North-south sales divide reflects deeper mistrust

Pipedrive says a new regional analysis of its UK research points to two distinct sales problems across England, with northern consumers still more likely to encounter direct, old-school outreach, while southern England outside London shows weaker trust in salespeople themselves.

Although the figures on contact methods are close, the split in how those interactions are received is more revealing. In northern England, 58% of consumers said phone calls were a sales contact channel and 44% cited in-person selling, compared with 57% and 37% respectively in southern England outside London. Northerners were also more likely to say those channels made them feel pressured, with 37% saying that about phone contact, versus 32% in the South, and 36% saying the same of in-person selling, against 30% in the South.

Further south, however, the credibility problem is more severe. Just 16% of consumers in southern England outside London said salespeople were trustworthy, compared with 21% in the North, while 46% in the South said the profession was not trustworthy. Positive experiences were also harder to recall there, with 40% saying they could not remember ever having had one, versus 32% in the North.

That scepticism was not limited to human contact. When asked about AI-driven sales tools, only 17% of respondents in southern England outside London said they were open to them, compared with 24% in the North, suggesting that distrust extends beyond cold calling or face-to-face pressure and into the wider sales process.

Sean Evers, VP of Sales & Partner at Pipedrive, said: “The regional divide here is revealing. In the North, the challenge looks like style: people are still dealing with a more phone-first, higher-pressure type of selling. In the South outside London, the bigger issue seems to be credibility. People are less likely to trust salespeople in the first place, less likely to recall a good experience and less open to AI-led selling as an alternative. That tells businesses the answer is not merely to stop cold calling, it’s to rebuild trust through more honest, transparent and relevant communication that puts empathy and listening back at the heart of relationship building.”

When consumers were asked what might improve trust, southerners were more likely than northerners to point to honest acknowledgement of pros and cons, 45% versus 40%, and to transparency around pricing, 42% versus 38%. At the same time, 18% of respondents in the South said nothing would change their view, compared with 15% in the North.

Taken together, the figures suggest that companies are confronting different obstacles in different regions. In the North, a more traditional sales style still appears to shape how people experience outreach, while in the South outside London, distrust looks harder to shift because it reaches the profession itself. Pipedrive’s full report is available here.