Author: Doug Johnstone, Principal Consultant at Digital Pivot
Date: April 2025
Its time to adapt to the new Buyer-Led, AI-Driven, Non-Linear Customer Journey
In today’s fast-changing B2B landscape, many professional services, IT services, and consulting businesses are fighting an uphill battle without even realising it. Buyers have fundamentally changed the way they discover, evaluate, and choose service providers — and most organisations’ go-to-market (GTM) strategies haven’t kept pace.
80% of B2B buyers have already selected a preferred vendor before they ever reach out to a sales team
Source Data: 2024 Buyer Experience Report
New research highlights a stark reality: over 80% of B2B buyers have already selected a preferred vendor before they ever reach out to a sales team. AI-driven search and evaluation tools are accelerating this shift, enabling customers to make critical decisions long before a provider is even aware they’re being considered. Add to this the pressure of a cautious, budget-tight market and the growing risk of being bypassed entirely through SaaS and Hyperscalar partner ecosystems, and the message is clear: the traditional GTM playbook is broken.
If your business is still relying on outdated marketing funnels, traditional relationship selling, or reactive proposal responses, you’re already behind. And the cost of inaction is growing: stalled deals, shrinking pipelines, lost opportunities, and competitors who are better aligned to how buyers actually buy today.
The Major Challenges Reshaping the B2B Market
Here’s what’s driving the need for an urgent GTM reset:
- Misalignment with the Modern Buying Journey: Buyers now drive their own research, define their needs early, and prefer minimal sales interaction. Most vendors are considered too late — or not at all.
- AI is Redefining Discovery and Evaluation: 89% of B2B buyers now use AI tools during their purchasing process. If your brand and value proposition aren’t visible to AI-driven search and evaluation platforms, you’re invisible to your market.
- Economic Uncertainty Has Tightened Budgets: Purchasing decisions are slower, more scrutinised, and increasingly driven by finance leaders demanding clear ROI and low-risk outcomes.
- Platform Ecosystems Are Disintermediating Traditional Providers: As SaaS and Hyperscalar vendors bundle more services into their ecosystems, businesses risk being bypassed unless they actively align to the right partnerships and build unique, differentiated value. Why? – because customers procure platforms before they engage in professional services.
These forces aren’t minor trends — they are systemic shifts that will determine who wins and who fades in the next phase of the B2B services market.
How Leading Firms Are Adapting
The good news? The buying journey is not linear and can be disrupted. However companies need to adapt quickly and find new ways to grow even in these conditions. The strategies that are proving effective include:
- Rebuilding GTM Strategies Around the Self-Directed Buyer
- Embedding AI-SEO into marketing assets
- Using Disruptive Commercial Messaging
- Leveraging Partner Ecosystems
However the most effective results come from the careful integration of these four core strategies into their GTM Plan. Those who move fast to realign their strategies are creating competitive advantage — while those who hesitate risk being systematically locked out of growth opportunities.
The Time to Reset Your GTM Strategy Is Now
At Digital Pivot, we specialise in helping services and consulting businesses rapidly realign their GTM strategy to the realities of today’s buyer-driven, AI-influenced market.
If your pipeline feels stalled, if your win rates are falling, or if you’re finding yourself increasingly sidelined in competitive deals, it’s time to act.
Don’t wait for the market to move further without you.
Reset your go-to-market strategy now — and turn disruption into your competitive advantage.
Let’s Talk About Your GTM Reset
Have questions about scaling your professional services? Have a chat with our AI Pivot Agent—your expert guide to sustainable growth strategies.
For more information, contact us