About the Session
In this episode of Science of B2B, Kerry Cunningham challenges a core assumption in B2B marketing—the idea that buyers enter the buying journey as “blank slates.” Drawing from new research in the Buyer Experience Study, Kerry reveals that 90% of B2B buyers already have prior experience with at least one of the vendors they will evaluate—and they already know four out of five vendors they will consider on day one. This means that most B2B marketing and sales strategies, which focus on educating uninformed buyers, are fundamentally misaligned with reality. Instead, companies should focus on reinforcing existing brand perceptions, ensuring they are on the initial short list, and providing content that helps buyers win over internal stakeholders.
Topics Covered
- The Myth of the Blank Slate Buyer: Most marketing and sales content assumes buyers need category education, but research shows they already have prior experience with vendors and products.
- Why Prior Vendor Experience Matters: 90% of buyers say they have prior experience with at least one of the vendors they evaluate, meaning past interactions shape future purchasing decisions.
- The Power of Being Known on Day One: Buyers already know four of the five vendors they will evaluate when they begin their buying process. If your company isn’t one of them, you have a 15% chance or less of winning the deal.
- How Buyers Choose Vendors Before They Engage: 78% of B2B purchases involve replacing, upgrading, or renewing an existing solution—not adopting something entirely new. This means buyers already have entrenched expectations and biases before they engage with vendors.
- The Real Role of Content in the Buying Journey: Instead of educating buyers about a category, content should provide ammunition to help advocates inside the buying group push for your solution.
Takeaways
- Stop Treating Buyers as Beginners: Most buyers don’t need basic education about your category—they need validation, comparison, and reinforcement of their existing knowledge.
- Prioritize Brand Awareness Early: If buyers don’t know you before they start evaluating vendors, you are at a major disadvantage. Invest in brand-building that ensures your company is a known and trusted option from the start.
- Help Buyers Win Internal Consensus: Buyers don’t just need to be convinced—they need resources that help them convince the rest of their buying group. Provide materials tailored to finance, IT, operations, and other key decision-makers.
- Understand How Your Brand is Perceived Today: Buyers’ past experiences shape their opinions of your brand before they even engage. Conduct research to understand how your brand is positioned in their minds.
Insights Surfaced
- Most B2B Marketing Ignores the Reality of Buyer Knowledge: Companies focus too much on explaining what they do rather than helping buyers advocate for them internally.
- The Buying Journey is Mostly Decided Before Direct Engagement: Buyers are familiar with vendors and solutions long before they fill out a form or take a sales call.
- Brand Inconsistency Can Hurt You: If your pricing, positioning, or value proposition has changed over time, but buyers still think of you in an outdated way, it could be hurting your chances of making the short list.
Future Topics
In the next episode, Kerry will explore the real dynamics of the B2B buying journey, diving deeper into how decision-making unfolds across a buying group and what vendors can do to support each persona’s role in the purchase process.
- Buyer Experience Study
- The 70/30 Buying Journey
- Same Dance, Different Shoes: What buyers like and do during their buying journeys
- The Lead-based Approach Has Failed Us: It’s Time To Move On
All resources are free and available without requiring a form fill.
