The Problem: Buying Beyond Buy Now is Broken

Buying in complex B2B and high-touch B2C markets (Beyond Buy Now) is difficult. Unlike simple e-commerce transactions, these purchases involve multiple stakeholders, long decision cycles, and unclear processes.

Today buying typically looks like:

• The data is undeniable—buying is broken
  • 77% of B2B buyers state that their last purchase was very complex or difficult

    According to Gartner, Inc.

  • 94% of B2B buyers say they prefer suppliers who demonstrate a clear understanding of their needs and guide them through every step of the buying process.

    Adapted from Forrester Consulting, commissioned by Showpad, The Future of Sales Enablement, 2019.

  • Organizations that fail to orchestrate the B2B buying experience risk losing deals, even if their products or pricing are superior.

    Adapted from Deloitte Insights, Customer Strategy in B2B: Turning Your Buyers into Advocates.

  • Customer indecision, not competition, is now the biggest killer of deals.

    Adapted from Matt Dixon, co-author of The Challenger Sale and The JOLT Effect.

  • The biggest challenge in B2B sales today is a lack of customer confidence.

    According to Gartner, Inc.

  • 95% of buying groups report having to go back and revisit decisions at least once as new information emerges.

    According to Gartner, Inc.

  • B2B buyers engage in approximately 60 touchpoints before finalizing a deal, with high-value deals in complex industries involving up to 100 touchpoints.

    According to Pathmonk.

  • Only 17% of a B2B buyer’s time is spent meeting with potential suppliers.

    According to Gartner, Inc.

  • The customers buying journey is hard. The typical buying group for a complex B2B solution involves six to 10 decision makers‚ each armed with four or five pieces of information they have gathered independently and must de-conflict with the group.

    According to Gartner, Inc.

  • The single biggest challenge of selling today is not selling; it is actually our customers' struggle to buy.

    According to Brent Adamson, Distinguished VP, Advisory, Gartner.

  • Virtually 100% of buyers want to self-serve all or part of their journey, a 13% increase.

    According to TrustRadius.

  • Customers are three times more likely to buy a bigger deal with less regret when suppliers provide information perceived as helpful in advancing the purchase process.

    According to Gartner, Inc.

  • Who's your biggest sales competitor? It's not who you think. It's the status quo. Doing nothing is the absolute easiest thing for people to do—even if the process or products they're using now aren't doing a good job.

    According to Jill Konrath, Selling to Big Companies, Agile Selling.

  • Over the next decade, winning marketers will use AI to help execute tailored approaches for each journey. However, success with AI requires a fundamental shift in perspective; using AI within outdated frameworks, such as the linear funnel, won’t deliver optimal results.

    According to Boston Consulting Group, It’s Time for Marketers to Move Beyond the Linear Funnel, 2025.

  • Only 21 percent of sales and customer service executives surveyed say they have total control over their organization’s sales networks and overall customer experience.

    According to Accenture, B2B Customer Experience Study.

  • Complex customer buying journeys and disconnected channel partner networks are preventing B2B companies from delivering the personalized customer experiences that drive loyalty and growth.

    According to Accenture, B2B Customer Experience Study.

  • I strongly encourage you to look at your ‘sales process’ with a dispassionate eye. Does it really reflect the stages your prospects go through in their decision-making journey?

    According to Bob Apollo, Why Your Sales Process Doesn’t Matter, Inflexion-Point Strategy Partners.

  • Collaboration has become an essential foundation for any sort of sustained sales success.

    According to Bob Apollo (Founder, Inflexion-Point Strategy Partners).

  • Influence rules, persuasion drools. If you are persuasion-driven, you prioritize your interests over the buyer’s—often resulting in coercion and manipulation. Too many sellers take this approach, but it’s not how buyers want to engage.

    Adapted from Andy Paul, Sell Without Selling Out.

  • The B2B buying process is complex—80% of B2B companies have buying committees, with 22 distinct roles involved in the process.

    According to G2.

  • Only 28% of marketers say they are very confident that they understand their end-to-end buyer journey.

    According to Invoca research.

  • In complex B2B journeys, value is delivered through coordinated, personalized engagement across the full decision cycle—not just at the moment of sale.

    Adapted from McKinsey, The New B2B Growth Equation.

The Benefits: Easier Buying Means More Buying

When the buying process is clear, actionable, and focused—buyers are happy to go through it. Customers get easier solutions faster—sellers close more deals and increase satisfaction. Everyone wins.

• The proof is in—fix buying to stay ahead
  • 86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a better buying experience.

    According to PwC Experience Is Everything Report.

  • Suppliers that make buying easy are 62% likelier than other suppliers to win a high-quality sale.

    According to Harvard Business Review, The New Sales Imperative.

  • When sellers guide effectively, the entire buying journey can be 30–40% shorter by eliminating the wandering, false starts, and internal misalignment that usually slow progress.

    According to Partners in Excellence.

  • Suppliers that make buying easier win big.

    According to Gartner, Inc. Buyer Enablement Insights.

  • High-performing sales organizations enable collaborative B2B journeys through intelligent tools and guided experiences.

    Paraphrased from Accenture Interactive research, B2B Customer Experience: Winning in the Moments That Matter.

  • 80% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase when brands offer personalized experiences.

    According to Epsilon Research.

  • Organizations implementing customer journey orchestration have achieved revenue gains of 10-20%, cost reductions of 15-25%, and customer advocacy score improvements of 20-40 points.

    According to MarTech.

  • If you make the buying experience easier, you make the decision easier—and that’s how you win.

    Adapted from Anthony Iannarino, author of The Lost Art of Closing.

  • Aligning the sales process with the buyer’s journey is an idea that has been promoted for years but is long overdue for widespread adoption—especially in complex B2B sales involving multiple stakeholders and internal political considerations.

    Adapted from Bob Apollo, referencing insights from SiriusDecisions and align.me.

  • Companies should take their cue from digital natives and reorganize change initiatives around the customer journey—an end-to-end approach to conceiving and solving each distinct customer mission.

    According to Transform Customer Journeys at Scale—and Transform Your Business, Boston Consulting Group.

  • The most powerful differentiator today is not what you sell, but how you help customers buy.

    Adapted from Brent Adamson, co-author of The Challenger Sale & The Challenger Customer.

  • Customer-obsessed companies outperform non-customer-obsessed companies by a 2.5x revenue growth rate, 2.2x profitability growth rate, and 2.2x employee engagement growth rate.

    According to Forrester Research webinar.

  • The easier you make it for your buyers to buy, the faster you win.

    Adapted from Jill Konrath, author of Selling to Big Companies & Agile Selling.

  • Aligning buying and selling is a process, not a one-shot deal.

    According to Harvard Business Review, What Salespeople Need to Know About the New B2B Landscape.

  • Selling isn’t about persuasion. It’s about helping people make better decisions faster.

    Adapted from Andy Paul, author of Sell Without Selling Out.

  • The most effective salespeople are the ones who manage to successfully facilitate complex buying decision processes that involve multiple stakeholders.

    According to Bob Apollo, Founder of Inflexion-Point Strategy Partners.

  • Helping buyers make better decisions is the single most impactful thing a seller can do.

    Adapted from Matt Dixon, co-author of The Challenger Sale and The JOLT Effect.