Developing
An opinion piece by a contributor who promotes her own framework; survey figures are cited second-hand.
In 60 seconds
- Author Tanya Thorson argues marketers capture more buyer activity than ever, but activity does not reveal the buyer's decision.
- She cites McKinsey's 2026 Global B2B Pulse (nearly 4,000 decision-makers in 13 countries): an average of 10 channels, and inconsistent information is the leading reason buyers switch suppliers.
- She cites Gartner: 67% of B2B buyers prefer a rep-free experience (646 buyers surveyed in August and September 2025) and 45% used generative AI in a recent purchase.
- Salesforce's 2026 State of Marketing (nearly 4,500 marketers): 83% say customers want two-way conversations; only one in four is completely satisfied with how data is unified.
Impact Layer
- What changed
- A practitioner proposes replacing funnel-stage questions with "what is the buyer trying to accomplish next".
- Why it matters
- RevOps routing and scoring built on stages may miss what a buyer needs; the research suggests buyers move across many channels.
- Who is affected
- RevOps, demand generation and sales enablement leaders.
- Martech stack area
- CRM, Analytics
- Stack impact
- Review a lead scoring rule and ask what next step it implies for the buyer, not only what stage the buyer is in.
- Business impact
- Low An opinion article; the author promotes her own frameworks. The surveys are cited from McKinsey, Gartner, Forrester and Salesforce, and we did not read them.
- Related technologies
- What to watch
- The underlying research reports.
Tanya Thorson, an executive vice president for strategic growth marketing, argues in a MarTech opinion article of October 8, 2026 that marketers capture more buyer activity than ever, but activity does not reveal the buyer’s decision. Funnel stages, she says, describe a company’s process, not buyer intent, though the funnel remains useful for forecasting and measurement. She recommends asking what the buyer is trying to accomplish next.
Surveys she cites
- McKinsey 2026 Global B2B Pulse (nearly 4,000 decision-makers in 13 countries): buyers use an average of 10 channels, and inconsistent information across teams is the leading reason buyers switch suppliers.
- Gartner 2026: 67% of B2B buyers prefer a rep-free experience (646 buyers, August and September 2025) and 45% used generative AI in a recent purchase. A May 2026 Gartner figure: 70% prefer a fully digital, self-service experience while 69% want to validate AI-generated insights with a rep.
- Forrester 2026 Buyer Insights (17,500+ buyers): buyers use new research sources, often before a seller engages.
- Salesforce 2026 State of Marketing (nearly 4,500 marketers): 83% say customers want two-way conversations; only one in four is completely satisfied with how their organisation unifies and uses customer data.
Our read
These are second-hand citations in an opinion piece, so check the originals before quoting them. The suggestion is practical: when you design a routing rule, write down the next buyer action it expects, and test whether buyers actually take it.
Sources
- MarTech: More buyer signals won't tell you what buyers need next (opens in a new tab)
Source of the argument and the surveys it cites; the surveys themselves were not read.