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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.

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AI: Your Ally for Better Client Engagement & Sales Success

By / / AI & Data, Communication, Innovation, Prospecting, Sales Market Segmentation

In 30 seconds

AI is my ally, revolutionising sales and client service with enhanced productivity and engagement. Robotic Process Automation streamlines CRM tasks, while Natural Language Processing (NLP)-powered chatbots deliver tailored responses. AI-driven market research crafts targeted pitches, boosting conversions. Machine Learning outperforms LinkedIn’s searches, pinpointing prospects, and Deep Learning ensures empathetic communication. Choose reliable AI, but beware: an AI-generated prospecting call recently lacked authenticity, so I hung up. Always make real calls and review AI content for your voice, using AI as a co-creator. By 2030, soft skills will dominate, with AI freeing you for authentic relationships. Barrett …

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Navigating the Brave New World of Sales

Navigating the Brave New World of Sales

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Blog, Business Growth, Human-centred, Hybrid Selling, Innovation, Leadership, Opportunity, Remote selling, Sales Trends

In 45 seconds

Key Insights from the Barrett Event (28/11/24) with Alex Fein, RedBridge and Sue Barrett, Barrett:

Erosion of Trust:

  • Alex Fein discussed growing public scepticism toward institutions, media, and corporations, driven by a disconnect between personal expectations and failing public systems
  • Businesses need empathy and qualitative insights to understand and address these sentiments effectively

AI in Business:

  • Caution against over-reliance on AI; it enhances operations but cannot replace human connection
  • Leaders should use AI selectively to complement human-centred practices

Building Trust:

  • Sue Barrett emphasised long-term value creation over short-term wins
  • Businesses should focus on solving real problems to foster trust and deliver meaningful value

Modern Sales Practices:

  • Hybrid selling is …

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Miscommunication Costs Businesses Billions

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Collaboration, Communication, Customer-centric, Human-centred, Innovation, Soft skills, Success

In 30 seconds

Effective communication has become a rare commodity. While many organisations focus on the technical aspects of collaboration, they often overlook the most critical component: human-centred interaction.  Companies tend to focus on logistics, CRM systems, or operational procedures while neglecting the importance of human-centred interaction. Poor communication, however, impacts business outcomes, costing companies billions annually. Simply implementing tools like Microsoft Teams or hosting events is insufficient. Organisations need a tailored communication roadmap, clear channels, feedback mechanisms, and active employee involvement. Prioritising empathy, active listening, and genuine engagement can improve collaboration, innovation, and productivity, leading to greater employee satisfaction and …

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The Race to Zero

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Blog, Brand & Reputation, Decarbonising, Environment & Sustainability, Innovation, Marketing, Sales Trends, Sustainability & Environment

In Sales Trend 4 of the Barrett 12 Sales Trends Report for 2022 guest author Ben Peacock from Republic of Everyone explains what brands are doing to lower their climate impact and why it’s crucial that they do so.

By guest author Ben Peacock – Founder, Republic of Everyone

You might be too young to remember, but sometime in 2009 Cascade launched a beer called Cascade Green.

The bottle was green, the billboards were green, made of real plants growing where usually only ads would be, the beer was green – 100% carbon neutral – and it …

The Race to Zero Read Post »

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Bowie & Me – 26 years on

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Collaboration, Entrepreneurship, Everybody lives by selling something, Innovation

Blog Podcast

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On 9th January 1995, the day after David Bowie’s 48th birthday, I started Barrett Consulting Group with $3,000 and a dream of doing something significant in the world of sales, service, human relationships, business, ethics, and sustainability, confident in my ability to sell, to learn, be helpful and find my way forward from there.

Each year I revisit this milestone in my career. Each year I …

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The Time is NOW for Purposeful Optimism

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Blog, Collaboration, covid-19, Innovation, Life Skills, Opportunity, Optimism, Purposeful Optimism, Resilience, Sales Essentials, Sales Skills, Sales Strategy, Selling Better, Strategy, Success, Wellbeing

I get the feeling, at this stage of the COVID-19 crisis, that many of us feel like we are living in a kind of ‘Twilight Zone*’ – an ambiguous area between the boundaries of two concepts, conditions – a grey zone; or a state of surrealism, where things that should not make sense seem to do so; or an indefinite or transitional condition. Take your pick.

For many of us, everything we have taken for granted or accepted as standard has been thrown into question. If you’re like me, you’re likely asking yourself, your family, your team, your clients and suppliers, …

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how-do-I-think-and-act-like-Sully

How do I think and act like Sully?

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Communication, covid-19, Customer Service, Innovation, Opportunity, Sales Psychology, Sales Skills, Sales Strategy

Do you remember the plane that landed on the Hudson River in New York City in 2009?

Your business might not have been struck directly – like Captain Sullenberger’s plane had been hit by a flock of geese – but the fallout of the COVID-19 crisis has hit us all directly or indirectly creating with it the challenges and opportunities to keep your business going and your teams engaged, productive and sales fit while working remotely or still in the field with your clients. The opportunity during what might be a more quiet time for many businesses is to adjust …

How do I think and act like Sully? Read Post »

Finding Sales Opportunities in the Supply Chain of Supply Chains during COVID-19

By / / Innovation, Opportunity, Optimism, Resilience, Sales Driven Organisations, Sales Market Segmentation, Sales Strategy, Sales Tips, Systems Thinking

At Barrett, our goal is to help businesses stay in business and keep people in jobs so we can sell better for a sustainable future.

And right here right now, the world as we know it will most likely seem overwhelming to many of us and for a good reason – the unprecedented health and economic impact of COVID-19.

We are in unchartered territory.

We’d either have to be living under a rock or completely oblivious for this to not have some physical and psychological impact on our wellbeing, employment, livelihood, share portfolios, families and communities. This situation affects us all regardless of …

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Crowdsourcing Sales Forecasting to deliver better certainty

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Forecasting, Innovation, Opportunity, Sales Forecasting, Sales Leadership, Sales Management, Selling Better, Success

People love certainty, especially when it comes to business. Which is why sales forecasting and sales pipeline management can often be the bane of sales leaders and their sales teams’ lives with senior management constantly on their backs wanting to know what deals will land and when, and when the revenue will start to come in. It’s relentless.

So given the current state of the world and the climate of uncertainty, it’s a good time to look at some of the latest thinking and work being done to improve the certainty of sales forecasting and pipeline management.

Current Situation with Sales Forecasting

Tracking …

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