Why Most of Your B2B Buyers Are Invisible Until It's Too Late

Here's a number worth sitting with: research from 6sense found that B2B buyers completed around 70% of their purchasing journey before making contact with a supplier.

More recent research suggests that figure has moved closer to 60%, but the underlying challenge remains. Most potential customers are already comparing options, researching suppliers and forming opinions long before they fill in a form or pick up the phone.

According to the 2025 6sense B2B Buyer Experience Report, 94% of buying groups rank their preferred suppliers before speaking to sales, and the preferred supplier goes on to win approximately 77% of the time.

For B2B technology companies, this is not a small shift. It changes what "early-stage pipeline" actually means. Businesses can no longer rely on inbound enquiries alone to understand where demand exists.

The opportunity lies in identifying buying signals earlier and engaging prospects at the right moment.

Why the funnel went quiet

Buyers have more self-service information than ever: peer reviews, comparison sites, LinkedIn commentary, analyst content and increasingly, AI-powered search engines.

A prospect can build most of a shortlist without ever visiting a supplier's website, let alone submitting an enquiry.

Research from Gartner published in March 2026 found that 67% of B2B buyers prefer an experience that does not require interacting with a sales representative, up from 61% in the previous survey.

Meanwhile, Gartner's May 2026 research revealed that 45% of buyers had used generative AI during a recent purchase, primarily to research products and suppliers.

This creates a significant challenge for traditional lead generation strategies.

If a potential buyer is researching your competitors, evaluating solutions and discussing budgets internally, but has not engaged with your business, they may remain completely invisible to your sales team.

That does not mean intent has disappeared. It means intent has moved somewhere you cannot see it with a contact form alone.

The cost of being discovered too late

One of the more revealing findings from 6sense is that 95% of winning suppliers were already on the buyer's initial shortlist in its 2025 research.

In other words, by the time a prospect actively contacts suppliers, the opportunity to influence their decision may already be limited.

For businesses selling complex technology solutions, managed services or SaaS products, this presents two challenges:

• Missing early opportunities: Potential customers could be actively researching your category without appearing in your CRM.
• Entering conversations too late: Sales teams may find themselves competing against suppliers the buyer already knows and prefers.

This is why building awareness, identifying intent and maintaining consistent engagement throughout the buying journey are becoming increasingly important.

It is no longer enough to simply generate more leads. The challenge is understanding which businesses are moving towards a purchasing decision before they formally raise their hands.

Making anonymous demand visible

Three approaches are helping B2B marketing and sales teams close this visibility gap.

1. Website visitor identification

Technology that identifies organisations visiting your website can provide insight into which businesses are actively researching your services, even when no form has been submitted.

For example, repeated visits from the same organisation to service pages, case studies or pricing information could indicate emerging interest.

While these tools generally identify companies rather than individual decision-makers, they offer a useful starting point for further qualification.

2. Signal-layered qualification

Firmographic data, such as company size, industry and location, remains valuable. But combining this information with behavioural and intent signals creates a clearer picture of potential demand.

These signals might include repeated website visits, engagement with relevant content, attendance at industry webinars or wider research activity associated with a target account.

Importantly, a signal is not the same as a qualified sales opportunity. It needs to be assessed against business fit, purchasing requirements and the likelihood of meaningful engagement.

3. Fast, human qualification

Identifying potential demand is only useful if the business can respond effectively.

Research published in Harvard Business Review, The Short Life of Online Sales Leads, found that companies attempting to contact an inbound lead within an hour were nearly seven times more likely to qualify that lead than companies responding even an hour later.

Although this research dates from 2011, it highlights an important principle that remains relevant: response times matter when a prospect has actively expressed interest.

Today, effective qualification is about combining timely follow-up with relevant, informed conversations rather than simply contacting every prospect as quickly as possible.

The human element still matters

Despite the growth of AI and self-service purchasing, human interaction remains an important part of complex B2B sales.

Gartner's May 2026 research found that 69% of B2B buyers prefer to validate AI-generated insights with sales representatives.

This suggests that buyers are not necessarily rejecting sales engagement. They want it to be useful, relevant and delivered at the appropriate stage.

For organisations selling solutions with lengthy implementation cycles, technical requirements or multiple decision-makers, knowledgeable sales conversations can still make a meaningful difference.

The objective is not to interrupt independent research unnecessarily. It is to recognise when a buyer could benefit from a conversation and make that interaction worthwhile.

Where this fits into a lead generation strategy

At Maven TM, this is exactly the gap our qualification process is built to close.

We combine multi-channel outbound and inbound activity with a 24-hour qualification turnaround, helping businesses act on buying interest while it is still relevant.

Through targeted calling, LinkedIn engagement, email outreach and lead qualification, we help B2B organisations connect with the right decision-makers and move beyond simply collecting contact information.

Whether a prospect submits an enquiry, engages with a campaign or demonstrates potential interest through digital activity, the objective is the same: identify the opportunity, qualify the requirement and create a meaningful sales conversation.

The businesses winning in 2026 will not necessarily be those with the biggest top of funnel. They will be those that understand their buyers earlier, recognise genuine intent and respond with relevant engagement.

Want to understand how much potential demand could be moving through your funnel unseen? Get in touch with Maven TM to discuss your current lead generation and qualification process.