The Value of Repeating Foundational Research

You Cannot Steer by an Old Map

Most B2B companies think they know their customers quite well. They talk to customers daily, track their interactions in a CRM, and review pipelines weekly. But anecdotally tracking what your customers did or said is different from fully understanding what your market thinks, how they make decisions, and where they are going. That gap can widen quickly – but, regular, foundational research closes it.

Buyers make most of their moves where you cannot see

Gartner found that buyers in a complex purchase spend only 17 percent of their time meeting with suppliers.¹ When three suppliers compete, each gets roughly 5 percent. Buyers spend most of the remainder researching independently and conferring with colleagues.

Most of the process by which your customers form opinions, compare you with rivals, and build agreement among themselves happens out of your sight. Sales calls only reveal a fragment. Research reveals the rest: all the factors buyers weigh, which sources they rely on, who they trust, and which pain points and objections surface in meetings you never attend.

Most of your market is not buying today

Professor John Dawes of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute posits that up to 95 percent of business buyers are out of the market for a given product at any moment.² Treat the figure as an estimate, not a law. But the logic holds because companies tend to replace banks, software, and other b2b partners and suppliers on multiyear cycles.

Your pipeline only includes the minority of buyers who have actively raised a hand. It tells you nothing about the much larger group of prospects who will buy next year, what will prompt them, or whether your name will come to mind. Only research reaches them. Ask what they remember about you, which brands they consider, and what would send them looking.

One study is a snapshot; a series is a trend

Views of a brand shift, often due to external factors. Competitors reposition; budgets tighten and strategies change; new decision-makers arrive with different views and priorities. As a result, that one-off survey you conducted three years ago describes a market that no longer exists.

Regular research supplies a baseline, and a baseline makes trends and changes measurable. You can see whether awareness is rising, whether buyers are increasingly balking at your pricing, or whether a rival is gaining in a segment you assumed was safe. Without a periodically updated baseline, you are left with sporadic anecdotes. But if you repeat research on a regular schedule, you can see the changes coming while you still have time to respond – and often, before your competitors know what’s happening. The right cadence depends on how fast your market moves and what kinds of answers you seek, but the key principle is regularity.

Research ends internal arguments

Primary research can illuminate the external environment and translate it into value inside the company.

Every B2B organization holds competing theories of the customer. Sales believes price decides. Product believes features decide. Marketing believes awareness decides. Each theory rests on the biggest deal, the latest complaint, or the most senior voice, and such debates frequently consume meetings and create internal frictions without ever concluding.

Evidence changes this conversation. When every department sees the same customer data, the question shifts from “who is right?” to “what should we do now?” This saves time and lowers the temperature. And it gives the next planning cycle something more solid than just opinions and anecdotes to stand on.

Research sharpens what comes next

Good research improves the less-dramatic decisions, as well. It shows you which segments need more attention, and which deserve less. It tells sales which objections to prepare for and lets marketing know which messages land best. It reveals what information buyers lack at each stage of the purchase, so content and collateral can be tailored to address real questions and make a real impact with buyers.

That matters. Gartner reported that buyers who found supplier information helpful were far more likely to buy a bigger deal with less regret.³ And our own B2B Superpowers research has shown buyer trust – “feeling safe signing a contract” – to be the #1 driver of purchase decisions for three years in a row and that getting this right also generates noticeably larger deals and shorter sales cycles on average.⁴ Helpful information starts with knowing what the buyer needs to learn and where they are going to look for it, and that requires research.

Start with a baseline

Begin with the questions every B2B firm should be able to answer:

• Who buys, and who influences the decision?
• Why do customers choose us, or someone else?
• What alternatives do they consider?
• What triggers a search?
• What do they think of us?

Answer them once, thoroughly. Then ask again on a schedule.

The alternative is to steer by a map drawn years ago and pray nothing has changed.

The lesson is simple: markets change, buyers change, and assumptions become outdated. The organizations that make the best decisions are often those that revisit and refresh their understanding of the market before setting strategy.

At B2B International, we help organizations develop and maintain a current, evidence-based understanding of their customers, markets, competitors, and growth opportunities. Whether you’re questioning long-held assumptions, exploring a strategic challenge, or developing a new research brief, we’d be happy to discuss how research can help you move forward with greater confidence.