The traditional B2B sales funnel — that predictable structure of attraction, qualification, and closing — is on its last legs. This is what the market and industry experts point to, indicating a seismic shift in how companies buy from other companies. The linear model has given way to so-called Buying Networks : diffuse ecosystems where the decision is no longer in the hands of a single executive, but is diluted among influencers, AI algorithms, and multiple generations of professionals.
A recent Forrester report, titled Buying Networks: Your Buyers’ New Reality, confirms that the corporate buying journey is no longer driven by closed committees. Now, consultants, analysts, industry peers, and even Artificial Intelligence agents act as decisive opinion shapers even before the first contact with a salesperson.
The New Power Dynamic
For Fernanda Nascimento, CEO of Stratlab and a B2B marketing and sales expert, this transformation requires a paradigm shift. Companies must abandon the search for the “ideal decision-maker” and begin orchestrating conversations with an entire network of stakeholders.
“Today, the decision-maker is no longer a person, but a network. It's not enough to push leads through a linear funnel. Companies need to orchestrate conversations, build authority, and offer clarity across different levels of knowledge and expectations,” explains the executive.
In this scenario, tactics that worked in the last decade — such as long forms (content gatekeepers), SDRs focused purely on call volume, and mass email blasts — have become ineffective and often harmful to the brand.
The Role of AI and New Generations
The phenomenon is driven by the massive entry of Millennial and Gen Z generations into influential roles, who bring with them more autonomous and digital information consumption habits. Furthermore, Artificial Intelligence enters as a new “stakeholder”: AI agents are used to filter suppliers and analyze risks before any human enters the negotiation.
According to Nascimento, the salesperson ceases to be the “gatekeeper of information” to become a consultant and facilitator. She warns that adaptation is not optional:
“With buyers becoming increasingly autonomous, informed, and exposed to multiple voices of influence, insisting on traditional tactics tends to become irrelevant.”
How Companies Should Respond
To navigate this new reality of Buying Networks, Buying Networks
- , the recommendation is to treat the change not as a passing marketing trend, but as a business restructuring. Fernanda Nascimento lists five essential pillars for B2B leadership: Acknowledging the lack of control:.
- Accept that the company is just one voice in a complex network and adjust governance to influence, not control. Transparent and accessible content:.
- Make clear information available before human contact. Opacity breeds distrust. Investment in reputation: Focus on thought leadership.
- , influencer relations, and presence in communities. Agility and Empathy:.
- Restructure sales teams to solve real pain points quickly, instead of following rigid scripts. AI as support, not a substitute:.
Use automation to enhance strategic human intelligence.
