12 People, 7 Stages: Navigating the Complex B2B Buyer Journey
Suppliers have been working on simplifying sales since the dawn of selling, but only a few have managed to convert leads successfully and consistently. The reason for this is two-fold. Firstly, suppliers are often focused on taking the customer’s lead and giving them more information and options, which causes overwhelm and decision paralysis, making the buying decision harder. And secondly, the B2B buying process has changed significantly over the last few years, which many may not be aware of or have adapted to.
If you can correct these mistakes and make the B2B buying process smoother and more efficient, making sales and maintaining long-term relationships will not just be doable, it will be the norm. This article explains how the buying process has changed and how understanding it can help you close the deal more often than not.
The problem? Buying has changed
Sales have always been difficult, but it’s getting even more challenging out there. Long gone is the salesman on your doorstep, and the use of technology has taken its place.
These changes have only been accelerated since Covid too, so businesses must be aware of how their customers are buying today.
There are approximately 12 people now involved in making a buying decision
More decision-makers mean different opinions, priorities, and budget considerations, which makes reaching a decision difficult.
This has increased considerably from just six or seven years ago, when 5 or 6 people were involved in making a buying decision, so why the change?
Businesses are more risk-averse than consumers, as they buy on the company’s behalf rather than themselves, so they want to ensure that everyone affected by the decision is on board with it.
Businesses are doing a lot more independent research online before reaching out to buy
With more people involved in the buying decision – sometimes multiple departments – this means multiple people are researching and comparing shopping. In addition, with the help of the internet, they can use numerous communication channels to find out about an issue, project, service, or company, so this is the primary way that many businesses educate themselves and shortlist suppliers they wish to contact.
Since most B2B purchase decisions are made before clients contact you, when they do reach out, they expect their suppliers to really understand the process they have gone through up until that point – even though these interactions have yet to be face-to-face. That’s why understanding and engaging with them in the right way and at the right time is more important than ever.
“Gartner’s research found that 77% of B2B buyers say that their recent transactions were very complex and difficult.”
“Suppliers that make buying easy are 62% likelier than other suppliers to win a high-quality sale (one in which the customer buys a premium offering).”
The solution? Make buying easier
Just because buyers are taking a more active role in the initial stages of buying by doing the initial independent research, that doesn’t mean it’s a closed deal when they contact you. On the contrary, this research can often lead to them feeling overwhelmed rather than empowered, and they are looking for someone who can understand their needs and guide them to make the right decision.
As a potential supplier, you must ensure that you are optimally organised to make the B2B buying process as painless as possible for your buyers. Why? Because purchase ease is by far the biggest driver of deal quality, customer satisfaction, and repeat sales.
So how do you make buying easier?
Every business wants to maximise its sales process. What many don’t realise is that it takes far more than just following up with leads and engaging with clients. So making buying easier is about understanding the complexities of the buying process; how the buyer wants to engage with you as they progress throughout that journey and what they need from you at that time. To get the results you want, you need to really understand the buyer’s journey, who is involved and when, and what they are thinking so you can tap into each stage. If you know where they are in their decision-making process, guiding them through the remaining steps becomes a lot easier. You can then be more organised in your communications to consistently meet your customers’ expectations, have the right skills to identify opportunities, and know what conversations to have and questions to ask and when.
Seven stages of the B2B buying process
Step 1: Awareness
At this point, a prospect is unaware they have a problem or challenge that needs solving. Most likely, they aren’t searching for companies like yours or the solutions you and others provide; they’re interested to know whether other organisations are experiencing certain issues, or whether they’re performing as well as their competitors, or whether there are any current industry-wide issues they should be thinking about.
Step 2: Education
This is when the prospect identifies a problem, for example, a decline in sales or a change in the competitive landscape. While they may start casually browsing social media and the internet for information to help them understand this problem, people at this stage aren’t actively looking at specific solutions or providers.
Step 3: Recognition of needs
At this point, the prospect will proactively gather data specific to the challenge(s) they think they’ve identified. However, they may not be clear on what their problem is or what options are out there. They’ll be finding out whether the challenge is something they can resolve themselves, how other organisations have solved similar issues, or whether they should consider using some outside help.
Step 4: Consideration
This is where the buyer will look broadly at several potential suppliers. They’ll want to know what solutions are available and likely be talking to a number of possible suppliers. They’ll likely compare based on specific details, such as cost-effectiveness and quality standards.
Step 5: Evaluation
At this stage, the prospect is likely to have a shortlist of options, and is starting to get buy-in from other key stakeholders or final decision-makers.
Step 6: Decision
Though it sometimes takes a little longer to get here than in previous years, the final purchasing decision is more of a commitment to the supplier. Since it took a lot of time and effort to get to this point, prospects are usually confident with their decision (unless the supplier doesn’t deliver on what they promise).
Step 7: Delivery
During the post-purchase stage, the buyer’s organisation will likely evaluate the product or service’s quality and determine whether it meets expectations. If the customer or client is satisfied with the purchase – and the relationship – they will likely continue doing business with the supplier.
Delve deep into the B2B buying process
Suppliers need to recognise and understand the stages of their customers’ buying journeys. At each stage, buyers have different needs and are looking for specific information – which suppliers must be able to provide – so to do this, they must thoroughly understand their customers’ wants and needs and know how to engage with them effectively at each stage. This requires not only having a process in place but also having the skills to execute it effectively.
In our “Walking in Your Customers’ Shoes” workshop, we cover everything you need to know about B2B complex sales. This includes:
- An audit/health check of every interaction an organisation has with their buyers – to gain feedback on how their existing customers want to engage.
- Interactive workshops taking you through the buyer journey – where people take on roles at each stage to show you who is involved and when, and what their roles are in the decision-making process.
- Building pen portraits of all the decision-makers – to understand how they want to engage with you at different stages and how you should interact with them.
- A detailed gap analysis – highlighting where there are differences between how your customers want to engage with you and how your company is currently structured.
- A detailed action plan – providing your company with a list of action points to ensure you are addressing the identified gaps and your people, processes and systems deliver the experience your customers want.
Delve deep into the B2B buying process
Suppliers need to recognise and understand the stages of their customers’ buying journeys. At each stage, buyers have different needs and are looking for specific information – which suppliers must be able to provide – so to do this, they must thoroughly understand their customers’ wants and needs and know how to engage with them effectively at each stage. This requires not only having a process in place but also having the skills to execute it effectively.
In our “Walking in Your Customers’ Shoes” workshop, we cover everything you need to know about B2B complex sales. This includes:
- An audit/health check of every interaction an organisation has with their buyers – to gain feedback on how their existing customers want to engage.
- Interactive workshops taking you through the buyer journey – where people take on roles at each stage to show you who is involved and when, and what their roles are in the decision-making process.
- Building pen portraits of all the decision-makers – to understand how they want to engage with you at different stages and how you should interact with them.
- A detailed gap analysis – highlighting where there are differences between how your customers want to engage with you and how your company is currently structured.
- A detailed action plan – providing your company with a list of action points to ensure you are addressing the identified gaps and your people, processes and systems deliver the experience your customers want.
Walk in Your Customers’ Shoes
As the famous line from Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird goes, “You never really know someone until you stand in their shoes and walk around in them.” And the same goes for your sales prospects. If you want to grow your top line and close more sales, you have to walk in your customers’ shoes and really understand them. If you don’t, how can you expect them to buy from you?
To help you engage your prospects more, we help you to understand what’s going on in their minds at different stages of the buying journey and give you the skills to expand these interactions. The goal is to make it easy and simple for your buyers to engage with you and to be ready to give them what they need from you at each stage. If you do this, your B2B sales process will be more successful, and your top line will grow as a result.
Chris Smith
Director and Sales Excellence Lead
David Goosey
Senior Consultant
LinkedIn:
www.linkedin.com/in/davidgoosey
Want to really understand your prospects?
Want to increase sales and customer/client retention?
Our Walking in Your Customer's Shoes support unlocks the potential that lies within your customer's journey
WORKSHOP
WEBINAR
A ground-breaking approach to help you really understand your customers so you can develop better business relationships.
To equip businesses with the skills necessary to execute a sales process that delivers consistently, we offer an invaluable workshop coined “Walking in Your Customer’s Shoes.”
Choose to hold a Walking in Your Customer’s Shoes workshop and we take you on a deep dive into your customer’s buyer journey and who is involved, identify gaps between customer expectations and their current practices, and develop strategies to bridge those gaps.
Participants will come away knowing everything they will need to when it comes to B2B complex sales, along with a detailed action plan of the processes and systems they need to implement to deliver what their customers or clients want.
Missing out on business which you know should be winning?
Spending a lot of resources on chasing complex sales which result in nothing?
Feeling you’re not connecting with your customers or clients when you know your product/service is good fit?
Want to meet other organisations facing the same challenges as you?
You aren’t alone, talk to us about joining a round table discussion and find out how walking in your customer’s shoes could be the key to your next sales success.
And a final thought
At JA Consulting we help businesses and individuals take the theory of selling and put it into practice. We’re here to help you learn how to spot and grow business opportunities, how to develop strong and transferable selling skills and how to generate robust account management. To find out more, talk to us, our team is waiting and ready to help.
See what else we have to say
Our mission is to make your change management journey easier, smoother, quicker and more sustainable.
St. James House,
65 Mere Green Rd,
Sutton Coldfield,
West Midlands B75 5BY, UK
© 2025 JA Consulting Limited
GET IN TOUCH
OUR OPENING HOURS
- Monday – Friday:
- 9:00AM – 6:00PM
But that’s not when we stop working. You’ll often find we’ll respond to you out of hours and over the weekend.
SIGN UP FOR OUR INSIGHTS
Sign up for our occasional newsletters, along with other interesting updates from us.