Buyers will want MORE calls, not less. Forrester says it now too

Two years ago everybody was sure AI will kill the sales call. Funny how fast this changes.

Forrester put out their 2027 B2B predictions yesterday and the first one made me smile. Buyers will double their human interactions to validate what the AI recommended. So they ask the AI, they get a shortlist, and then they still want a real person on the phone before they sign. I read it on PR Newswire, 3 minutes max: https://en.prnasia.com/releases/apac/forrester-s-2027-b2b-go-to-market-predictions-ai-agents-will-influence-75-of-b2b-purchase-decisions-552726.shtml

The second one I would print and put on the wall of every sales team. Two-thirds of providers will lose deals because buyers cannot verify claims. Not because the product is bad. Because nobody can check what you say.

Think about the normal sales deck. "Best in class". "Trusted by leading companies". "Save 40% of your time". An AI reads this and has nothing to hold on to. Real customer stories, real names, numbers somebody can confirm, this is what will survive.

The third one is for the bosses. Most CMOs will cut programs or live with a smaller team after they overestimated what AI saves. Some cutting up to 25% of roles and then paying agencies to do the same work. Sounds familiar to anyone who cut the SDR team a bit too early 😅

So my takeaway for this week: be easy to check, and be easy to call. Thats the whole game for 2027.