Ever feel like the list of involved parties when selling continues to grow? Statements like “We’ll need to involve the VP of Finance as well as the Head of Customer Success before determining next steps on our end,” have become increasingly common. Chances are, you’ve heard buyers mention even more decision-makers before a contract discussion begins.
Buying committees are expanding - in 2014, the average group consisted of 5.4 individuals. Today, the number can exceed 10 people. Each additional stakeholder not only introduces new pain points and decision factors but also extends the sales cycle. Research shows that for every new individual added to the committee, closing a sale takes an additional 21 days. Coupled with increasingly informed buyers and fierce competition, this complexity requires sellers and marketers to rethink how they engage the modern buying committee.
Table of Contents:
Understanding the Modern Buying Journey
Challenges in Engaging Buying Committees
The Necessary Approach: Account-Based Marketing (ABM)
Case Studies: Real World Success with ABM
Building a World-Class Demand Generation Engine
Today’s buyers are more sophisticated and informed than ever before. According to research done by 6Sense, by the time they engage with a vendor buyers are 70% through their buying journey, according to research by 6Sense. They’ve already read content, watched part of an on-demand webinar, checked out forums, asked peers, seen ads, scanned review sites - and discussed options internally. On average, buying committees rack up 845 interactions before making a purchase.
The impact of additional stakeholders on the sales cycle is significant. However, there’s an upside. With 20% of employees changing jobs every 12 months, building relationships with various stakeholders through the buying and customer journey reduces the risk of customer churn. By developing connections with multiple stakeholders, you create more advocates within an organization who can champion your value.
Misalignment between marketing and sales: It’s an age old tale that continues to ring true for too many organizations. When these teams operate in silos, it leads to inconsistent messaging, missed opportunities, and a fragmented buyer experience. It is not uncommon for marketing and sales teams to deliver conflicting information about brand positioning or product offerings; if buyers see conflicting messaging about an organization, the ability to build trust worsens. Revenue or Go-to-Market teams need to be aligned on goals, target accounts, and success metrics to ensure cohesive strategies that drive engagement and conversions.
How to solve: Have regular communication and set times where teams come together to hear directly from leadership on goals, changing priorities, or critical updates that impact how they are marketing and selling your services. Be focused on shared KPIS and allow for collaborative planning where these teams can bridge gaps and work together to be better aligned.
Over-reliance on traditional lead-centric funnels: Traditional lead-centric funnels focus on individual leads rather than entire accounts, which doesn’t reflect the reality of multi-person modern buying committees. These committees are complex, often involving multiple stakeholders from different departments with varying priorities.
Kerry Cunningham, speaking in our State of HubSpot 2025 webinar, referenced findings from 6Sense’s B2B Buying Experiences report, emphasizing that MQLs and individual leads are often distractions rather than true indicators of intent. A single person downloading an asset or signing up for a webinar doesn’t necessarily signal buying interest. However, when multiple stakeholders from the same organization engage with your content, that collective activity becomes a meaningful intent signal—one that your team can act on.
How to solve: Shift from a lead-based approach to an account-based approach to ensure outreach strategies target the collective decision-making process and can address the needs and pain points of all key stakeholders. This shift should also include lead scoring and prioritizing accounts that show activity. It’s critical to find accounts that show buying committee activity (i.e., you can identify intent signals).
Poorly integrated tech stacks and scattered data: Disjointed tech stacks often result in fragmented data, making it difficult to gain a unified view of target accounts. Having to rely on inconsistent data leads to inefficient targeting and ineffective personalization. More than 71% of buyers expect a personalized experience - unified data and properly integrated tech stacks are critical to delivering on that expectation.
How to solve: Integrate your CRM, marketing automation tools, and intent data providers to create a cohesive system where information flows seamlessly, enabling smarter and more effective engagement strategies. Platforms like HubSpot and 6Sense can work together to make your data work better for your business.
Account-based marketing is the most effective tactic to engage the modern buying committee. When activated within a comprehensive demand generation strategy, ABM enables buyers to properly target and sell into complex buying committees with numerous stakeholders. There are three key components that need to be considered when starting an ABM program:
Clearly defined ICPs are the foundation of any successful ABM strategy - you can’t market or sell into different stakeholders without understanding why they are an ideal customer and how your product solves their individual needs. Having detailed, agreed-upon ICPs ensure that marketing and sales efforts are focused on accounts with the highest likelihood of converting and bringing long-term value. ICPs often include factors like firmographics, technographics, behavioral patterns, and past engagement data. It’s important to regularly revisit and refine ICPs to ensure continued relevance as market dynamics evolve. Stakeholders involved in buying groups often shift over time at organizations, and you’ll want to understand what those changes are.
Consider investing in an intent data platform like 6Sense or G2 to significantly enhance targeting precision. These tools help identify accounts actively researching solutions and will provide insights into their interests and stage in the buying process (remember, 70% of the buying journey happens before they talk to you). By integrating intent data, marketing and sales teams can prioritize high-intent accounts, tailor outreach strategies, and engage with buyers at the right moment with the right message.
Personalization isn’t just for consumer brands; it is a critical part of any ABM strategy. It involves developing tailored content and messages that resonate with each stakeholder’s specific needs and challenges. Having a multi-channel approach - including email, social media, and personalized web experiences - ensures consistent and relevant touchpoints. This increases engagement but also strengthens relationships across the buying committee, accelerating the path to purchase.
The Situation: A technology-forward B2B financial services organization faced challenges with an average deal size exceeding $50K and a complex six-month buying cycle. Their revenue teams were anchored in a traditional lead funnel, with poorly integrated technologies resulting in scattered data and misaligned strategies. Marketing focused on leads, while sales concentrated on accounts, leading to inefficiencies. Outbound opportunities were low-converting, and sales teams struggled with productivity and outreach due to disjointed tools.
The Solution: New Breed began by guiding the organization through the ABM Blueprint process, aligning the team around their Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), objectives, and activation strategies. HubSpot Marketing and Sales Hubs were then configured to support an account-oriented approach, integrating with 6Sense. This integration leveraged multiple data sources, including G2, 6Sense intent signals, and first-party data, to fuel targeted account creation, demand generation programs, and personalized outreach—enhancing sales productivity and focus.
The Results: The impact was significant. The organization saw a 44% increase in opportunity conversion rates, illustrating the power of alignment, integrated technology, and a refined ABM strategy.
The Situation: A SaaS provider with an average deal size of $30K struggled with low lead conversion rates and fragmented outreach. The sales team lacked visibility into which accounts were actively in-market, and marketing campaigns were failing to resonate with key stakeholders.
The Solution: New Breed implemented an integrated ABM strategy by refining their ICP and connecting HubSpot with intent data platforms like 6Sense. Personalized campaigns were developed across key channels, including targeted ads, content, and direct outreach. The strategy also emphasized connecting with multiple stakeholders at each target account.
The Results: The company achieved a 30% uplift in engagement from target accounts and increased lead-to-
The Situation: An enterprise manufacturing firm faced a lengthy 12-month sales cycle with highly complex buying committees. The lack of integration between their CRM and marketing automation tools resulted in slow follow-ups and missed engagement opportunities.
The Solution: By aligning their tech stack and leveraging 6Sense for real-time insights, the organization improved stakeholder targeting and personalized engagement. Multi-channel campaigns, including account-specific events and targeted advertising, were executed to nurture relationships across the committee.
The Results: This approach shortened the sales cycle by 20% and boosted stakeholder engagement rates by 35%, significantly improving pipeline velocity.
A robust ABM strategy leverages multiple channels to engage buying committees effectively. Which channels you activate ABM with are dependent on how your buyers buy, will be unique to each company, and may differ between stakeholders.
These can include:
A well-integrated tech stack is critical for executing a seamless ABM strategy. This involves connecting CRM platforms, marketing automation tools, intent data providers, and analytics systems. Integration ensures data consistency, enabling real-time insights and more informed decision-making. It also facilitates better attribution, helping teams understand which tactics drive engagement and conversions.
Importantly, integrating your tech stack isn't just about efficiency—it's about visibility. When marketing, sales, and customer success tools communicate effectively, organizations gain a holistic view of each account's journey. This visibility allows for smarter segmentation, more personalized engagement, and faster identification of opportunities or risks. It empowers teams to be proactive, ensuring the right message reaches the right person at the right time.
In today’s complex B2B landscape, traditional marketing approaches fall short in engaging multifaceted buying committees. ABM helps businesses overcome these shortcomings by focusing on precise targeting, personalization, and integrated technology to provide a more effective path to conversion and meaningful, long-term growth. But it’s important to note the success of ABM hinges on the alignment of marketing and sales, leveraging the right technology, and delivering personalized experiences. This trifecta ensures that outreach resonates with each stakeholder and progresses accounts through the buyer’s journey efficiently.