5 common misconceptions about the B2B buying journey
Struggling to activate and empower your buyers because you have an outdated mindset is something you could avoid.
So, that advice you got from a playbook from 2019?
Time to throw it out and understand the evolving nature of the B2B buying process and its various stages. This is crucial for tailoring your marketing and sales strategies effectively.
1. “Buyers need sales to guide them through the process.”
📉 What sales thinks: Buyers need a structured process, led by a rep, to move forward.
📈 Reality: Most B2B buyers prefer self-service. They spend 80% of their buyer's journey researching on their own before ever engaging with sales.
How to level up
Instead of trying to “control” the process, you and your team should focus on helping buyers make confident decisions by providing clear, transparent, and easily accessible information upfront.
2. “If they downloaded our ebook, they must be ready to buy.”
📉 What sales thinks: A lead magnet = buying intent. Time to pitch.
📈 Reality: A download doesn’t mean they’re ready to buy—it means they’re gathering information. During the consideration stage, potential customers actively research solutions after identifying their needs. In fact, many leads never engage beyond that first touchpoint.
How to level up
Instead of relying on surface-level engagement (form fills, clicks), look at true buyer intent signals—like repeated visits, content consumption patterns, or internal sharing activity. Signal-based selling is your key to leveling up your sales game fast.
3. “B2B buying is rational—it’s all about features and ROI.”
📉 What sales thinks: Buyers have a purely logical decision making process based on features, pricing, and ROI.
📈 Reality: Buying is deeply emotional. Fear of failure, internal politics, personal risk—all of these shape how decisions are made.
How to level up
You and your team need to speak to the human side of buying—addressing buyer anxieties, internal friction, and the real-world implications of making (or not making) a decision.
4. “Once we have a champion, the deal is as good as closed.”
📉 What sales thinks: If a strong internal advocate loves our solution, the deal is won.
📈 Reality: B2B purchases involve 6-10 decision-makers. Your champion isn’t the final gatekeeper—they’re part of a much larger conversation.
How to level up
Your team should equip champions with the right tools—clear business cases, competitive differentiators, and ROI narratives—to help them influence decision-makers internally. Use case studies that highlight the success of existing customers to provide persuasive, real-life examples.
👀 Pro tip: Pay attention to how champions engage with your content—if they’re not sharing it, they may not be fully bought in yet.
5. “Buyers want a smooth, step-by-step sales process.”
📉 What sales thinks: Buyers follow a predictable, linear funnel.
📈 Reality: B2B buying is chaotic. Your prospects jump between research, peer recommendations, vendor content, and internal discussions before ever making a decision. Buyers compile a list of potential suppliers as they research solutions, spending limited time interacting directly with these suppliers during the evaluation process.
How to level up
Instead of forcing buyers into a rigid process, meet them where they are. Make sure your information is accessible on demand, in multiple formats, across multiple channels.
Now that we know what’s broken, how do you fix it? The good news—it’s not about doing more. It’s about doing things better.
How to adapt your sales strategy to the modern B2B buying journey
A winning sales team doesn’t push harder - they remove friction. Here’s how you and your team can give buyers the confidence to move forward faster through their B2B buyer journey:
1. Make it easy for buyers to get the information they need
💡 Remove unnecessary friction—don’t force buyers to book a call just to get pricing.
💡 Provide self-service resources like product demos, case studies, and interactive tools.
💡 Keep your website structured for search so buyers can easily find answers.
💡 Use customer testimonials to provide social proof and help buyers make informed decisions.
2. Shift from “lead qualification” to “buyer signals”
We’d be silly not to mention emlen here. Assisting potential buyers throughout their purchasing journey is crucial, and a great way to track buyer signals is with a solution like ours that can help you collect data about how, when, and which pieces of content your customers interact with. And, who they share it with.
Don’t assume a form fill = intent.
Instead, track:
- Which content buyers revisit
- What they share with teammates
- Whether they return to key decision-making pages (pricing, case studies, implementation details)
3. Equip your champions to sell internally
- Give them the tools they need—ROI breakdowns, competitive comparisons, and proof points.
- Create short, digestible takeaways they can easily share with decision-makers.
What this means for the future of B2B buying
- Sales doesn’t “own” the buyer's journey anymore—your buyers do. If you and your team don’t recognize this shift, your competitors will.
- Helping is the new selling. The best sales strategies aren’t about “pushing” buyers forward—they’re about removing friction and empowering better decisions.
- Trust is the real competitive advantage. Your prospects want to work with businesses that make things easy, transparent, and valuable from the start.
It’s hard to shift the way we think about sales, but it’s necessary. The teams that embrace trust as their competitive advantage will be the ones that win—not just more deals, but more loyal customers who believe in them.
We know that’s a lot to take in. So, if you still have questions, let’s break it down further and tackle some of the most common ones…
FAQ: The B2B buying journey most common questions
1. Why is the B2B buying journey no longer linear?
B2B buyers no longer follow a predictable, step-by-step process because they have access to more information than ever before.
Instead of relying on sales to guide them, they conduct independent research using search engines and other online channels, compare vendors on their own, and loop in stakeholders at different points in the process.
This creates a nonlinear, self-directed journey where buyers jump between different stages before making a decision.
2. How can sales teams adapt to the changing B2B buying journey?
Sales reps need to move from a sales-led approach to a buyer-first mindset. This means:
- Providing transparent, easy-to-access content instead of gating everything behind a form.
- Tracking real engagement signals (like content consumption and internal sharing) instead of just form fills.
- Equipping champions with resources to sell internally rather than relying on one-on-one persuasion.
- Making sure buyers can engage on demand, rather than forcing them into rigid sales processes.
- Understanding the purchasing process for companies selling to other businesses, to tailor marketing and sales strategies effectively.
3. What are the biggest challenges buyers face in the B2B buying journey?
The biggest friction points for buyers today include:
- Too much information, not enough clarity – Overloaded with content but struggling to compare options.
- Internal decision-making complexity – B2B purchasing decisions involve aligning multiple stakeholders with different priorities, adding layers of complexity and risk.
- Fear of making the wrong decision – Buyers worry about potential risks, job security, and long-term impact.
The best way to reduce friction is to provide clear, digestible, and actionable content that helps them confidently move forward.
4. How can we measure whether our sales approach is aligned with the modern B2B buying journey?
Instead of just tracking meetings booked, start measuring buyer engagement, content consumption, and internal advocacy. That’s where the real signals are in the B2B customer journey.
🤔 Ask yourself:
- Are we seeing longer sales cycles with no clear decision?
→ Buyers might be struggling with internal consensus during the purchasing decision. - Are leads engaging with our content but not responding to outreach?
→ They might not be ready to talk yet. - Are our champions struggling to get buy-in?
→ We might not be providing them with strong internal selling tools. - Are buyers ghosting us after demos?
→ Maybe we’re pitching too soon or skipping key pain points.
5. What strategies can sales teams implement to align with the modern B2B buyer's journey?
Your teams need to focus on making the buying process easier, not just pushing for sales. Some key strategies include:
- Empowering buyers with self-service options – Offer on-demand demos, transparent pricing, and in-depth FAQs.
- Using intent-based signals instead of relying on lead forms – Track how buyers engage with your content and prioritize those showing deeper interest.
- Equipping champions with internal selling tools – Provide them with business cases, ROI calculators, and competitor comparisons to win over stakeholders.
- Offering flexible, non-linear sales engagements – Let buyers control the pace instead of forcing them through a rigid sales funnel.
Now that you've had the most common questions answered, it's time for you to take action.
Over to you: Time to rethink sales for the modern B2B buying journey
Your sales game can be as outdated or as evolved as you allow it to be. Just because your buyers are more independent doesn't mean that you're less important. It just means you're not the driver anymore, you're a guide in their process.
Give your prospects and customers the clarity, confidence, and frictionless path forward. So, stop shouting so loudly and make it easy for your buyers to say 'yes!'.
Changing your mindset around B2B sales is challenging, we get that. If you need a bit of your own guidance along your new journey to modern sales process, please reach out.
