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What the Hell Happened to B2B Selling in 2025?

By / / AI & Data, Buying, Call Reluctance, Innovation, Sales Trends

In 30 seconds

The Problem: The B2B sales terrain fundamentally shifted in 2025. Cold calling stopped working for 71% of decision-makers under 40. Over 70% of buyers now use AI to research and shortlist vendors before contacting sales. Buying committees exploded to 10+ influencers across 6 to 11 months. Most sales teams are experimenting with AI in isolation with no consistency, no integration, and no playbook.

The Shift: From predictable, linear sales processes to orchestrating complex, multichannel, generationally diverse buying journeys. The power shifted from seller-controlled discovery to buyer-controlled validation. Sales teams now face a generational divide in communication preferences, digitally empowered buyers making decisions before first contact, and buying committees requiring simultaneous orchestration across multiple stakeholders.

The Solution: Update your navigation system for the terrain that exists now. Build a 2026-ready sales process and playbook that’s generationally intelligent, digitally integrated, designed for buying committee orchestration, and embraces AI as a capability multiplier. The fundamentals haven’t changed. Building trust, understanding needs, creating value, and solving problems remain eternal. But your map needs updating.

What the Hell Happened to B2B Selling in 2025? Read Post »

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Is it Harder to Reach Younger B2B Buyers via Phone? Yes, and Here’s Why

By / / AI & Data, Business Growth, Call Reluctance, Hybrid Selling, Prospecting, Social Media, Value Based Selling

In 30 seconds

Key Takeaways:

The Problem: Younger B2B buyers are ghosting phone calls during research phases. Research shows 71 per cent of decision-makers under 40 favour email and text for initial contact, with cold-call responses plummeting to 2-5 per cent. They are not avoiding conversation; they are controlling when it happens.

The Shift: From interruption-based prospecting to signal-based engagement. Digital channels handle education and qualification, while human expertise drives complex problem-solving and collaboration. The future belongs to those mastering Human-AI partnership: AI identifies readiness while humans deliver the strategic insight that complex sales demand.

The Solution: Build digital proximity first, then engage proactively when signals show readiness. Complex sales still require deep human collaboration, but only after you have earned the right to that conversation through relevant, value-first touchpoints.

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4 tips to turbocharge your sales

By / / Blog, Business Growth, Call Reluctance, Prospecting, Sales Results, Sales Tips

‘He who hesitates is lost’ is a saying I have chosen to kick off this topic.

Why?

Over 50 years of empirical research into sales success shows that people who do not hesitate to prospect for new opportunities in new and existing accounts on a constant daily basis are five times more productive on average than their hesitant* colleagues. Five Times!

This research shows that businesses and their people can no longer rely on their technical competence, passive referrals, reputation, brand, or blanket advertising and marketing alone to bring in new business and revenue streams as they may have done in the past. …

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Staying in touch for all the right reasons

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Blog, Call Reluctance, Prospecting, Sales Results, Sales Tips

Prospecting is the function and ability to ignite opportunities with new and existing clients, new markets, within communities. Prospecting opens many doors if we are prepared to do it – consistently.

However, prospecting is probably the least favourite activity of people in business. Some people don’t know how to prospect which is a big deterrent to any task. But that can be easily fixed with training and coaching. Even so, others seem to find every excuse under the sun not to call someone.

It’s not the right time. What if they are busy? What if they say …

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Unethical self-promoters walk amongst us – be very aware

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Blog, Call Reluctance, Ethics & Values, Prospecting, Self Promotion

This is Part 1 of a 2-part series on Unethical Self-Promoters.

Back in 1988, I was introduced to a body of research* that focused specifically on the concept of self-promotion, prospecting, and new business development, and the learned behaviours and attitudes that give rise to the fear of self-promotion and sales call reluctance. This body of research was an illuminating, eye-opening, life changing experience for me in many ways – it was a key catalyst that helped kick-start the work I do today. Since then I’ve had the privilege of introducing tens of thousands of people to this research that includes …

Unethical self-promoters walk amongst us – be very aware Read Post »

I’m in sales, you’re in sales, we’re all in sales

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Blog, Brain Science, Call Reluctance, Everybody lives by selling something, Human-centred, Life Skills, Opportunity, Prospecting, Sales Psychology, Selling Better, Success

When my eldest son was eleven, he said to me ‘Mum I don’t believe everybody lives by selling something’. I said, ‘That’s interesting, why do you say that?’ and he started to try to persuade and convince me as to why this statement wasn’t true. So I said to him ‘by you trying to persuade and convince me why this isn’t true, aren’t you trying to sell me something?’ To which he said ‘Ahh, I get it Mum.’

Yes, we are all in sales, one way or another.

If you have ever tried to initiate contact with a person …

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Are you treating symptoms or the cause? Doing sales assessment right

By / / Assessments, Blog, Call Reluctance, Prospecting, Sales Assessments, Sales performance, Sales Skills, Sales Training

The competent carpenter’s saying is this: measure twice, cut once.

We know that selling is a complex role with many moving parts.

Producing great and consistent sales results as a salesperson and team is 80-90% reliant on Lead Indicators – the key Input Activities & Behaviours – the relevant knowledge, skills and mindset around sales & account planning, prospecting & new business development, solution selling & key account management, etc. that we, as professional sales people and teams, need to execute everyday on a consistent daily basis. The other 10-20% is reliant on the right sales strategy, sales processes & tools, training …

Are you treating symptoms or the cause? Doing sales assessment right Read Post »

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We have to talk about prospecting

By / / Assessments, Attitudes & Behaviours, Blog, Call Reluctance, Prospecting, Sales performance

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Every business needs to prospect for new clients and customers, as well as prospect for new business in existing client accounts. Even non salespeople often need to reignite past business relationships and form new ones, internally or externally. You don’t need to be the primary salesperson or business development manager to benefit from knowing how to prospect well. …

We have to talk about prospecting Read Post »

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Using assessments when recruiting salespeople

By / / Assessments, Call Reluctance, Recruitment & Sales Recruitment, Sales Assessments, Sales performance, Sales Talent

Your sales teams are the primary human face of your organisation and – still – identifying and retaining high performing sales talent continues to elude many businesses. 

A successful salesperson will not only enable your organisation to ride out the economic uncertainty but will also ensure you are ready to seize the opportunities that present during the recovery.

Effectively predicting sales performance is critical to the success of any business, and using well designed, rigorous psychometric assessments as part of a sales selection process can really boost our chances of finding and retaining the …

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Storytelling for Better Sales & Enriching Relationships

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Call Reluctance, Communication, Ethics & Values, Gratitude, Self Development, Self Promotion, Vision, Mission & Purpose

The truth is we all tell stories every day in a myriad of ways in varieties of situations for a variety of reasons.

In ancient times, oral storytelling was the original way we passed down our knowledge and wisdom to the next generation.  Here in Australia, First Nations people call it The Dreamtime.

Storytelling is inherent in human nature. Storytelling is inherent in sales.

Stories told and aligned to the organisation’s purpose and principles, enrich, transform and sell.

Storytelling like Selling, is ubiquitous. 

How well we tell stories, the right stories at the right time for the right reasons to the right people well that’s a whole other story.

This is what I would like to focus on here, especially as it relates to selling.

But I have to set the scene with you first.

Over 10 years ago I had the pleasure of meeting Sandy McDonald, an author, TEDx speaker, and a clarity and storytelling trainer and coach. I was presenting to a group of people at a public seminar on The Psychology of Call Reluctance and the Fear of Self Promotion. Sandy was in the audience. The reason I remember Sandy so well is that a few days post this session, she sent me a blog she had written about me, my topic and the stories I shared and the positive impact it had on her. This had never happened to me before and I was very moved by her narrative.

We connected on Linkedin, chatted every now and then but it wasn’t until early 2019 that we reconnected again on a much deeper level. You see I had just released my book ‘142 Days of Gratitude that changed my life forever’ and posted a chapter excerpt which explained what prompted me to write the book. Sandy reconnected with me again posting her story about what my story meant to her.

What became clear is that our relationship was being forged on storytelling and that storytelling is at the heart of every human relationship. Which is why we are now working together to help other people develop their craft in storytelling to build meaningful connections and forge better relationships that drive better business and create better outcomes personally and professionally.

I’m a storyteller by default because I have never studied the craft of storytelling like Sandy has. For instance, Sandy’s been working with us to Barrett to help us further develop our stories. She’s been working with us on how we tell the story of our 25 years of evolution at Barr

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