Buyer-centric selling: The proven path to predictable growth
10 min
Executive summary
This article explores how go-to-market (GTM) teams can adapt to a buyer-led, digital-first market by building trust earlier, engaging more effectively across channels, and scaling personalization with intention.
Today’s B2B buyers are more informed, more autonomous, and more selective—requiring GTM strategies to evolve in step.
Legacy sales motions—characterized by cold outreach, gated content, and broad messaging—often fall short in creating meaningful connections with buyers who expect relevance, clarity, and control at every touchpoint.
Earning trust and sustaining engagement in today’s market requires a thoughtful reset to deliver relevant insight at the right moment. Approaches that emphasize timing, credibility, and contextual value are far more likely to resonate than transactional tactics rooted in outdated playbooks.
The opportunity lies not in doing more, but in differentiation: delivering the right value, through the right channels, at the right time—guided by data, context, and empathy.
This whitepaper explores key factors contributing to buyer disengagement and outlines buyer-informed strategies designed to restore momentum and support sustained, strategic growth.
What does the modern B2B buyer look like?
Modern buyers now hold greater control over the purchasing process. According to the INFUSE Voice of the Buyer 2025 report, 75% of buyers prefer a sales representative-free experience, and 70% conduct their own research independently.
Millennials, now active participants in decision making roles, bring a technology-savvy, efficiency-driven mindset that challenges traditional sales approaches.
Buying decisions are increasingly made by larger groups—24% involve 15 or more stakeholders—highlighting the growing importance of consensus and trust (Voice of the Buyer 2025). Additionally, much of the B2B buying journey now takes place in the dark funnel, beyond direct vendor visibility.
Approaches that emphasize empathy, clear value, and consistent engagement across channels are better aligned with evolving buyer expectations. Trust is emerging as a critical currency, often built through peer networks rather than direct vendor interactions.
With initial vendor contact occurring later in the process, it becomes increasingly important for organizations to convey credibility and relevance early on. When buyers feel informed, supported, and validated, they are more likely to move forward with confidence—and to engage with partners who provide a sense of safety and alignment.
The new rules of buyer engagement:
Buyer expectation
Self-directed research
Fast decision support
Community validation
Consistent experiences
De-risking commitments
GTM response
Ungated content, demo videos, peer reviews
ROI tools, benchmarks, integration clarity
References, user communities, Slack access
Orchestrated GTM functions and platforms
Onboarding clarity, client success stories
“Buyers have been around for a while. They've been in business and they know us. If you want to get on the consideration list, if you want to be considered at all, you're going to have to be known to those buyers who you want to influence before they even go into market.
If that makes you think of a word like brand, well, then that's right. That's what we need to be worried about a lot more than we have been.”
Head of Research and Thought Leadership, 6sense
8 missteps that drive buyers away
1. Requesting meetings too soon
Establishing value prior to requesting a meeting is essential when engaging with modern buyers. Approaching prospects with a meeting request too early—without first demonstrating relevance or credibility—can often be perceived as presumptuous and self-serving, thereby jeopardizing the potential for future engagement.
When sales teams seek to initiate meetings prematurely, they interfere with the autonomy buyers expect in their decision making process, resulting in unnecessary friction. A more effective strategy emphasizes deliberate preparation, appropriate timing, and contextual relevance before reaching out.
This preparation can be supported cross-functionally by marketing in the form of persona-targeted content, peer comparisons, and industry insights that help demonstrate situational awareness. Product teams may contribute relevant use cases or roadmap alignment, while RevOps can surface behavioral and buyer signals that indicate appropriate timing. Even client success can share success stories that resonate with similar organizations.
When the interaction is positioned as informative rather than transactional, it encourages buyers to engage on their own terms. By focusing on relationship-building rather than immediate scheduling, sellers lay the groundwork for more authentic engagement. Consequently, when a meeting is eventually proposed, it is perceived as appropriate and well-earned rather than intrusive.
2. Overwhelming with unsolicited advice
Approaching LinkedIn engagement with empathy and a focus on connection is significantly more effective than immediately diagnosing perceived shortcomings in a prospect’s approach.
Many outreach messages today resemble unsolicited performance evaluations—laden with assumptions, criticisms, and specialized jargon—delivered before any relationship has been established.
This so-called “LinkedIn novel” tactic frequently backfires, as it fosters an adversarial tone that places buyers on the defensive. When individuals feel they are being lectured by someone unfamiliar, the interaction quickly becomes intrusive. Today’s buyers are rightly skeptical of generic solutions and increasingly attuned to the tone and intent behind outreach efforts.
Effective LinkedIn engagement requires a social-first mindset. This includes taking the time to build rapport, demonstrating genuine interest, and aligning with the communication style of one’s audience.
While sales may initiate the outreach, marketing and brand teams play a key role in shaping a trusted presence—by producing thought leadership, amplifying content aligned to buyer interests, and facilitating warm entry points through social listening and engagement. These actions lay the groundwork for more authentic interaction.
Rather than offering unsolicited insights, successful sales professionals engage in relevant discussions, respond thoughtfully to shared content, and connect through mutual interests, values, or business goals. When this approach is supported by marketing signals, buyer intelligence, or relevant advocacy content, it feels coordinated and considered—not intrusive.
By prioritizing the relationship, GTM teams foster trust—and with trust established, buyers become far more receptive to insights, perspectives, and, ultimately, potential solutions.
3. Tech features overload
Simplifying messaging wins attention and builds clarity. Sharing exhaustive feature lists with buyers may feel thorough, but it often overwhelms rather than informs.
This approach leads to decision fatigue, especially in a world where buyers are already navigating too many options. The result is “analysis paralysis”—where too much choice actually impedes action.
Millennial buyers, now the dominant force in B2B decisions, are especially resistant to complexity. They value clear, outcome-focused communication that helps them quickly understand how a solution drives business impact.
Instead of delivering a list of functions, highlight two or three tailored use cases that map directly to the buyer’s needs. This aligns with the "jam study" principle from behavioral psychology—fewer well-curated options drive more engagement and better decisions.
Translating features into meaningful benefits shows respect for the buyer’s time, reduces friction, and positions your solution as clear and confident—not eager to prove value through volume.
4. Single channel dependency
Reaching today’s buyers increasingly depends on aligning outreach strategies with how each individual prefers to engage.
Over-reliance on a single channel, such as email or LinkedIn, can limit effectiveness, particularly as communication preferences continue to fragment. Some buyers are drawn to video content, others to asynchronous messaging, live conversation, or in-person dialogue. A singular approach risks leaving parts of the market untouched.
A more thoughtful strategy considers the diversity of buyer personalities and communication styles. When outreach is varied across platforms and informed by behavioral insights—such as psychographic mapping—it becomes easier to engage in ways that feel relevant and individualized. Insights from sales, marketing and client success teams can be combined to create a comprehensive multithreaded omnichannel strategy to engage each buyer that engages each buyer individually across channels.
There is growing value in treating communication preferences as a core input to overall GTM design. While it may appear complex, adapting outreach methods to different personas often leads to greater accessibility, stronger resonance, and improved response rates.
5. Generic mass outreach
Generic messaging is one of the fastest ways to lose a buyer’s attention—and their trust.
Today’s buyers expect outreach that feels relevant, timely, and tailored to their specific context. When a message lacks personalization, it triggers skepticism. Buyers instinctively ask, “Why me? Why now?” If the message fails to answer that implicitly, it is often ignored or deleted.
Buyers can express frustration with impersonal outreach, with most expecting interactions to be personalized. Marketing can play a central role by developing persona-specific messaging frameworks, segmenting audiences based on behavioral and firmographic data, and delivering timely content that supports meaningful, personalized interactions. In addition, AI-powered personalization, using behavioral signals and buyer signals, can be leveraged to craft messages that resonate.
The most effective outreach ties directly to observable external triggers (such as a new funding round, recent hire, or strategic initiative) and speaks in the prospect’s own language, not in generic sales jargon.
Great personalization feels conversational, informed, and genuinely helpful. It demonstrates that the sender is invested in providing value, increasing both credibility and curiosity. In a crowded inbox, relevance wins.
“It's really important to think in terms of the buying group. There are no individual decision makers anymore. The concept of leads is also outdated. There's a lot of activity that happens through the buying cycle. Each of those represents a signal, an engagement or an activity. We need to be aware of these signals in order to build the overall picture of the account.”
CMO, INFUSE
6. Abandoning outreach after initial rejection
Effective selling is less about securing immediate agreement and more about maintaining relevance over time.
Many organizations fall into the trap of a one-touch outreach model—assuming that silence signals disinterest. In practice, most B2B buying journeys unfold over extended, non-linear timelines. According to Voice of the Buyer 2025, the average decision cycle spans 11.5 months, often involving independent research, evolving priorities, and consensus-building across multiple buying group members.
An initial lack of response often reflects timing rather than intent. Prospective buyers may still be defining needs, focusing on other initiatives, or awaiting internal or external triggers. Work alongside marketing to develop long-term nurture strategies designed to educate, support, and stay top-of-mind—delivering timely content that aligns to where the buyer is in their journey.
Modern tools, particularly AI, now enable these strategies to be more adaptive. Behavioral signals can inform when interest reemerges, allowing teams to adjust outreach accordingly—ensuring messages are persistent, relevant, and well-timed.
Remaining present in a thoughtful, value-led way helps transform initial silence into future opportunity.
7. Focusing on one contact
Modern enterprise deals are rarely decided by a single champion—they are shaped by collective consensus across a broad and varied stakeholder group.
Today’s buying committees often include 10-15 decision makers and influencers, each with distinct priorities, degrees of authority, and personal motivations (Voice of the Buyer 2025). Despite this complexity, many GTM approaches still concentrate outreach on a single contact, relying on them to advocate internally.
Successful outcomes increasingly depend on engaging multiple stakeholders in parallel—each with tailored messaging that addresses their specific role, goals, and risk considerations. For instance, recently hired leaders may be focused on demonstrating value quickly, while senior executives might emphasize stability, scalability, or strategic alignment.
By mapping stakeholder motivations and orchestrating personalized outreach at multiple levels, marketers are better positioned to build credibility across the organization. This coalition-building approach not only strengthens trust but also helps streamline the path to consensus, reducing friction and accelerating decision timelines.
8. Fragmented buyer experiences
Buyers expect a unified experience—seamless, consistent, and coordinated across every touchpoint.
When marketing and sales operate in silos, those disconnects become visible to the buyer. Conflicting messages, redundant outreach, and misaligned expectations do more than disrupt the journey—they diminish trust before it can be established. These frictions delay progress, and they can fundamentally weaken the foundation of a deal.
Cross-functional alignment ensures that messaging, tone, and timing are harmonized across all buyer interactions. This alignment extends beyond shared content, requiring shared intent, joint planning, and active feedback loops between teams.
The goal is not merely coordination—it is coherence. When marketing and sales operate as one team, they deliver a buyer experience that feels connected, relevant, and trustworthy. Every interaction becomes a building block toward clarity, confidence, and eventual conversion.
DRIVE DEMAND FROM YOUR TARGET BUYERS
INFUSE demand experts work with you to craft high performance demand programs that position your solution effectively to drive buyer engagement and propel your growth.
Buyer-centric strategies to engage modern buyers
1. Dark funnel brand building
Earning brand preference begins well before buyers raise their hands—and often well before they are visible in any system.
Much of the modern buyer journey takes place in the dark funnel, where research happens anonymously. To stay relevant at this early, invisible stage, invest in strategies that reach and resonate with buyers long before direct engagement.
This starts with content that is both discoverable and offers tangible value. Ensuring assets are searchable, ungated, and optimized for answer engines allows early-stage buyers to find credible information on their own terms. It also requires tactical visibility—maintaining strong, accurate profiles on top review sites like G2 and TrustRadius, participating on community platforms such as Reddit, and continually refining organic search performance.
Layering in buying signals helps decode anonymous behavior, surfacing early signals that can inform smarter segmentation, retargeting, and prioritization.
Equally important is enabling self-navigation. Tools like ROI calculators, buyer’s guides, video demos, and onboarding previews empower prospects to educate themselves—and build brand affinity—without needing a live conversation.
When buyers encounter relevant, frictionless resources early in their journey, trust begins to form naturally. That trust becomes a competitive advantage long before the first meeting.
2. Omnichannel orchestration framework
Buyer engagement is most effective when messages are consistent, coordinated, and delivered through the channels that buyers naturally prefer.
Understanding where and how different personas engage is a foundational step. This includes mapping preferences not only by role, but also by psychographic traits—whether that means email for structured thinkers, Slack communities for innovators, or video for visual decision makers. These insights enable the creation of personalized, omnichannel journeys that feel natural and relevant.
Messaging, tone, and value propositions should be aligned across all touchpoints—email, social platforms, paid media, webinars, and more. The goal is to create a unified narrative that progresses fluidly through the buyer’s journey.
This level of orchestration requires integration across your technology stack. When CRM, marketing automation, ABM platforms, and analytics tools work in concert, they allow for data-driven sequencing—delivering the right message, in the right place, at the right time. Sustaining this continuity transforms one-off interactions into a cohesive experience that inspires confidence.
The shift from disconnected tactics to connected engagement builds trust, reinforces value, and supports momentum from first touch to long-term loyalty.
3. Research and preparation excellence
Exceptional engagement is rooted in strategic preparation—combining data, insight, and timing to ensure every interaction feels relevant and intentional.
Intent data, behavioral signals, and account intelligence help to shape not only when buyers engage, but how to deliver value according to each account’s priorities.
Timing plays a pivotal role. Trigger events—such as leadership changes, funding announcements, or strategic pivots—often signal openness to new solutions. By mapping behavioral activity (e.g., webpage visits, content downloads, product comparisons) to buyer signals, teams can better align outreach with actual interest and stage of readiness.
Detailed account mapping also strengthens preparation. Identifying key buying committee members, their roles, and their relationships allows for persona-driven engagement—personalized messaging that speaks to each stakeholder’s goal, influence, and concerns.
When preparation and insight come together, outreach stops feeling like a pitch—and starts feeling like a timely solution. The result is a deeper connection, stronger trust, and more meaningful momentum.
Implementation roadmap for GTM teams
Assessment and audit
Evaluate whether current efforts support self-directed, omnichannel buyer experiences and real-time personalization
Strategy development
Turn audit insights into a buyer-centric plan by refining personas through psychological profiling
Execution and optimization
Translate strategy into action through agile, data-driven pilots that test messaging, channels, and engagement tactics tied to buyer conversion
Measuring success
Measure indicators such as repeat visits, tool usage, and stakeholder consensus within buying groups
Key takeaways
Transform your GTM approach to match the new buyer reality
Our team of GTM experts is here to help you implement buyer-centric strategies that give you the competitive advantage.