One of the most common refrains I heard at B2B Summit last week was that “it’s good to know that others are in the same boat.” Indeed, our event theme of “Master Buying Mayhem” seemed to have really struck a chord, as B2B professionals face an incredibly complex and volatile environment — a new buying reality in which buyers have access to more information than ever, rely on a broader network to shape their decisions, and leverage new technologies (particularly generative AI and AI agents) in their buying process. The game has changed, and as marketing, sales, customer, and product leaders scramble to keep up, the mayhem is real.
We explored these challenges and their solutions in over 100 sessions, including more than 60 interactive sessions, making this Summit our most experiential event yet. The energy was palpable, with more than 800 workshops, over 600 roundtable attendees, more than 450 analyst one-on-ones, and over 50 practitioner sessions, including panels, case studies, and awards sessions, as well as the highly engaging Forrester Women’s Leadership and Executive Leadership Exchange programs.
Here are five key takeaways from the event mainstage that can help as you head into planning for the rest of the year. These themes carried through to various breakout sessions, where attendees had a chance to go deeper.
Embrace Buying Networks To Address The Upsurge In AI Agents And External Influencers
Forrester data reveals that 81% of business buyers express dissatisfaction with at least one area of their buying experience with the winning provider. This dissatisfaction causes purchase cycle lengths to balloon, deals to stall, and buyers to seek alternatives. Embracing buying networks will help B2B organizations reduce purchase stress and deliver greater value to buyers. B2B leaders must expand their understanding of not only buying group members but also the external parties they rely on for information, advice, and support throughout the customer lifecycle, such as customers, influencers, partners, and AI agents.
Siemens’ Advice To Companies Considering Revenue Process Transformation: “Don’t Wait”
In a keynote fireside chat with Forrester Principal Analyst Amy Hawthorne, Siemens marketing and sales leaders Dave Taylor and Brian Frattaroli shared successes from their two-year revenue process transformation initiatives. The team saw success across the board, landing new logos, accelerating existing opportunities, becoming more customer-oriented, streamlining communication, and improving processes that shaved weeks off of some initiatives. Taylor and Frattaroli advised companies looking to transform their process to start with buying groups to help align on language and focus and to rethink the signals being captured — specifically, they spoke about how they listen to signals and add them to internal account knowledge and opportunity knowledge. The Siemens team emphasized the importance of building a cross-functional, collaborative culture, where sales and marketing are equal partners in each other’s success.
Maximizing B2B Growth Requires An Adaptive Growth Strategy And Firm Priorities
Our data shows that 82% of B2B frontline marketing decision-makers need to improve their overall growth strategy to make the most significant impact on growth amid changes to buying networks and advancing technology. An adaptive growth strategy, comprising adaptive direction, control, interactions, and practices, is the best choice for B2B organizations seeking growth and effective change. B2B marketing leaders should prioritize strategic initiatives using the Forrester Initiative Ranking Matrix, a highly effective tool for ranking initiatives according to business value and customer value.
Interconnected Processes Are Key For Efficient Strategy Execution
Only 40% of B2B business and tech professionals say their organization is optimizing efficiency to meet growth targets. Investing in process excellence leads to optimized efficiency and better customer experiences, faster time to market, enabled adaptability to changing markets, predictable outcomes, and increased profitability. B2B leaders should follow four steps to realize these process excellence benefits and successfully execute against their strategies: Articulate the business challenge; connect causes to planning, preparation, and production process solutions; ignite definitive action; and progress the change.
Turn GenAI Possibilities Into Real-World Impact Today
While 89% of B2B buyers are using generative AI throughout the buying process, only 19% of B2B organizations use it in production. Most organizations are still experimenting and falling short on expectations and impact. Leaders must focus on what’s within their control and prioritize three areas that will help genAI adoption take flight — strengthening the use of technology, data, and processes; closing the AI literacy gap; and fostering deep internal and external collaboration. With this focus, B2B organizations can achieve value today and be ready to adapt to buyer needs and future genAI advancements.
Last week’s Summit set the stage for mastering buying mayhem in a new business buying reality. We know it’s just one point in time and that adapting to this new reality takes planning, commitment, and lots of time. It wasn’t just the attendees, however, who were energized by B2B Summit — the Forrester analysts I spoke with after the event were likewise buzzing with excitement for what’s next. Reach out to any of us to set up a guidance session to dig into your specific challenges and opportunities. Together, we can master the mayhem.
And even as the dust settles from last week, we’re already planning B2B Summit NA 2026 (dates and registration in the link) — we hope to see you there!
(Evan Megan, senior research associate, contributed to this blog.)
