Top Challenges Your B2B Buying Group Are Facing
(and How to Overcome Them)

Summary

Synopsis:

  • null

    The challenges B2B buyers are facing and why the buying process is difficult

  • null

    How to de-risk and position solutions per C-suite member

  • null

    How to help buyers overcome challenges

Successfully engaging B2B buyers requires a deep understanding of the specific challenges they encounter in the buying process.

Buying committees have adopted a defensive stance as a result of heightened scrutiny on spending and a greater need to demonstrate return on investment (ROI). This places buyers under increasing pressure to assess and justify each buying decision. As a result, B2B buyers experience the “fear of messing up” (FOMU), rather than the former “fear of missing out” (FOMO), leading to a prevalence of risk aversion.

This evolution necessitates key changes in sales and marketing strategies. For many organisations, only a handful of leads are prioritised within target accounts rather than the entire buying committee receiving personalised nurturing and buyer experiences.

This article breaks down the challenges faced by B2B buying groups, as well as how to solve them and position your brand as the solution.

Why the B2B buying process
is so difficult for buyers

The buying process has become incredibly complex for decision makers to navigate with an average of 640 vendor interactions per vendor in their buyer’s journey (6sense, 2023). This complexity is compounded by buying committees expanding to up to 10 buyers, with average buying cycles now lasting 6 to 12 months (INFUSE Insights Voice of the Buyer, 2024).

Buying groups add more members to mitigate risk by delegating responsibility and seeking support from internal stakeholders and SMEs impacted by the decision. Although larger committees mean that buying groups are better supported, it also adds complexity to decision making. Buying groups of stakeholders from different teams can often result in conflicting priorities when considering solutions and vendors, due to their diverse priorities and responsibilities.

Additionally, buyers report having first contact with vendors a whopping 70% through their journey (6sense, 2023), indicating a prevalence of buyer-led research. Considering the average number of interactions a buyer has with each vendor during the consideration period, recent research has revealed that buying committees navigate up to 4000 vendor touchpoints per buying process (at an average of 4 vendors being considered).

Not only is this a significant investment of time and resources, but it can also result in a difficult and stressful buying process.

To succeed, vendors must ensure that buying experiences are both relevant and flexible to meet their buyers’ needs.

Marketing and selling teams that assist buying groups in navigating their journey while considering the complexity of the buying process and de-risking their solution are likely to emerge as leaders.

Why GTM needs to evolve

The complexity of the buying process has significant implications for how go-to-market (GTM) teams approach buyer journeys and create quality buyer experiences. Today’s increasingly independent buyers prefer to initiate contact with vendors 83% of the time, and partner with the first vendor they contact 84% of the time (6sense, 2024).

Marketing teams

This places a greater emphasis on the role of marketing teams to create engaging content and messaging focused on buyer enablement and demonstrating business value—thereby de-risking the decision before the buyer ever gets to speak with sales.

Marketing teams must position their brand through nurturing, education, and personalisation to ensure that when buyers are ready to engage, they are more likely to choose their brand as a partner.

Sales teams

75% of B2B buyers prefer a rep-free sales experience, however, self-service digital purchases are 1.65 times more likely to result in purchase regret (Gartner, 2022). Sales teams therefore play a critical role in providing buyers with information most relevant to their needs.

This includes nurturing and competitive displacement strategies to aid them to better understand their challenges and how the brand can help them achieve their goals while mitigating risk.

Sales teams are more likely to build trust and drive conversions when acting as trusted partners in the decision making process. In fact, despite the prominence of buyer-led research, sales teams are crucial for cementing unique value propositions (UVPs). Buyers are 2.3 times more likely to receive value affirmation from sales reps than from digital channels alone. They are also 1.8 times more likely to complete a high-quality deal when they are guided through digital tools by sales team members (Gartner, 2024).

Adjusting sales strategies to accommodate buyer behaviour is essential as buyers become more independent and technical in their understanding of their needs.

Adapting to evolving buyer behaviour:
A case study of SMART Technologies

Organisations must adapt their strategies, processes, and team structures as necessary to succeed among significant changes in buyer behaviour. Below is an example of how an organisation restructured its teams and processes to align with the evolving behaviours of buying committees.

A CASE STUDY: THE EVOLUTION OF MARKETERS IN RESPONSE TO THE CHANGING BUYING PROCESS

SMART Technologies, headquartered in Calgary, Canada, revolutionised its approach by restructuring its sales and marketing into the "Unified Commercial Engine" (UCE). SMART identified five common buying jobs and established an internal team for each one, with over 250 team members receiving new job designations as part of the process to foster collaboration across functions.

This overhaul led to remarkable results, including a 50% increase in lead volume, 35% higher lead acceptance, and a remarkable 48% year-over-year growth within just 18 months. SMART's transformation underscores the necessity for organisations to adapt to evolving B2B buying trends by breaking down traditional silos and embracing innovative strategies for success.

Source: The Harvard Business Review

Looking to align your solutions with client needs?

INFUSE demand experts build data-driven demand generation programs that address your target audience’s challenges and position your solution effectively to drive buyer engagement.

Let’s work together

Challenges and solutions per buying group member

Listed below are just a few challenges encountered by decision makers at buying committees, along with suggestions on how to assist them in overcoming these challenges.

These examples are focused on the traditional leadership roles that impact all areas of the business. While job titles and scope differ greatly at B2B organisations, these challenges also apply to some of the leading associated job titles appropriate to different-sized enterprises and industries.

Executive
Challenges
How to address them
CEO
CEO

Economic uncertainty

Provide flexible pricing models or financing options to accommodate fluctuations in the market. Offer solutions with clear ROI projections to justify investments.

Globalisation

Highlight features such as multi-language support, international scalability, and localisation capabilities to appeal to global markets. Offer case studies demonstrating successful global expansion.

Problematic legacy tech stacks and processes

Showcase how your solutions can integrate with existing systems or provide migration services to modernise tech stacks and streamline processes—emphasising ease of use for users. 50% of buyers indicated that integration with existing technologies is their second highest priority when determining major tech purchases (INFUSE Insights, Voice of the Buyer).

Establishing the right pace of change

Demonstrate how your solutions facilitate agile methodologies, allowing for incremental changes and rapid adaptation to evolving business needs.

Competitive positioning and takeover programs in a volatile landscape with acquisitions and mergers

Offer competitive intelligence tools or market analysis services to help CEOs make informed decisions and maintain a competitive edge in the face of mergers or acquisitions.
CFO

Identifying the right investments to drive growth

Provide data analytics platforms or forecasting tools that offer insights into market trends to help CFOs/CIOs make informed investment decisions with your solutions, aligned with growth objectives.

Keeping up with AI and other disruptive technologies

Showcase how the latest technologies are leveraged with your solutions (such as AI-driven features or predictive analytics capabilities). Focus on technology that enables CFOs/CIOs to implement financial forecasting, risk management, and decision support.

Cutting the right costs

Highlight how your data analytics and automation tools can help CFOs/CIOs identify areas for cost reduction without compromising key operations.

Supply chain disruption

Underscore how your solutions can provide data and insights to improve supply chain resilience. Leverage predictive analytics and real-time data to help CFOs identify potential disruptions and plan for alternative strategies, ensuring business continuity.
CIO/CTO

Cybersecurity and data privacy concerns

Emphasise your active commitment to data security and compliance with industry regulations. Provide encryption features, access controls, and proactive security updates to safeguard sensitive information.

Making the most of technology investments

Offer implementation support, training programs, and ongoing technical assistance to ensure CFOs/CIOs get the most value from their technology investments and achieve their desired outcomes.

Slimming down tech stacks

Showcase how your solutions consolidate disparate systems, streamline processes, and reduce IT overhead costs. Offer migration services and compatibility with popular platforms.
COO

Maintaining productivity and output amid layoffs or hiring freezes

Highlight how your solutions support collaboration and productivity for in-person and remote teams.

Organisational alignment

Offer performance metrics dashboards for transparent goal tracking and accountability, along with communication features for enabling interdepartmental data flows.

Operational redundancy and inefficiencies

Showcase how your solution optimises operations. This could include lean methodologies and frameworks that help COOs identify and eliminate redundant tasks to streamline operations.

Rigid focus on data over impact

Offer data visualisation tools, customisable reporting dashboards, and analytics platforms that translate raw data into actionable insights, enabling COOs to make informed decisions based on tangible outcomes.
CMO

Driving competitive positioning with marketing efforts

Present competitive intelligence and real-time monitoring features. Offer agile management tools and A/B testing modules for quick adjustments and optimisation.

Meeting the expectations of younger decision makers

Highlight the latest innovations and features of your solution to improve the overall experience. Offer buyer-led self-service channels with BDR and sales team support.

Balancing short-term and long-term objectives

Provide campaign planning and scheduling features to align with both short and long-term goals. Offer ROI tracking and attribution tools for performance evaluation — along with coaching sessions for CMOs and their teams.

Growth strategy and execution

Showcase performance analytics and optimisation modules for enabling continuous data-driven growth and adoption.

Utilising AI and other tech effectively

Present AI-powered marketing automation and predictive analytics tools. Focus on technology that empowers marketers to analyse trends, consumer behaviour, and program performance, enabling data-driven decision-making and the optimisation of marketing strategies.

How to overcome buying group challenges

De-risk your solution

With the current complexity of the buying process and defensive buyers, de-risking your solution is imperative. Below are three core tactics for positioning your brand and offerings appropriately:

Key takeaways

  • null

    Buyers are more risk-averse and independent due to the increasing complexity and time-consuming nature of the buying process.

  • null

    De-risk your solutions and provide ample personalised nurturing and support to each member of the buying committee.

  • null

    Adjust strategies according to the titles, responsibilities, and priorities of each member, and assess how your solutions align with their values to effectively present and position your offerings.

  • null

    Adapt your processes and teams to meet the evolving needs of buyers by addressing objections, demonstrating value, and providing full-funnel support.

Drive engagement with the entirety of buying groups at your target accounts

INFUSE demand experts are ready to craft high performance demand programs tailored to deliver unmatched performance to drive your growth and ROI.

Latest Insights