Customer-led transformation

This morning I’m sitting at my doctor’s office waiting to have bloodwork done for my annual physical, catching up on some reading. And I had one of those random connections.

We get physicals because feeling fine doesn’t necessarily tell us what’s happening under the surface.

Businesses probably need a version of that too.

Every once in a while, you have to stop and take the temperature of how you’re actually going to market, because the customer may have changed faster than your playbook has.

I was reading McKinsey’s latest B2B research and one number jumped out at me: buyers now use an average of 10 channels throughout the purchasing journey.

Think about how different that is from the sales and marketing world many of us grew up in.

Marketing built awareness, handed something over to sales, and sales went hunting.

Pick up the phone. Get the meeting. Get through the door.

Then digital changed the equation.

Companies that became really good at digital demand generation created a steady flow of inbound opportunities. Sales teams could spend more time farming those leads because marketing was helping bring buyers to them.

But now everyone is playing on the same digital field.

There’s more content. More noise. More competition. More choice for the buyer.

Which makes me wonder if the hunter is making a comeback.

Not necessarily the old version of blindly dialing down a list, but a smarter hunter who understands where opportunity exists, knows the customer’s world, and can create a compelling reason to engage.

Maybe the answer isn’t hunter or farmer anymore.

It’s knowing when to hunt, when to farm, and having marketing, sales, and customer experience aligned well enough to support both.

Because the customer controls the door now.

They’re forming opinions about your company long before you know they’re there.

Marketing has to build awareness and make sure the right customers understand the problem you solve, so they remember you when that need arises.

Sales has to bring context and insight the buyer couldn’t get on their own.

Customer experience has to reinforce trust every step of the way.

And all three have to show up as one company, not three separate departments.

Maybe that’s the real transformation happening in B2B.

Not marketing transformation.

Not sales transformation.

✨Customer-led transformation.✨

Because if the way people buy has changed, the way we go to market has to keep changing with it.

And every once in a while, it’s probably worth giving your GTM engine a physical and asking:

Are we really aligned with the customer and competitive landscape we have today, or the one our playbook was built for 10 years ago?

Worth a read: McKinsey’s 2026 Global B2B Pulse research⁠ https://lnkd.in/eg6XieP7