The first sales call is a convenient event to record. It is a less convenient place to assume the buying decision begins. A group considering a business purchase may already know the category, have experience with several suppliers and disagree internally about which one to choose.
That is the context for 6sense’s 2026 Global B2B Buyer Experience Report, published on 2 November. Its study of 4,611 recent B2B buyers across North America, APAC, Continental Europe, and the UK and Ireland reports that the vendor preferred before seller contact ultimately won about 82% of the time.
The finding describes an association in the surveyed buying journeys. It does not establish that a particular branding activity caused the preference, or that increasing marketing spending would reproduce that win rate. Existing experience, requirements and perceived fit can also shape a buyer’s choice.
Make the brand useful before contact
WCRC’s Powerful Brands methodology separates positioning and recall from consumer trust. For B2B analysis, the distinction helps examine two questions: can the buying group remember a supplier, and can it make a credible case for including that supplier?
The second question requires evidence. A clear explanation of the product’s purpose helps a buyer establish fit. A usable account of implementation helps colleagues understand the work involved. A customer example with a defined starting point and outcome can be more useful than an impressive result with no explanation of how it was measured.
This material should help someone carry an argument into an internal conversation. If a potential buyer cannot explain the product’s relevance without a salesperson present, the brand may be memorable while remaining difficult to recommend.
That is different from publishing more content simply to remain visible. A repeated claim does not become easier to defend through repetition. The evidence needs to answer the question the buying group is trying to resolve.
Treat the shortlist as a proposition to test
An early preference should remain open to challenge. A buyer can favour a familiar name and discover during evaluation that the solution does not fit. A supplier should make that examination easier by explaining constraints, dependencies and the circumstances in which its product is unsuitable.
The survey does not justify declaring that sales has little influence or that an early favourite always wins. It points to work that happens before seller contact and helps explain why the visible sales process may tell only part of the story. A supplier still has to substantiate its claims when the buyer asks for detail.
The limits of the evidence matter. This is vendor-sponsored research, not a randomised test of marketing investment. The release and full report also contain differing figures for changes in vendor opinions between purchase cycles; that measure is excluded here rather than treated as interchangeable.
WCRC’s interpretation is that brand building in B2B should leave a buyer with a defensible reason to include the company. Being easy to find helps. Being easy to explain, examine and compare gives the buying group something more useful to take into the room where the shortlist is decided.