A Holiday Miracle?

A Holiday Miracle?

As we get into the holiday season I'm seeing some interesting signs that buying may finally be getting better. Now, let's be clear, even with the improvements there is much work to do on both sides, but I'm encouraged by some early returns from our latest study that is still in the field.

The study is the second run of our business buyer study. All of the respondents have to report to one of six functional areas (Finance, HR, Supply Chain, Sales, Marketing, or Customer Service) and be involved in the purchase of software to support their functions mission.

So far, we've collected about 2/3s of our target (over 3000 total respondents) and if the last 1000 are similar to these will see improvements (I won't call them significant until we can prove that statistically) in many areas.

  • High Quality Deals are Increasing
  • Unhealthy Conflict is Less
  • The post-purchase experience is improving
  • Respondents feeling their were surprise steps to buy in their org is decreasing
  • Cycle times are lower (remember this is for a completed purchase--there may be others that are hanging around for a long time).
  • etc.

We also will have data to show that diverse buying teams deliver better results (something we've felt given decision making research), but never had direct data. We will now.

I'm hopeful that these signs won't take a dramatic turn as the last 1/3 of our data comes in. I don't really expect it to. (On a related note, a buying study specifically about security related purchases also reflected some of this positive movement. I equated it with more involvement from "traditional buyers," but this emerging data may imply there is more to the story.

We'll be ready to talk about and publish lots of really interesting findings in the new year, so stay tuned.

As this will be my last article this year. Happy holidays to everyone and thanks for following and engaging with me. Together, we can all make buying better.

The articles in this newsletter do not follow Gartner's standard editorial review. All comments or opinions expressed here are mine and do not represent the views of Gartner, Inc. or its management.

Sreenidhi Subramaniam

Biz Dev Manager at Lynkread | LinkedIn Lead Generation | B2B Authority & Reputation Building | Strategic Messaging | Driving Meaningful Engagement | Boosted Client Visibility by 45% | 20% Increase in Qualified Leads

2 个月

Absolutely, the evolving landscape of tech buying is promising. The next generation of buyers is leveraging data analytics and AI to make more informed decisions, which is a significant shift from traditional methods. Additionally, their emphasis on sustainability and ethical sourcing is reshaping industry standards. It's exciting to see how these trends will drive innovation and accountability in the tech market.

回复

This is really great news going into the New Year! With High Quality Deals as all time lows, hopefully we've hit the bottom. We definitely see tech GTM leaders paying attention to the purchase pessimism metrics, however investments are constrained and change is slow to respond to such a critical challenge.

Ken Phillips

Principal BenefitScape | Bringing Best in Class Benefit Administration and Compliance via your HCM

2 个月

Merry Christmas Hank, Look forward to seeing your 2025 analysis. BTW, AI Agentic looks a lot like EDIFY of yore. Ghosts of Christmas past?

Meghan Spork

Product Marketing @ TestBox | Storyteller & Strategist for B2B SaaS

2 个月

Excited for these results!

David Brock

Author "Sales Manager Survival Guide," CEO at Partners In EXCELLENCE, Ruthless Pragmatist

2 个月

And Hank, I thought you were going to put several lumps of coal in my stocking! Can't ait to see the results!

要查看或添加评论,请登录

Hank Barnes的更多文章

  • Differentiation and Consideration

    Differentiation and Consideration

    Recently, Dale W. Harrison has been sharing some excellent material discussing differentiation and distinction (with…

    11 条评论
  • Functional Diversity on Buying Teams - More Experienced Teams or the AI effect?

    Functional Diversity on Buying Teams - More Experienced Teams or the AI effect?

    As we continue to dig deeper into the results from our latest business buyer survey, we are seeing some big differences…

    11 条评论
  • GenAI Usage in B2B Buying - Jury is Still Out

    GenAI Usage in B2B Buying - Jury is Still Out

    Over a few different studies that Gartner has run recently on B2B Buying (some tech specific and some broader), we've…

    23 条评论
  • More Positive Signs - Diverse Buying Teams

    More Positive Signs - Diverse Buying Teams

    Happy New Year. Late last year, I shared some commentary that are studies are showing some progress in terms of buying…

    21 条评论
  • Everyone Is A Decision Maker in Tech Buying?

    Everyone Is A Decision Maker in Tech Buying?

    As we continue to study the dynamics around tech decisions and interesting pattern is emerging. We are seeing more and…

    16 条评论
  • The Impact of Shared Outcome Focus

    The Impact of Shared Outcome Focus

    I recently wrote about some signs of better buying approaches. Today, I'll add another sign.

    12 条评论
  • The Best Place to Start

    The Best Place to Start

    Was chatting with a client last week. We get together regularly to discuss things and brainstorm.

    10 条评论
  • Possible Signs of Hope for Better Buying

    Possible Signs of Hope for Better Buying

    I regularly talk about the downside of buying: conflict, regret, delays, and frustrations. But our latest study shows a…

    2 条评论
  • Buyer Enablement - The Time is Now

    Buyer Enablement - The Time is Now

    The ideas around buyer enablement have been around for quite some time. But for many, the ideas of what type of buyer…

    29 条评论
  • Early Themes From Gartner's Latest End User Buying Behavior Study

    Early Themes From Gartner's Latest End User Buying Behavior Study

    We just go the results back from our annual study of different aspects of decisions companies make when buying…

    5 条评论

社区洞察

其他会员也浏览了