B2B Buying Process Timeline [TABLE]

Table: B2B Buying Process Timeline

Three-quarters of B2B buyers say they are spending more time over the past year researching purchases, according to Demand Gen Report’s 2019 B2B Buyers Survey Report. While this number is up slightly from last year (72%), other results from the survey also indicate that more buyers are engaging with vendors early on in their buying process.

The survey asked more than 250 B2B marketing executives to estimate their timeline for taking a variety of steps in the buying process. Here are three tips to keep in mind for vendors based on the responses of the buyers surveyed.

Nearly three-quarters (72%) of respondents report that they spoke to and engaged with a sales representative from the vendor they selected within the first 3 months of their buying process. Other recent research reinforces the fact that buyers are open to engaging vendors early on, with Aberdeen reporting that almost half (48%) of buyers say they are most open to challenges to their thinking at the beginning stages of their research. Additionally, Path Factory and Heinz Marketing report that the same percentage (48%) of buyers say they begin their buying process with a discovery call.

Buyers are also developing informal lists of potential vendors early on, with the report indicating that 7 in 10 (71%) have created such a list within the first 3 months of the buying process and about one-third (34%) doing so within the first month. Read the rest at Marketing Charts.