one down before. It lives in coaching conversations, in the same two questions I ask over and over before anybody gives anything away. What are you offering? And what do you want back? ■
Where it came from
The Equity Exchange is Jason's own. It comes from years of coaching sellers and running go-to-market teams, and this page is the first time it has been written up publicly. It sits at the Pattern stage because it hasn't yet met the naming bar: no published essay before this one.