Most companies entered 2025 expecting incremental change, and they got massive structural transformation instead. Needless to say, many companies are still recovering from a year of bobbing and weaving.  

Our leadership team spent the year in the field with enterprise clients, navigating complex sales cycles.  

Here’s what we learned about the critical patterns that redefined how B2B deals get done: 

1. Market uncertainty reshaped B2B buying behavior 

Tariff volatility, geopolitical instability, and AI-driven disruption, particularly in professional services, made buyers more cautious, slowed decision-making, and significantly raised the bar for vendor justification. 

2. Focus is outperforming scale 

Key Account Growth accelerated when marketing, sales, and leadership teams committed to consistency and patience rather than chasing short-term vanity metrics. In fact, new logo acquisition succeeded only where outreach was tightly aligned to a clearly defined ICP and messaging was hyper-relevant from the first engagement opportunity. 

3. Most companies aren’t learning from deal post-mortems 

Eighty-six percent of B2B purchases stall during the buying process. However, few teams diagnosed the real cause.  

We took a look at the hard truths and found that most stalled deals weren’t about price or features. They died because buying committees couldn’t align on what problem they were actually solving. When initial stakeholders and final decision makers have different priorities and success metrics, consensus becomes a major bottleneck. 

4. Digital self-service became the new battleground for million-dollar deals 

According to Forrester, more than half of large B2B transactions of $1 million or greater will be processed through digital self-serve channels, including the vendor’s website or marketplace.  

Enterprise buyers now expect the same frictionless experience they get buying low-ticket goods in their personal lives, except they’re committing seven figures without ever talking to your team. 

5. Buying behaviors increasingly resemble risk-mitigation behaviors 

B2B buying increasingly became a risk-management exercise, not a value hunt. In 2025, buyers rewarded clarity, proof, and predictability over bold promises. Messaging that reduced perceived risk and focused on clear outcomes, credible validation, and realistic paths to value outperformed aspirational narratives, as decision makers optimized for defensibility as much as growth. 

6. Younger buyers brought different economics to the table 

Millennials and Gen Z now account for 71% of B2B buyers, up from 64% in 2022. These buyers prefer digital channels and avoid sales calls, and 65% have tighter budgets compared to 2024. They involve larger committees, demand more proof, and require vendors to justify every dollar in ways previous generations didn’t.

7. Buying committees grew and decision-maker authority shrank simultaneously 

Buying influence expanded, but decision authority narrowed. More stakeholders shaped B2B purchase decisions across finance, operations, IT, and legal, yet final approval concentrated with fewer senior leaders. Marketing and sales teams that enabled internal consensus and armed a single economic buyer with a clear, executive-safe case to say yes saw higher win rates. 

8. AI validation requirements increased 

Buyers increasingly need to validate AI capabilities in the vendors they ultimately selected. However, because most companies are not publicly publishing details of their AI capabilities in enough detail (likely because those capabilities are constantly evolving), AI capability validation is one of the primary reasons B2B buyers will forego their preference for self-service and get in touch with sellers.