The B2B buying process is undergoing a seismic shift. Today’s marketers are witnessing purchasing decisions being made before sellers even have a chance to engage with audiences. In fact, 81% of B2B buyers choose a vendor before ever speaking to sales. Despite this, marketing teams are being asked to do more than generate leads. They are now responsible for guiding complex buying networks, enabling informed decisions, and navigating the rise of AI in purchasing journeys.

The call to today’s marketers has never been clearer – the time is now to evolve.

This was just one of the many messages coming out of Forrester’s B2B Summit earlier this month, where hundreds of B2B marketing luminaries and leaders gathered in Phoenix, Arizona for the Super Bowl of the B2B marketing and sales world.

To discuss key takeaways from this year’s event, B2B changemaker Katie Martell sat down with Informa TechTarget’s own Dara Such. They explored how expectations are changing among buyers, as well as what conditions are affecting marketers and impacting their decision making.

Below we explore three essential takeaways from the 2025 Forrester Summit North America that can be applied now and in the years to come. To view the entire conversation, watch the video below:

#1 – Buying Groups Meet Buying Networks

Over the past several years, we’ve witnessed the purchasing process become more independent with individuals trying to self-educate so they feel confident when speaking to a salesperson, a vendor or a potential supplier. Because of this, today’s buying decisions aren’t confined to a handful of stakeholders. Instead, buying groups need to expand and meet other networks and those that are influencing buyers – suppliers, procurement teams, competition, colleagues and members of a buying group themselves.

This expanded buying network also includes a surprising new player: AI. Advances in technology have quickly integrated into the sales process with chat and generative AI tools influencing buying decisions. Whether in more robust or minor roles, marketing teams are utilizing generative AI in the RFP process to discover new vendors and determine what their requirements or criteria should be.

But with great automation also comes great responsibility. While AI offers speed and scale, marketers must ensure their content is not only discoverable but credible. Therefore, human intervention is still needed to make sure results pulled from these tools are accurate. Trust is the currency of modern marketing, and the only way to earn it is through clear, valuable, human-centric messaging.  When done effectively, good messaging provides clear business value that goes beyond just features and functionality. And as a result, content has become a great vehicle for brands to reach the right buyer audiences.

This means the long game when it comes to buying networks is often won or lost well before a pitch deck hits a prospect’s inbox. The challenge? Making your brand discoverable, credible, and trusted from the very start.

#2 – Don’t Assume You’ll Get an Early At-Bat with Buyers – Focus on Enabling Buyers

Marketers can no longer assume they’ll have the opportunity to tell their story directly. Instead, they must enable buyers to build confidence in their own decisions – through third-party validation, robust content, and consistent brand messaging.

Having a singular focus on Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) no longer serves everyone the way it used to. But this does not mean that they are dead. We know that buyers are using content as their way to self-educate. Whether it’s through ChatGPT, LinkedIn, or research reports, buyers are drawing their own conclusions before a sales rep approaches them. This means marketing must serve as both educator and enabler, offering credible insights across all touchpoints. Marketing and sales need to layer MQLs with other buying group signals – intent data, buyer behavior across third-party sites, competitive engagement – to get a fuller picture of opportunities.

Even with a largely buyer-led research process, according to Forrester, 81% remain dissatisfied with the winning vendor. Pre-purchase buyer enablement is essential, but vendors must also make sure that they are paying attention to value realization and post-sale strategy alongside sales and customer service. Marketers must think beyond the sale, ensuring that customers not only buy, but succeed. That’s what it truly means to be customer-obsessed.

#3 – Treat AI as the “Sixth Man of the Year”

In pro basketball, the “Sixth Man of the Year” award is given to the player that is the most valuable bench player for their team. AI is not here to replace marketers or sales teams, but it can “come off the bench” to help buyers reshape how they discover, evaluate, and decide. Already, 1–3% of referral traffic is coming from generative AI tools, and some experts predict up to a significant drop in direct vendor traffic as AI becomes a dominant entry point.

As noted earlier, buyers are increasingly turning to AI tools like ChatGPT and Microsoft CoPilot as their first step in the purchasing journey. This technology helps to summarize options, compare features, and surface solutions – sometimes well before a vendor even knows they’re being considered.

This does put some pressure on vendors to equip their sellers with talking points, value statements that are about what really matters to buyers. Today’s buyers are more educated than they were previously when sellers would interact with them early on. They have interpreted content at their fingertips, so you risk buyers knowing more about your business’ product than your rep does if you’re not equipping them to have a powerful, valuable conversation.

Sellers have the tools to have better conversations and buyers have the knowledge to make smarter decisions. That’s where the magic happens and where you can really start seeing revenue acceleration. But if you don’t have those two together, your business will be at a disadvantage.

To adapt, marketers must:

• Feed AI with accurate, differentiated messaging
• Optimize for AI discovery—not just SEO
• Arm sales teams with more powerful insights, such as intent data, to match expectations of more informed buyers

Win With Confidence, Not Just Conversion

In this new era, marketing is no longer just about visibility – it’s about relevance, trust, and enablement at every stage of the buyer’s journey. The most successful B2B brands will be those that treat AI as a partner, create touchpoints with many members of the buying network, and focus not solely on conversion, but on building decision-making confidence.

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