How is AI changing B2B buying behaviour?

B2B customers now research, compare and decide with AI — before they ever speak to a provider. According to Forrester, 94 per cent of B2B buyers use AI in the buying process; AI answer engines have become the most important research source there, ahead of vendor websites and salespeople. Anyone who only explains what they stand for in the first meeting arrives too late.

The figures behind this paint a clear picture. 55 per cent of buyers compare providers using AI tools, 54 per cent research products, 47 per cent build entire business cases — all before first contact. Gong Labs has measured a 250 per cent increase since early 2024 in deals where the buyer found the provider via AI. And these figures only capture cases where buyers disclose their AI use. Actual prevalence is higher.

What does this mean for sales? Three things are shifting.

First: first contact is no longer an introduction, but an examination. The customer arrives with a ready-made picture — assembled by an AI from whatever the web reveals about you. The conversation doesn't start from zero. It starts from whatever the AI has claimed.

Second: the shortlist forms before the first conversation. 6sense has measured that 95 per cent of deals go to a provider that was already on the customer's shortlist on day one. The favourite before first contact wins 80 per cent of the time. Anyone not on that list is selling against a decision that's already been made in the customer's mind.

Third: visibility in AI answers becomes the new entry ticket. B2B companies already report 10 to 40 per cent less website traffic because research is migrating to AI engines. The question is no longer just whether Google finds you. The question is whether an AI names you when your target customer asks.

Before AI changes the salesperson, it changes the customer. That's the order in which to think about it. Only once it's clear how your customers decide today does the question of what AI should do in your sales organisation make sense.