🕵🏻♂️ Demand generation from the buyer's perspective
How B2B buyers' decision-making process evolves, what we can't control and what we can influence
No B2B buyer ever said:
"Hey, I'm interested in being your MQL.
Please, send me your automated email nurturing cadence and transfer my email and phone number to your Sales Rep.
I'd love to spend a few hours on a qualification call and then hang out with your Account Executive."
B2B buyers don't engage with marketing content, sign up for webinars or field events, because they are READY to buy. They engage because the topic resonated with them, and they'd like to learn more.
We have a fundamental problem here:
Misalignment of brand, awareness and demand generation programs with the demand generation from the buyers’ perspective.
Today I want to share:
How B2B buyers actually buy and the demand generation from the buyer’s perspective
What we can and can’t influence in their buying process
How sales reps can help ABM & demand gen teams to influence the buying journey
Order Full-Funnel B2B Marketing book
Stop chasing MQLs that don’t convert. Start building an enterprise pipeline that sales actually thanks you for: without massive budgets, organizational overhauls, or waiting for perfect conditions.
Built from 50+ enterprise ABM programs across companies from $10M to $1B+ ARR, this book gives you the systematic approach that helped dozens of B2B marketing leaders:
Fix the broken GTM playbook and drive millions of revenue from new programs developed and tested over a couple of quarters
Quickly provie impact of new marketing programs with 90-day pilots to earn runway for longer-term brand and demand programs
Create repeatable playbooks that work within the constraints most B2B CMOs face: long sales cycles, skeptical executives, misaligned incentives with sales, and quarterly pressure to hit pipeline targets
Get leadership buy-in for changing marketing playbooks without asking for additional budget or resources
Deploy AI to refine and accelerate proven playbooks, not just “do more with less”
Align marketing and sales around revenue and pipeline generation (not leads)to stop working in silos
Scale proven playbooks (what works) across the organization
Systematically move strategic accounts through the buyer journey:from unaware to sales opportunities
No matter where you are:
running on a ‘quarterly MQL hamster wheel’, unsuccessfully trying to optimize within impossible constraints,
dealing with frustrated sales teams,
fighting attribution battles with leadership,
or simply knowing your GTM playbook is broken but not being sure how to fix it
this book gives you the blueprint to transform your marketing function without internal revolution, starting from today.
How B2B buyers actually buy
Here are our observations what has changed in the B2B buying process based on conversations with the peers and our clients projects.
1.B2B buyers use search mostly to find relevant content and less and less use it to find the B2B vendors.
Search became a top-of-the-funnel activity for B2B vendors. Content that ranks is unique, high-quality, and explicitly answers potential buyers' questions. It’s not a vendor research channel anymore.
Here is the fresh research from Peep Laja on how do B2B marketing leaders start their vendor search in 2025?
Some certainly start by googling the category (9%), but most buyers use it to validate what they heard from peers.
"I use Google, but only after asking my network", which leads us to the 2nd point.
2. Most buying decisions (product search or vendor evaluations) happen during peer conversations, niche communities, and events.
Examples:
Peers shared a post, infographic or screenshot from the event -> Check the post -> Check the author -> Check the product.
Asking a colleague or mentor for recommendation -> Check the product
See a relevant post (video / podcast episode / newsletter, etc) in the newsfeed (or being tagged) -> check the profile of the author -> check the product
See an interesting comment to the post of the thought leader -> check the profile of the commenter -> Check the product.
See a mention of a product (or case study, or use case) from a thought leader, partner or colleagues -> check the product page -> visit the website.
Asking for recommendation -> Check the product
B2B buyers trust their peers & thought leaders more than the companies ranking for a specific keyword.
Every single day in our Trenches - B2B marketing community folks are asking to recommend different vendors and products. All our stack was purchased on the recommendations of our peers.
According to Peep, "Dark social" dominates (72%). The journey typically starts in private communities BEFORE moving to public sources.
Marketing leaders overwhelmingly turn to peer networks on private Slack channels, WhatsApp groups, and professional communities first.
• 45% start in spaces like Pavilion, CMO Coffee Talk and Exit Five
• 27% text trusted peers directly
"My WhatsApp group of CMOs is my first stop".
3. Buyer enablement replaces sales enablement.
Buyers don't want to be pushed.
They want to find information that helps to solve their specific challenge or answer their questions. When they feel your product or service is the best way to help them, they reach out.
You can help buyers choose/consider your product, but you can't push them.
Product webinars start replacing product demos.
Content hubs start replacing discovery calls.
Product demos and discovery calls are still there, but instead of playing around with finding fit and selling the product, they are all about discussing practical solutions.
4. People buy from people they know, like, and trust.
B2B buyers don’t open LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook because they want to see an ad promoting a new product.
They open it to see updates from communities, peers, and thought leaders. They come for content and entertainment.
Here is the truth.
The higher the ACV of your product, the more complex it is, the lower is demand for it. In most cases, there is no demand at all.
You can’t create demand with direct conversion ads and cold outreach ONLY.
Banner blindness is real. CPC is drastically increasing.
But you can create demand when consistently talking about:
the challenges your target buyers have,
solutions & ideas they can apply,
practical advice and market insights
You can proactively grow your network and leverage engagement triggers to open conversations with target accounts.
You can join discussions with thought leaders and target buyers to grow your visibility.
But don’t fall into naive funnels and try to sell 5-6 figure software as a pair of shoes.
Create awareness -> Grab attention -> Generate demand -> Capture demand and activate - this is B2B marketing 101 for 2025.
Drive pipeline THIS quarter with full-funnel ABM programs.
If any of these challenges sound familiar:
You are aligned in theory with sales but don’t do anything in practice aside from receiving wish lists from sales and sharing with them your marketing plan. In reality, you work in silos and miss the revenue targets and are being pressured by your executives.
You understand that your marketing and sales playbook is broken (mqls, gated content) but despite many attempts you don’t know how to fix it
Your outbound, paid ads and organic pipeline drastically decreased while CAC increased mostly because most of your market is problem unaware and not buying.
You lack brand awareness among target accounts and sales can’t get even a reply.
You clearly see that you're already behind your revenue targets
We can help.
We'll develop a custom full-funnel ABM strategy aligned with your resources, budget and stack and execute it together to drive results THIS quarter.
How demand generation looks like from the B2B buyer perspective
We interviewed CMOs of our clients to try to visualize the demand generation process from the buyer's perspective. Here are 5 stages we have defined.
1. I want to learn.
Buying intent: No
Buyers interests:
I want to up-skill myself, learn the best practices and industry trends
I discover good content from a brand, and start following them
I sometimes share good content with my colleagues
What we can do as vendors to influence this stage:
Align content with the jobs-to-be-done and challenges
Create content for channels where your buyers hang out and learn
Co-create with people and brands your buyers trust
2. We want a solution.
Buying intent: low.
Buyers interests:
The problem you help solve is a threat to a high priority business objective
Cost of doing nothing’s big enough to care
We cannot ignore or postpone it
We cannot solve it internally
What we can do as vendors to influence this stage:
Clear messaging on how you're different & worth buying
Case studies and solution guides
3. We want a solution like yours.
Buying intent: low/medium.
Buyers interests:
We have done sufficient research to understand different options
We believe that <your category> is the best option for our problem
We believe that we have what it takes to implement it and get desired outcomes
What we can do as vendors to influence this stage:
Ads on high-intent channels and retargeting
Product-related content hubs, webinars and nurtures
Progressive profiling across the touch points
4. We want your solution.
Buying intent: medium.
Buyers interests:
We have identified, evaluated and vetted the right vendors
We believe you are one of the best options
We have have the consensus of key stakeholders
What we can do as vendors to influence this stage:
Co-create a business case with your champion
Establish a mutual action plan
Multithread the buying center
Buyer enablement content addressing their specific questions
5. We are ready to buy from you.
Buying intent: high.
Buyers interests:
We understand the total cost (not only the product price), and we believe this investment would yield a significant return.
We expect impact Y within Z time
We have a clear plan, right people and infrastructure to implement the solution
We understand the change management required and feel confident we will be able to do it
We understand the main risks, and have a plan for a proof of concept to de-risk our decision.
You have been vetted by our procurement department
What we can do as vendors to influence this stage:
Work with procurement and internal stakeholders to provide required input
Define POC success criteria together with buyers
Allocate implementation resources on buyer and your end
While it’s logical, sometimes we here a concern that no vendor can control the buying process, that’s why there is no real demand generation.
While I agree you can’t control the process, you can develop a cohesive demand generation model that influences it (check the post below).
Here is our breakdown of what you can and can’t control.
What we can and can’t influence in their buying process.
WHAT YOU DON'T CONTROL.
Here are 5 ares that we can’t control as B2B vendors.
1. BUYERS’ PRIORITIES
High priority business objectives
Current focus areas & initiatives
2. NEEDS & PROBLEMS.
Nature and existence of their challenges
Current perception of how severe or critical
3. EXTERNAL FACTORS.
Market changes, regulatory shifts, and competitive activity
M&As, changes in leadership or organizational structure
4. SOLUTION DISCOVERY.
Where & how they discover solutions
Who they trust and who influences them
Which competitors they know of, and their perception
Procurement requirements and limitations
5. BUDGET & RESOURCES.
Current budget and team allocation
Timing of budget planning, resource allocation & review cycles
6. DECISION-MAKING.
Who makes decisions
How decisions are prioritized
The pace of decision-making
Their procurement process
Internal politics
WHAT YOU CAN INFLUENCE.
Here is what we can (and must) influence as the vendors.
Awareness of:
opportunities they were not aware of
mistakes they‘re making
cost of inaction
how solving the problem aligns with broader organizational goals
how these external changes impact the status quo, and how the winning companies adapt
different ways of solving the problem they might have not considered
requirements and purchase criteria they didn’t initially include
what it takes to implement a solution, and how you help
their internal business case, perceived ROI & value
perception of your ability to deal with change management and implementation, and your trustworthiness as a partner
awareness in the buying center
*Side note: I think this newsletter is a perfect example of all the points above :)
WHAT YOU CAN CONTROL.
Lastly, there are areas that are under our control. Here is the breakdown.
Researching your best customers’ strategic priorities, challenges and buying triggers
Your content & consistency, and remaining top-of-mind when the buying process begins
Prioritizing channels your buyers actually use
Co-creating with brands and people they trust
Working with your champion on mapping threats to high priority business objectives, the buying center, and co-creating a business case
Having an opinion, and working on a strategic narrative
Positioning your brand as a trusted advisor through thought leadership
Creating compelling case studies w/ financial, operational, or strategic outcomes of implementing your solution
Proactively addressing concerns, reducing perceived risks, and answering objections
Multi-threading & engagement strategy
One important lesson we all must learn:
As a GTM team, you need to proactively work on brand awareness in places your buyers hang out and consume non-product information.
To be considered, you need to be known.
Direct ads and outbound support demand capturing, but not brand awareness and demand generation.
To keep growing in 2025, the winning B2B companies adjust marketing and sales to how their customers are buying. They stop running utopian lead generation funnels and their playbooks to the buying intent.
Listen to Full-Funnel Live - Account-Based Journeys
*If you want to attend the next live episode, sign up here to receive an invite. Usually, we host them every Wednesday at 4 pm CET (Central Europe) - 10 am ET (Eastern Time).
In the episode of Fullfunnel Live we'll share a sales' perspective in a live, step-by-step case study of an ABM program to create enterprise opportunities in a highly competitive corporate learning market:
We invited our client, Magali Finet-Perdu, a sales rep at CrossKnowlege to share:
Examples of how to use different channels and collaboration with marketing to introduce multiple meaningful touchpoints and book more calls with prospects
How can sales reps attract attention and create awareness in the buying committee of target accounts
How to educate stakeholders and time it correctly, within global organizations that don't rethink their processes, tools, and approaches every year— and where it takes time to find the right opportunity
How to scale from a pilot program and involve more salespeople in a new way of working
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