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Psychology & Persuasion

Forrester 2024: The State of Business Buying

Break down Forrester's 2024 State of Business Buying research — stalled deals, 13-person committees, buyer dissatisfaction, and what providers must change.

BadgeLead Editorial Team11 min read

Summary

Forrester surveyed 16,000+ business buyers and found 86% of purchases stall — and 81% are dissatisfied even after buying. Here's what that means for sellers.

Buying Is Hard — Even When You Win

Forrester's The State of Business Buying, 2024 draws on more than 16,000 global business buyers. The headline stat for sellers: 86% of B2B purchases stall during the process — budget freezes, internal process friction, and competing priorities dominate over vendor selection drama.

Even after a 'successful' purchase, 81% of buyers express dissatisfaction with their chosen provider. For Gen Z and Millennial buyers, dissatisfaction rises to 91%, often citing lack of technology expertise, domain depth, and flexibility during the journey.

Thirteen People, Two Departments Minimum

The average buying group involves 13 people, with 89% of purchases crossing two or more departments. This validates enterprise qualification frameworks: your champion is one node in a network, not the network itself.

Forrester recommends providers shift from selling to enabling buying groups — supplying information, consensus tools, and risk reduction assets aligned to how committees actually decide.

  • Map all 13 roles — economic, technical, user, legal, procurement, security
  • Provide buyer-ready business cases champions can forward internally
  • Address post-purchase dissatisfaction drivers in implementation planning
  • Treat Gen Z/Millennial buyers as higher-expectation, digital-first evaluators

Self-Serve, GenAI, and Human Touch

Buyers want a near-even split between self-guided research and personal engagement. GenAI has rapidly joined search engines and vendor websites as a top self-serve research method — sellers must ensure their value props are legible to AI-mediated evaluation, not only RFP responses.

From Pitching to Purchase Enablement

Pair Forrester's buying-group lens with Gartner buyer enablement and Challenger teaching: help buyers complete jobs (consensus, risk reduction, ROI proof), do not add slides. MEDDIC's Decision Process and Paper Process fields force sellers to document stall points before forecast commit.

References & Further Reading

This article draws on peer-reviewed research, established frameworks, and authoritative industry sources.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why do 86% of B2B purchases stall?
Forrester attributes stalls primarily to budget constraints, organizational purchasing process, and competing priorities — not always competitive loss. Sellers should diagnose which stall type applies before discounting.
How many people are in a typical B2B buying committee?
Forrester's 2024 research cites an average of 13 people involved, with most purchases spanning two or more departments.

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