We’ve known for at least a decade that buyers complete the majority of their research prior to reaching out to vendors. In June 2023, 6sense did a study on ~1k groups who were involved in a $10k+ purchase. Below are the findings from their research.

But first, here are my actionable insights:

1. Quality content is [still] important to capture attention, educate, and build trust through the entire buyer journey, especially the front 0-70%. This could be educational content created by the marketing organization or content created by existing customers like product reviews.
2. How fast you respond to a buyer is critical. You want to be the first interaction, otherwise you’re choosing a 16% chance of winning.
3. It’s effective for salespeople to function as buyer guides (not “sellers”) through the final 30% of the buyer’s journey.
4. Asking buyers “are you speaking with other vendors?” can tell you what your odds of winning are, and more importantly it can give you intel on how to be a better guide through the remaining 30% of their journey.
5. Maintain a mindset of “unbiased helpfulness” rather than “sell my product”.
6. Account-based marketing and team selling can help you and the customer manage the large amount of information in a buying process.

And now for the research data that informed the above takeaways:

• Buyers first interact with a vendor 70% through their buying journey
• Buying groups were an average of 10 people
• Each person had 16 interactions with each vendor
• 4 vendors were evaluated on average
• 10 people * 4 vendors * 16 interactions each = 640 interactions in the journey
• When more vendors are added, more people are added to the buying group to help manage the vendor interactions and decision-making
• Buyers initiate contact with vendors 83% of the time
• Whichever vendor has the first contact wins 84% of the time
• When a buyer gets in touch with your organization, you either have 84% odds of winning or 16% odds of winning
• Therefore, respond quickly to get the 84% chance of winning
• Buyers have already set their requirements 78% of the time prior to interacting with a vendor

Keep in mind: buyers are in control, and the sales process is the beginning of the end of the buying process.

To win, have a service-oriented mindset no matter which department you’re in, share valuable content, and be extremely responsive.