The New Rules of B2B Growth
B2B leaders face changing buyers, shifting workplaces, and new tools. Here’s how to adapt.
If you’re leading a growing B2B company, you’ve probably noticed how much harder it is to get attention and convert opportunities. Buyer behaviours, workforce changes and even how people search for information are all shifting.
In the past, growth came from a strong sales team, a few well-worn marketing tactics, and for many, word-of-mouth.
But what worked yesterday doesn’t work today.
There’s a multi-generational workforce, digital-first buyers who don’t want to speak to a sales person, a lack of trust and AI taking over search.
I promise you - it is not just the economy. Once the economic upturn kicks in, these shifts will accelerate. The question for you as a leader: are you ready?
I don’t have all the answers, but here are some of the biggest trends I see shaping B2B growth. Not all will be relevant for every business, but most will already be impacting you now, or soon.
As those that know me already know, I’m very action focused, so each trend comes with a practical ‘so what’ to help you adapt.
This is deliberately high level - but I’m happy to riff with anyone who wants to dive deeper, or needs help to create an action plan for their business.
1. Generational Shifts Redefining Business
We now have five generations in the workplace together. Millennials and Gen Z now make up most B2B decision-makers, bringing new expectations around values, speed, and digital engagement.
A quick reminder:
Baby Boomers (1946–1964) - they are retiring at a slower pace, with many working well into their 70s (good for institutional knowledge and know-how)
Generation X (1965–1980) - seen to be independent, entrepreneurial, technologically adept, and who value a work-life balance
Millennials (1981–1996) - they are now in leadership and management roles. Tech savvy, collaborative, and want purpose-driven work
Generation Z (1997–2012) - digital natives, entrepreneurial spirit, a desire for authenticity, and a commitment to social and environmental responsibility
These are obviously super-broad brush, but it’s worth understanding generational differences - for talent management (attract and retain), organisational success (maximising the skills and value from each) and sales & marketing.
Millennials and Gen Z now comprise about 70% of B2B decision-makers according to Forrester.com. This means most of your buyers are ‘digital natives’ and have different expectations, decision-making criteria and approaches. They are twice as likely to prioritise sustainability than just profit or cost-savings, and use different social media platforms than we’ve traditionally associated with business-to-business - think TikTok rather than LinkedIn!
What to do:
Review (update) your ideal customer profile - including ‘pain points’, what they value, what they are trying to achieve, and where they ‘hang out’ (i.e. how to reach them)
Ensure your growth strategy and tactics are aligned with who you are targeting
2. The Rise of Digital-First Buying
Your prospects are completing most of their buyer journey before they ever speak to you.
Self-service, online research, and a demand for digital mean your sales people need to shift their skills to guides and navigators.
Millennials and Gen Zs want a seamless purchasing experience (yes please from me too) and they want the whole journey to be online. In the past, B2B sales was done through real-life meetings and phone calls. Self-directed online research is now the go.
According to Salesforce, 68% of millennial B2B buyers prefer to use self-service online tools instead of speaking to sales reps, and many complete as much as 70% of the buying process on their own before ever engaging a supplier’s sales team. See below to the section on Human Connection to see the counter view.
Predictions are that by 2026, 80% of all B2B sales interactions will occur via digital channels – including e-commerce portals, chat, email, or video meetings – not through in-person or phone conversations (Digitalcommerce360.com).
That doesn’t mean the sales person role is dead. But it does mean we need to reposition them as guides or navigators to help buyers buy. That means being really good at asking the right questions about challenges, frustrations and what their prospects are looking to achieve. They can help them understand trade-offs, share case studies of similar businesses and help them be confident in their decision
I think this brilliantly aligns with what many of us would try and position ourselves as anyway - a trusted partner of our customers.
What to do:
Remap your customer journey(s). Ensure there is a clear pathway for prospects to get information, understand your value and make a purchase - both online and offline
Make sure you have good quality thought leadership, case studies and resources that answer prospects questions and guide them through different stages
Consider what the implications of this is for the role of your website. Many organisations have ‘brochure’-type websites (‘we exist & are credible’), but it might be time to start adding buying capabilities
Review your sales approach and make sure you have good questions and tools to help people navigate and understand the pros and cons of options
3. AI Search is Changing Discovery
AI is everywhere you look and I could write a whole blog on AI in marketing and sales, but for the purpose of this post I’m focusing on how it’s already influencing how buyers find suppliers.
The way people discover solutions is shifting fast. Being “AI-ready” matters, but some of that means a back-to-basics approach.
You’ll have already noticed when you search online there’s often an AI summary presented above the sponsored, or organic links.
I’ve had a couple of clients who have already won new clients through searching within ChatGPT.
Some stats:
ChatGPT is already the third biggest search tool being used (behind Google and YouTube)
AI-driven referral traffic is expected to be more than 20% by late 2025 (Forrester)
Traditional search traffic will decline by 25% by 2026 as AI gives the answers directly without them needing to come to your website (Gartner)
Google is seeing their search volume decline for the first time in over 22 years
Businesses are using AI-search at three times the rate of consumers (Forrester)
90% of businesses use generative AI in some part of procurement (Forrester)
Those that land on your website may be 3x as likely to buy, as they are further along their buying journey and have a higher buying intent (Digital Commerce)
What to do:
I definitely don’t have all the answers - this field is still changing rapidly, but luckily, some of the basic marketing fundamentals are still relevant here. This is about putting more emphasis on them and making sure they are set to maximumise impact:
Content and resources (good quality) are still really important
Mix up the formats so it’s not just text - use video, interactive tools and visual explainers to get attention
Make sure the AI search bots can find the information easily — how-to guides, FAQs, good quality thought leadership and concise insights that AI can easily quote
Make sure you have strong calls-to-action on the website, so visitors have a clear pathway of what to do next, how to find more information, how to buy etc.
Consider if real-time access to humans and chatbots can be added for people who want more information (now, not later)
Start tracking your numbers - find a tool to track your AI recommendations and start watching this compared with your Google rankings
4. A Crisis of Trust
B2B buyers are increasingly sceptical of what companies say about themselves. They want to get recommendations from trusted sources, and this is not necessarily the ones you control. We’re talking impartial sources, peer recommendations, public product review sites, opinions on social media and user reviews.
The challenge for businesses is to earn trust by being authentic, transparent and talked about through influencing others.
This is only going to grow as a trend, with half of Gen Z buyers including 10+ external influencers in their purchase - such as other users, partner websites, online marketplaces, and forums like Reddit. No wonder buying cycles are getting longer.
What to do:
Be authentic and ‘earn’ trust.
Client case studies and testimonials are still super important. Maybe the time has come to also show some of the challenges and rough edges to the story, as well as the success; use different formats such as video, images etc.
Encourage your best clients to tell their stories at events, in publications, online, enter awards - this is not about you taking the centre stage, but helping them say it in their words
Get independent reviews and encourage your customers to post about you online
Engage with your community (online and offline) so people get to know you as people
Respond to feedback - don’t be defensive, but engage for learning
Put your people out there online in their own voice, saying things as they would say them (with some guard-rails…it still needs to be within your organisation’s tone of voice!)
5. The Return of Real Human Connection
Despite what I wrote earlier about online and digital being preferred, buyers still crave authentic relationships. In-person meetings, site visits, and coffee catch-ups are regaining importance for building trust and cutting through the noise.
This trend may seem counter-intuitive as a trend. Test what works for your audience. This may well be about having meetings with suppliers when the purchase decision has been made and people then want to build authentic relationships. Or it may be about cutting through the noise and getting to know the real you. This is especially true if you are in a direct-relationship sales and service situation.
What to do:
Balance your tech-enabled marketing with a human touch: use digital tools, but offer site visits, live demos, and personalised follow-ups
Coffee meetings and personal outreach can help cut-through the online noise.
6. Breaking Through Buyer Overwhelm
Your buyers are overwhelmed and don’t have time to hear from you, even if it can help them.
With inboxes overflowing and attention spans shrinking, only relevant, creative, and personalised content cuts through.
Account-Based Marketing (ABM), personalisation and bold multi-channel activity help you reach the right people with the right message.
There are more than 347 billion emails sent daily; the average person has 1.75-1.9 email accounts and receives 121 emails daily (Demandsage). Add to that the plethora of apps we use to communicate through work and personally. Does this sound familiar:
“Did you send that on email, text or through Teams….?”
Now flip it over - think about the last time you received something that got your attention and cut-through the noise.
What was it & why did it have that effect?
Was it the creative approach that cut through the noise?
Is it the fact the messaging is speaking exactly to you and the things that you think about?
What is it that makes you say YES, even when the price may be higher than an alternative?
Smart Prospecting
Have a complete rethink about what you are saying to prospects, how it lands with them and what medium is right each time.
Really targeted, truly relevant and genuinely useful content will get cut through.
This is where your strategy really comes to play - if you are trying to win a small number of customers, think about an account-based marketing (ABM) approach, which is a highly tailored and joined-up sales & marketing approach to prospects on an individual, or very niche group basis.
Twenty tailored approaches will take much longer and cost more per outreach than one message to 100s of people, but may get those prospects to engage as you are speaking DIRECTLY to them.
According to HubSpot, companies using ABM generate 200% more revenue from their marketing efforts compared to those that don’t.
Think creatively about how you engage across channels - for example:
Short-form video on LinkedIn — native videos under 90 seconds get 3–5 times more engagement than text-only posts. Use them to tease thought leadership, personal insights and reflections, client stories, or “how-to” tips
Multi-image carousels on LinkedIn get higher click-through and dwell time because they encourage swipe interaction. Try this for breaking down frameworks or telling a story step by step
Personalised video in emails — use tools like Loom to record a 1–2 minute video and embed it in your email. Personalised subject lines with ‘video’ can increase open rates by up to 20%
Direct mail is making a comeback, but it’s not all about long-form letters. Think about post-cards and handwritten notes, or creative/relevant gift can get more attention than an email and can usually get past ‘gatekeepers’. Response rates for well-targeted B2B direct mail can be 10–30 times higher than cold email
These aren’t things you use for mass-marketing, but if you are dealing with a small number of targets and high values, these can be worthwhile.
What would make your target prospect sit up and say YES! “Sign me up NOW”? Or even just “I want to read on”?
Finally, I’m hearing a lot of conversations right now about OUTCOMES. This is one that is super important to B2B tech companies in particular. We love talking about our technical details and the product/service and what we actually do. There’s a real shift in the market to people wanting outcomes. Buyers want to know what am I really getting for my money?
What to do:
Go back to your Ideal Customer Persona and really understand them
What are their real problems and frustrations
What are they really looking to achieve (think about the story of the hammer - they aren’t looking for a hammer, but to knock a nail in the wall to put up a picture of their beloved aunt)
What are the words, phrases etc they use
I always think speaking with real customers (including ex-customers & prospects) face to face is something we don’t do nearly enough - so go and do some of this. There’s a great step-by-step resource on my website about this topic Talk to Your Customers and check out The Mom Test
Look at your messaging - is it customer-led, outcome focused?
Review your numbers, test an ABM approach if appropriate for your top target and existing customers
Go wild and creative - think about how to reach your prospects and get attention across different channels
The trends shaping B2B growth are diverse – from social and psychological to technological.
This isn’t just about customers — attracting and retaining talent is also being reshaped by these generational and technological shifts.
Successful businesses will be those who can blend digital convenience with authentic human connection, and who can continue to adapt their strategy as buyers evolve.”
This might feel overwhelming, but changes are happening and I am sharing this so you can be aware and take action.
So, where do you start? My advice is to pick one or two trends most relevant to your business today and take deliberate steps to adapt. You don’t need to change everything at once, but you do need to start.
It’s not all ‘new’ and ‘more’ - make sure your foundations are in place. It all starts with understanding your customers and adapting your approach to them.
If you’d like to sense-check your growth strategy against these shifts, or talk through what they mean for your company, I’d love to hear your thoughts — you could go digital, or talk over coffee, your choice!!
Get in touch
I provide leadership, support and direction for growing Kiwi tech and innovation companies as your 'fractional' (part-time) Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) - an affordable way to get senior thinking and direction for businesses.
If you could do with some help to grow your business, get in touch
Helen Shorthouse
Fractional Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)