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

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 organizations, only a handful of leads are prioritized within target accounts rather than the entire buying committee receiving personalized 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.

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.

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).

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

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 organizations, these challenges also apply to some of the leading associated job titles appropriate to different-sized enterprises and industries.

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: