-
Wednesday Wisdom: Revisiting the Three Principles of Modern Marketing
Hi all, We’ve just wrapped our third annual Marketing Measurement study—our ongoing look at how B2B marketers track and report performance. Writing is underway, and we’re looking forward to sharing this new benchmark with you soon. We’re still seeing many of the same tensions that led us to outline the Three Principles of…
-
Wednesday Wisdom: Nuancing the 95/5 Rule (New Research)
We know most buyers won’t talk to sales until late in the journey (around 70% of the way through). But how many even make it that far? In our latest analysis of behavioral data from 594 B2B companies, we found that around 40% of accounts are showing meaningful signs of buying behavior at any given time—far more than the…
-
Metric Monday: Content Creation Tops the List for AI Budget Spend
We asked B2B marketers how they're thinking about AI spend this year. Of the 52% of marketers with dedicated AI spend, only 4% are setting aside budget for general experimentation. Most are investing in specific use cases, with content creation topping the list (55%), followed by predictive modeling to identify in-market…
-
Metric Monday: 2 New Reports, New Numbers on AI and Marketing Budgets
Hi all, Today’s Metric Monday comes with a bonus — we’ve just released two new reports on how B2B marketing is being funded in 2025. We asked just shy of 400 B2B marketers in the final months of 2024 how their organizations are budgeting — from spend across marketing functions to AI investment, shifting pipeline goals, and…
-
Metric Monday: BDRs Make 21 Touches Per Contact
Hi all, Last week, we looked at how long BDRs stick with a lead before deciding there’s no opportunity and moving on. This week, we're looking at how much effort goes into each opportunity they pursue—and it’s a hefty lift. In 2025, BDRs report making an average of 21 outreach attempts per contact, up from 17 attempts in…
-
Wednesday Wisdom: Help Me, Help You - The 70/30 B2B Buying Journey (Watch or Read)
Hi all, In the latest episode of the Science of B2B podcast, our Head of Research @Kerry dives into what we call the 70/30 buying journey of B2B purchases. It’s a great companion—or oral description, if you haven’t had a chance to read it—to our report: The Critical Period for B2B Buying & The Seventy-Percent Solution:…
-
Metric Monday: How many hours of training does the typical BDR receive?
Hi all, Hope your week is off to a great start! If you’ve been following along over the past few weeks, we’ve been digging into findings from this year’s State of the BDR report. Today, let's talk ✨ BDR training ✨ How many hours of training do they receive and does it translate to better performance? Across both onboarding…
-
Wednesday Wisdom: We Need a Golden Rule Reckoning for BDRs
Hey all, Head of Research, @Kerry, put together a quick post on something that’s simple, but often overlooked, and effective: applying a golden rule to BDR outreach. In it, he shares what he calls the Golden Rule Reckoning for BDRs — a way to rethink outreach by asking, Would I engage with this? If not, it’s probably time…
-
Metric Monday: Changing Trends in BDR Tenure
Hi all, Half of the Research team was out on PTO (that’s 1 of 2 people 🤣 — yes, we’re a small but mighty team!), but I’m back and ready to pick up where we left off following the release of this year’s BDR report. One (of many) interesting finding(s): BDR tenure has gotten longer since we began tracking it in 2022. BDR…
-
Wednesday Wisdom: Engage Them & They Will Come – Why We Need to Stop Begging for Meetings
Hey all, The research team also has a podcast, hosted by our team lead, Kerry Cunningham. The latest podcast episode unpacks a topic we’ve been covering a lot in the Research Road lately: the role of BDRs and SDRs. With most buyers waiting to engage vendors until AFTER they've chosen the vendor they want to buy from,…
-
Countdown to the 2025 State of the BDR Report: Are BDR Teams Growing, Shrinking, or Holding Steady?
Hey all, Tomorrow's the day! Our 2025 State of the BDR Report will be available to you all - free and un-gated, of course 🙂. Here's the stat of the day: 79% of BDRs teams have either grown (hired more roles) or maintained their size. Soooo many more benchmarks to come tomorrow! @Kerry
-
Countdown to the 2025 State of the BDR Report: How Many BDRs Multi-Thread?
Hi everyone, We're counting down to the release of our 2025 State of the BDR Report this Friday! Waiting isn't easy, and we're excited—so we're sharing a stat each day leading up to the launch. Today's topic: Multi-threading In B2B, the best practice for identifying sales-ready buying processes is to attempt to contact…
-
Countdown to the 2025 State of the BDR Report: How Do BDRs Feel About AI Tools?
Hi all, We're counting down to the release of our 2025 State of the BDR Report on Friday! Until then, we’ll be sharing a stat per day. A very hot 🔥 topic covered in the report? AI. How many BDRs are using it? How do they feel about it? In an ideal world, how much AI integration would they want—full, moderate, or just as a…
-
Metric Monday: Backchanneling Trends in Software and Services Deals
Hi all, We recently shared our latest write-up on the fact that most buyers—over 70%—connect with non-sellers (e.g., c-suite executives, subject-matter experts) at vendor organizations before engaging with sales. As always, the research is free and un-gated, so feel free to check it out if you haven’t already! For…
-
Metric Monday: Continuing Discussion on Outreach Before the 1st Formal Buyer-Seller Interaction
Hey all, Last week, we discussed how long buyers reported receiving outreach from vendors before their first proper interaction with sellers. The data showed that 83% of buyers received outreach prior to initial contact, with 32% receiving outreach for days, 30% for weeks, and 19% for months. Despite this, buyers still…
-
Metric Monday: Who Are the Buyers That Engage Sellers Early?
Hi all, Over the past two years, we’ve talked a lot about what we call the 'Point of First Contact Constant,' where buyers spend over two-thirds of their buying journey—about 70%—coming to consensus on a preferred vendor before engaging sellers. Not much changes this—regardless of buyers' industry, the type of solution…
-
Wednesday Wisdom: B2B Buying Journey Stats by Business Capability (An Article)
Hi all, A few weeks ago we shared a quick summary of how key aspects of the buying journey differ based on the type of capability buyers are shopping for - new business capabilities, renewals, etc. We now have some reading material on it 🙂 Our new article explores each stat listed in the table below and is a great resource…
-
Metric Monday: How Many Vendors Are on Buyers' Day 1 Shortlist?
Hi all A few weeks ago, we discussed the Bain & Google stat in a Metric Monday post: 80% to 90% of B2B buyers already have a shortlist of vendors in mind on Day 1 of their buying journey, and 90% of those buyers ultimately choose a vendor from that original list. Recently, 6sense Research surveyed over 600 B2B buyers to…
-
Wednesday Wisdom: The Impact of Industry on the B2B Buying Journey (An Article)
Hi everyone, We’ve previously shared key findings from our buyer experience research by industry in a Metric Monday post, but I wanted to let you know there’s also an article dedicated to this topic. If you’re looking for more details beyond the table below, it’s a great resource! In summary, the key stats are fairly…
-
Metric Monday: How B2B Buyers Divide Vendor and Third-Party Content in Their Buying Journey
Hi all, We’re currently writing a few new pieces based on data we collected shortly after wrapping up our 2024 Buyer Experience Research. In this follow-up round, we heard from over 600 B2B buyers in North America and included new questions about the timing of key activities during their buying journey. One question asked…