B2B Buyer Journey Mapping: Understanding How Modern Buyers Make Decisions

The old sales funnel is dead. Today's B2B buyers complete 70% of their journey before talking to sales. Understanding this new reality is essential for modern selling.

The New Buyer Journey

Stage 1: Problem Awareness (Self-Guided) - Buyer recognizes a challenge - Searches for information online - Consumes content and peer recommendations - **Your role**: Be discoverable, provide educational content

Stage 2: Solution Exploration (Self-Guided) - Buyer researches solution categories - Evaluates different approaches - Reads reviews and comparisons - **Your role**: Thought leadership, social proof

Stage 3: Vendor Evaluation (Partially Guided) - Buyer shortlists 3-5 vendors - Requests demos and pricing - Involves more stakeholders - **Your role**: Differentiate, build relationships

Stage 4: Decision & Purchase (Sales-Guided) - Final evaluation and negotiation - Security/legal/procurement involvement - Contract finalization - **Your role**: Handle objections, manage stakeholders

Mapping Your Buyers

For each stage, document: - Who is involved? - What questions are they asking? - What content do they consume? - What actions do they take? - What triggers movement to the next stage?

Key Journey Insights

The Buying Committee Average B2B purchase involves 6-10 decision makers: - Economic buyer (budget authority) - Technical buyer (implementation) - User buyer (daily use) - Coach (internal advocate)

Information Sources Where buyers get information: - 67% peer recommendations - 47% review sites - 46% analyst reports - 42% vendor websites

Deal Killers Why deals stall or die: - 40% organizational change - 25% budget reallocation - 20% lost champion - 15% competitive loss

Implications for Sales

1. Engage earlier: Don't wait for inbound—proactive outreach matters 2. Multi-thread: Build relationships across the buying committee 3. Provide value: Be helpful throughout the journey, not just at the end 4. Track engagement: Know where each account is in their journey

The Prospectory Approach

We track engagement signals across the buying committee, giving you visibility into where accounts are in their journey and who's involved.