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.

A quiet pattern has become increasingly familiar. Candidates progress through full recruitment cycles. Interviews. Culture conversations. Even a signed contract. Then, at the final moment, they pause. They ask for time. They disappear. Only to resurface inside their current organisation, offer letter in hand. Not to resign, but to renegotiate.

A positive interaction, a moment of recognition, a difficult exchange left unresolved, all carry forward. They shape how people speak in the next meeting, how they show up with a client, how confidently they take decisions. In sales environments, these emotional traces often decide outcomes long before price or proposition come into play. This is emotional carryover...

Most stalled B2B deals do not fail because the need disappears.They stall because decision-making inside the client organisation moves at different speeds, under different logics, and with unspoken constraints. What looks like hesitation is often misalignment. One part of the organisation is ready to act. Another is following a rhythm that does not bend easily. The deal sits between them, waiting for coherence...

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.

Most sales teams lose momentum before the pitch, not during it. They walk into the first meeting with parallel narratives: one centred on urgency, one on adoption, one on proof, one on reframing. The buyer hears misalignment and assumes risk...

Even with chat, AI, and self-service everywhere, B2C outbound calls still matter. They also drain energy quickly. High volume, constant rejection, and pressure to sound fast, warm, and relevant at the same time take a toll. This is something to read between shifts or just before your next round of calls. No theory. No motivation talk. Just practical ways to reset how you show up.

Personalisation in sales has long been framed as preparation. Know the client. Understand their market. Anticipate their challenges. In today’s language, this has evolved into hyper-personalisation, powered by data, tooling, and increasingly sophisticated segmentation. Yet something essential is often absent...

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.

Retail performance is no longer driven by peak moments alone. In a landscape shaped by fluctuating footfall, rising costs, and increasingly selective customers, performance lives in the in-between: the ordinary interactions, the quiet days, the stores that are neither failing nor excelling, but drifting. For regional and national leaders, this creates a specific challenge...

Most people recognise Linda. She works behind the counter. Her answers stay short. Her expression rarely changes. She does her job, waits for the day to pass, and avoids unnecessary interaction. Customers read it as attitude...

Sales conversations often focus on simplifying the customer’s choices. Less choice. Clearer framing. Easier decisions. The same tension appears earlier...

Sales performance issues are rarely caused by lack of effort. More often, they persist because activity, outcomes, and causes become blurred. Teams work harder, managers intervene more frequently, yet the same patterns resurface quarter after quarter. Lean Six Sigma offers a disciplined way to restore clarity...

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...