In 2025, B2B Sales Has Changed—Have You?

B2B sales has undergone a fundamental transformation over the past decade. Buyers are no longer dependent on salespeople to guide them through the purchasing journey—in fact, many actively avoid direct sales engagement until they’re close to making a final decision.

This shift has major implications for revenue leaders. If buyers no longer want to be sold to in the traditional sense, how can B2B companies ensure they’re influencing decisions at the right moments? The answer lies in adapting to a buyer-led approach: leveraging data, digital engagement, and strategic insights to meet customers where they are.

Buyers Are Now in Control

The days of easy cold calls and linear sales funnels are long gone. Today, B2B buyers are self-sufficient, conducting their own research, comparing vendors, and making purchase decisions before ever engaging with a sales rep. According to Gartner, the average B2B buying group consists of 6 to 10 stakeholders, each armed with independently gathered information. Given that, the length of B2B buying cycles, particularly within SaaS, is no surprise. 

This also means buyers no longer want—or need—salespeople to educate them on product features. Instead, when they are ready to talk, they expect value-driven conversations that address their specific challenges. If sellers can’t deliver that value quickly, they’re out of the equation.

But that doesn’t make a salesperson’s job any easier, as most will vouch. Most sales teams find themselves in a tough position when it comes to accessing potential customers. Because a wealth of information is available at the customer’s fingertips, they use these channels to get the information they want. 

And they aren’t looking to spend much time talking to a member of the sales team, either, putting extra pressure on. In fact, a surprisingly small 17% of the customer’s purchase journey involves direct interaction with sales reps from potential vendors.

As Mikko Huovinen, Chief Sales Officer at 180ops, tells it: 

"If there are three potential vendors, any given salesperson only gets 5-6% of the purchase journey with a customer. That means they need to already understand that customer’s exact situation before any conversation even begins. Otherwise, it’s nearly impossible to provide real insight into the best solution. With such a limited window, every moment counts in delivering the right information at the right time."

In other words, sellers today don’t just need to sell—they need to consult, advise, and provide immediate, data-backed insights that differentiate them from competitors.

Digital Engagement Outpaces Traditional Sales Interactions

The shift in buyer behavior has fueled a dramatic rise in digital engagement. Research from McKinsey shows that more than 75% of B2B buyers and sellers now prefer digital self-serve and remote interactions over in-person meetings. 

And it’s not just about convenience—buyers actually perceive digital engagement as more effective. If B2B buyers are in control, and digital interactions dominate, where does this leave sales teams? It means they must:

Engage Buyers Earlier—But Indirectly

Since buyers prefer to research on their own, companies must invest in digital engagement. Getting as much information out there as you can, on all digital channels, can position your brand as the go-to solution and allow buyers to walk themselves through most of the sales process, as they prefer to do. 

→ How 180ops Helps: 180ops provides data-backed insights that help sales and marketing teams identify the right accounts to target. By analyzing historical revenue patterns and account behaviors, 180ops enables companies to create highly targeted campaigns that put the right content in front of the right buyers. An example of this is the Ansoff matrix below representing time to money, and average deal size, so you know which of your teams should be targeting the clients that will drive revenue and growht: 

Leverage Data to Prioritize High-Intent Prospects

Sales teams can no longer afford to chase cold leads. Instead, they need data-driven insights to identify which prospects are actively researching solutions, engaging with content, or exhibiting buying signals. Bain & Company found that organizations utilizing data-driven guidance and analytics have a win rate 12 percentage points higher than those that do not.

→ How 180ops Helps: Our platform leverages real-time market and account intelligence to pinpoint which prospects are most likely to convert. By tracking engagement metrics, past deal patterns, current macroeconomic data, and firmographic data, 180ops gives sales teams an actionable playbook—allowing you to focus your efforts where it matters most.

Become Insight-Driven Advisors, Not Just Sellers

Buyers expect salespeople to provide expertise, not just a pitch. The most successful sellers deeply understand a prospect’s business challenges and offer tailored recommendations—whether through industry benchmarks, competitor insights, or operational efficiencies.

As Mikko puts it:

“Great salespeople don’t just sell—they advise. Winning in today’s market means understanding a prospect’s business as well as they do and delivering insights that drive real impact. When we bring value beyond the product—through market trends, strategic guidance, and fresh perspectives—we stop being just sellers and start being trusted partners.”

→ How 180ops Helps: 180ops equips sales teams with data-driven account profiles that provide a 360-degree view of each account. This includes customer lifetime value, churn risk, and more, enabling sellers to have smarter, more consultative conversations.

Offer a Seamless, Digital-First Buying Experience

Buyers demand speed and convenience. That means easy online purchasing options, fast response times, and minimal friction in the sales process. Companies that simplify the buyer journey and reduce time-to-purchase outperform competitors who still rely on slow, outdated processes.

→ How 180ops Helps: By eliminating revenue blind spots, 180ops helps companies reduce bottlenecks in the sales process. Its predictive analytics highlight where deals are stalling and which accounts are most likely to close—enabling teams to accelerate the buying process and capture revenue faster, which you can see a static view of here: 

CONCLUSION

B2B sales has changed, and organizations that fail to adapt will lose out on revenue. Buyers control the sales process, digital engagement is king, and the role of sales professional has evolved into that of a trusted advisor.

Winning companies are the ones that embrace data, digital channels, and buyer-centric strategies to stay relevant in this new reality. With 180ops, revenue teams gain the data-driven clarity they need to anticipate customer needs, engage buyers at the right moment, and close deals with confidence.

Ready to equip your sales team with the insights today's buyers expect? Contact us today to see how 180ops can help.