When revenue softens, most B2B organisations look in the same direction: sales. Targets are reviewed. Pipelines scrutinised. Forecast calls intensify. Additional sales training is commissioned. The assumption is familiar and comforting. If revenue is down, sales execution must be the issue. Often, it is not.

In many B2B organisations, collaboration between sales and customer service is treated as an unquestioned good. The assumption is simple: the closer the relationship, the better the outcome for the customer and the business. In practice, the reality is more nuanced.

Structured enablement is often misunderstood as a relaxation of standards. In practice, it does the opposite. It refines standards so they support decision-making rather than replace it. In enablement-led environments, agents remain accountable. Regulatory boundaries are respected. Quality matters. What changes is the role of judgement...

For many years, emotional labour in organisations was shared across layers of work. Frontline roles handled customer frustration, hesitation, and disappointment as part of their everyday responsibility. Sales teams managed rejection and uncertainty. Team leaders and managers stepped in when situations escalated beyond routine handling. Artificial intelligence is now reshaping this architecture.

During a training session with a group of young professionals, we discussed recent research showing that customers tend to expect two things from their suppliers: ease and recognition. The exchange should feel smooth, and the person on the other side should feel seen. One participant raised his hand and said, plainly, “I’m not a social counsellor. I’d rather avoid personal contact with customers.”

A UK customer may escalate quickly after a single failure. A French customer may prioritise explanation before compensation. A Dutch customer may be precise and transactional. A German customer may expect full documentation. An American customer may expect urgency and certainty. Each interaction is rational within its own frame of reference. The complexity sits with the representative, often far removed from the legal and cultural systems that shaped the caller’s expectatio

Conflict rarely announces itself loudly. It usually begins with a complaint, sometimes justified, sometimes emotionally charged, often both. Beneath each one sits a broader question: how capable is the organisation of mediating tension rather than simply processing dissatisfaction?

In call centres, energy does not come from motivation. It emerges from how work is designed. Agents operate under sustained cognitive and emotional load. Conversations move quickly. Emotions accumulate. Attention resets repeatedly. Over time, the system either processes that residue or carries it forward. What often gets labelled as low energy is rarely a lack of commitment.

In customer service, loyalty is often presented as the ultimate goal. In practice, sustainable performance is shaped less by winning loyalty than by limiting the conditions that generate disloyalty in the first place...

B2B outbound calls have evolved. Sales cycles are longer, decisions carry greater consequence, and buying decisions are shaped by more voices than before. At the same time, tolerance for generic outreach has decreased sharply. In an environment marked by inbox fatigue, AI-generated volume, and increasingly cautious buying committees, a well-timed outbound call can still matter. Its relevance, however, is no longer assumed. It must earn its place...