Another finding from our latest AI-Driven GTM research...

In a typical 10-to-12-month B2B buying journey, 6 to 8 months are spent in what we call the Selection Phase: a period of silent, anonymous deliberation in which buying teams shortlist and rank vendors before ever speaking to sellers. Almost all of that activity is invisible to teams that aren't tracking anonymous signals (6 in 10 GTM teams are not). Instead, what GTM teams rely on and trust most are known, individual-level signals (form fills, contact-me requests) that arrive when buyers are ready to engage sellers — the start of the Validation Phase, when buyers are confirming a choice already made. The vendor preferred at the end of the Selection Phase wins the deal nearly 8 out of 10 times.

Most organizations are, in effect, optimizing for the moment influence ends rather than the moment it begins. This, and much else about how B2B teams are using AI in their GTM work today, is in our latest report: AI-Driven GTM. Highly encourage the read (not just because we wrote it 😉). I think it's really important that we stop and think about the underlying machinery — the mental models and beliefs that feed this larger AI engine. There's a lot of opportunity here to either make a change or accelerate faster in the same direction the market has been going for too long.

@Kerry