How AI is reshaping the invisible stages of the B2B buying journey

By Shankar Lagudu, Co-founder and COO of Responsive

For a long time, B2B growth strategies have been anchored around visible moments such as inbound inquiries, discovery calls, demos, and RFPs. These touchpoints are easy to measure and operationalise, which makes them comforting. But they are no longer where buying actually begins. Enterprise purchase decisions now take shape much earlier, in quieter spaces where buyers research independently, align internally, and form early preferences long before a vendor ever enters the conversation.

This shift is well documented across global research. McKinsey’s work on the future of B2B sales shows that buyers increasingly prefer digital self-serve and remote interactions across most stages of the journey, permanently changing when and how sellers can influence outcomes.

Global study by Responsive shows that 90 percent of B2B buyers conduct research before first contact, and only a small minority engage ...