Why now
Buyers decide before they ever talk to you
Most of a B2B purchase now happens on surfaces you don’t control. By the time anyone contacts you, they’re confirming a decision rather than making one.
01 / 04
They ask a model first
45% of B2B buyers used AI on their last purchase. It cites earned media 84% of the time and paid content 0.3% of the time.
Illustration: an AI answer lists three competitors and names none of your company, with a counter reading zero of twelve cited sources mentioning you.
AI answer
what are the best options in our category?
Three names come up most often in current sources:
- 1A competitor
- 2A competitor with a worse product
- 3A competitor you’ve never lost to
You aren’t in this answer.
0 of 12 cited sources mention you
02 / 04
They don’t click
No country still sends 300 clicks to the open web per 1,000 Google searches. The answer resolves in the chat, and you’re either in it or you’re not.
Illustration: of 100 searches, 23 reach the open web and 77 resolve without a click.
03 / 04
They check seven sources
Review sites, forums, comparison posts, three people they trust. You control one of them.
Illustration: one buyer branching to seven sources — AI answer, review site, forum, comparison, trade press, a peer, and your own site.
buyer
- AI answer
- Review site
- Forum
- Compare
- Press
- A peer
- Your site
Six of these describe you. One is you describing yourself.
Reported by Gartner, 2026 B2B Buyer Survey.
04 / 04
They call you last
69% talk to a rep to confirm what they already decided. By then you’re being checked, not chosen.
Illustration: a research timeline where the decision is made at 85% of the way through and your call happens at the very end.
research beginsyour call