2018 B2B Buyers Survey Report: Sales Representatives Play Greater Role Within Critical 1-3 Month Active Buyer Timeframe

B2B buyer preferences have heavily evolved over the years since Demand Gen Report began conducting its annual B2B Buyers Survey in 2012. From the get-go, buyers have gone through long-term research processes, added more internal team members to the decision-making journey and relied on content and social media to make purchase decisions. While these criteria still hold true today, buyer behavior has also expanded to key characteristics such as:

The desire to self-navigate the decision-making journey;
A demand for more relevant, contextual content and outreach from sales; and
A stronger preference for anonymity in some stages of the journey.

This year's survey results revealed that a majority of these characteristics have come full circle. Sales is playing a larger role in leading purchase decisions and is required to deliver a favorable impression with messaging and content in a short time frame that caters to buyers' specific needs, industry and business challenges.

The following report outlines buyer needs, demands and expectations when it comes to the B2B purchase decision making journey, including:

The importance of delivering a tailored, contextual experience for buyers;
How the role of the sales representative has evolved;
Critical time frames for when to engage B2B buyers;
The content and messaging that makes buyers tick; and
The importance of social media, ads and peer feedback in the decision-making journey.