🌀 The Funnel Is Dead. Long Live Buyer-Led Growth.

👋 Hey GTM Leaders,

We’re halfway through 2025, and the market’s message is clear:

This issue is about a GTM shift you can’t afford to ignore:
👉 Buyer-Led Growth (BLG).

🧠 What Is Buyer-Led Growth?

BLG is a go-to-market motion that puts buying control in the hands of the buyer—not your sales team, not your qualification process, not your funnel stages.

Think of it as Product-Led Growth’s extroverted cousin:
Instead of waiting for product usage to trigger conversion, BLG gives pre-product buyers an autonomous, data-rich, and guided path to purchase.

📊 The data backs it up:

• 🛒 83% of B2B buyers prefer ordering or researching online without talking to sales (Gartner).

• 📉 The average deal now involves 6–10 decision-makers, each doing independent research before ever syncing (Gartner).

• 🧭 60% of buyers say they found “vendor websites difficult to navigate” or “too focused on lead capture” (TrustRadius 2023 B2B Buying Disconnect Report).

⚠️ Why the Traditional Funnel Is Failing

The funnel assumes a linear, vendor-controlled journey:

• Awareness → Consideration → Demo → Close

In 2025, that path looks more like this:

Your buyers are:

✅ Smarter
✅ Overwhelmed
✅ Independent

Which means your gated forms, MQL scoring, and SDR cadences are increasingly irrelevant—or worse, damaging.

🛠️ What GTM Teams Should Do Instead

🔄 For RevOps:

• Shift your model from “leads” to buying signals.

• Score product interactions, demo tool usage, repeat page visits, and intent-based firmographic triggers.

• Use tools like:

  • Clay + Apollo for behavior-driven outbound

  • Segment + Mutiny for real-time personalization

📣 For Marketing:

• Treat your website like a digital salesperson:

  • Build ungated demo experiences (Navattic, Reprise)

  • Add live chat + AI assistants (Drift, [ChatGPT plug-ins])

  • Include transparent pricing and self-qualification tools

• Reallocate budget toward community-led and peer-review spaces (e.g., Pavilion, Reddit, TrustRadius)

💬 For Sales:

• Don’t pitch, orchestrate:

  • Turn “demo calls” into consultative reviews of what buyers have already explored.

  • Use Gong/Chorus insights to focus on objections and closing signals, not discovery basics.

  • Create async custom demo flows with Tiled or Storylane

🧪 For Product & CS:

• Offer pre-signup onboarding (interactive tours, tailored walkthroughs)

• Automate “aha moments” with triggered email + in-app nudges

• Pull session replays and in-product behavior into CS call prep (via PostHog or Fullstory)

🌟 Who’s Doing It Well

🔹 Navattic
→ Offers no-form, interactive product tours front and center. Demo time ⬇, conversions ⬆.
👉 https://www.navattic.com/showcase

🔹 Reprise
→ Lets reps and buyers build custom demo flows to match buyer priorities.
👉 https://www.reprise.com/solutions/sales

🔹 Amplitude
→ Uses personalized trials and pricing experimentation as an acquisition strategy.
👉 Amplitude PLG Strategy

✅ GTM Checklist for June:

1. Rebuild your “Book a Demo” page

• Add async walkthrough options

• Include buyer personas and outcomes, not just features

2. Replace MQLs with buying signals

• Use enrichment + reverse IP tracking (Clearbit, 6sense)

3. Audit your first touchpoint UX

• Can a buyer understand your value in 30 seconds?

4. Interview your last 3 closed-won buyers

• Ask: “What actually helped you decide?”

5. Run a 30-day BLG experiment

• Choose one page, ungate it, track click → demo → win conversion

🎯 Final Thought:

Buyer-Led Growth isn’t a trend.
It’s a response to how people want to buy in 2025.

The question is:

💬 Have you tried any BLG plays?
Reply and I’ll feature your tactics in a future issue.

Until next time,
— Brendan
Host of “Going to the Market” 🎙️