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When AI agents handle your B2B buyers, who owns trust?
Episode 5416th April 2026 • Trust & Influence in B2B • Joel Harrison
00:00:00 00:35:12

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Agentic AI is one of the most talked-about developments in B2B right now — but most marketers haven't yet asked the question that matters most: what happens to buyer trust when an AI agent starts acting on their behalf?

In this episode, Joel Harrison speaks with Andy Johnson, founder and director of client strategy at HUT3, one of the most respected ABM agencies in B2B and one of the earliest adopters of agentic AI in the industry. Andy and his team haven't just been watching this technology evolve — they've been actively building with it for the past three years.

Andy makes a case that will surprise many listeners: that agentic AI, done properly, isn't a threat to buyer trust — it's one of the most powerful ways to build it. But get it wrong, and you're not just making a single mistake. You're scaling bad decisions fast, across your entire account base.

In this episode you'll learn:

  • What agentic AI actually means in plain language — and why it represents a genuine step change, not just another AI product
  • Why trust in B2B is already being broken by human failures — and how agentic workflows are designed to fix them
  • The real risks: scaling bad decisions fast, fragmented data systems, and the governance gap most organisations haven't addressed
  • Who's accountable when an AI agent gets something wrong — and how well-designed workflows should handle it
  • What the buyer actually cares about when it comes to AI-driven communications (the answer may surprise you)
  • How the marketer's role is changing — and why Andy's team has grown, not shrunk, on the back of building agentic AI workflows
  • Where Andy sees this all heading by 2030 — and what B2B marketers should be doing right now to get ready

About Andy Johnson

Andy Johnson is founder and director of client strategy at HUT3, an award-winning ABM agency operating across the B2B landscape. HUT3 have been among the earliest agencies to move from talking about agentic AI to building with it, developing workflows across research, content creation, personalisation and campaign activation. Andy brings over 30 years of experience in account-based marketing to his thinking on how AI is reshaping the discipline.

Resources and links

  • Find out more about HUT3 at hut3.co.uk
  • Connect with Andy Johnson on LinkedIn
  • Subscribe to the Trust & Influence in B2B podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube
  • Read the accompanying LinkedIn newsletter article: Can you orchestrate trust with AI agents?

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