Let’s be honest – buyers don’t want more meetings.
They want more answers.
Today’s buyer journey looks nothing like it did five, ten, or even two years ago.
Gartner says B2B buyers only spend 17% of their time actually meeting with vendors. That’s across all vendors. If you’re one of three companies in the mix? You’re lucky to get 5% of their attention.
Which means you’re not selling in meetings anymore. You’re selling in the gaps between them.
Welcome to the 83% zone.
That’s where buying decisions are really made: When your buyer is looping in stakeholders, digging into their challenges, and aligning internally on what they need.
It’s time to stop thinking about this as a problem, though. In reality, it’s a massive opportunity.
But only if you show up, without actually being there.
Selling in the Room Without Being “in the Room”
The modern buyer doesn’t want to be “sold to.” They want to be enabled. They want to:
- See the product solving their specific pain
- Explore on their own terms, at their own pace
- Share relevant insights with their team
- Self-educate before ever hopping on a call
The teams that win today aren’t the ones with the best pitch deck. They’re the ones who build trust without being in the room.
So what’s happening during the 83% of the time the buyer is spending without you?
A lot, actually. That time isn’t idle, it’s critical. Buyers are in internal meetings aligning on needs, asking colleagues about alternatives, researching competitors, reading reviews, and trying to rally the buying group around a shared direction. They’re consuming digital content, comparing solutions, and narrowing down options.
And here’s the kicker: decisions are being made during that 83%. By the time you get your next call, they might already be leaning one way—or ruling you out.
Think about how you buy today. When’s the last time you scheduled a call just to learn about something? You don’t. You research. You read. You click around.
B2B buyers are no different. They want frictionless access to the product without needing to hop on a call for 45 minutes.
Modern sales and presales teams are embracing this new motion by putting the product front and center, not as a closing tool, but as a discovery engine.
That’s where interactive product experiences come in.
Whether it’s a self-guided tour, a tailored simulation, or a dynamic demo embedded in your website, these experiences meet buyers in the moment they’re most curious. They let you show value early, often, and without delay—right inside that 83% of the journey that happens before they ever talk to sales.
And they work. In fact, our B2B Buyer Behavior Report found that accounts that engage with 9+ demos see an 8-10x higher close rate than prospect accounts with no demo views.
In a world where buyers are more self-directed than ever, demos aren’t just a stage of the process, they’re the fuel that powers the entire journey from interest to purchase.
The Most “Useful Resource on Your Site” Isn’t Another Case Study
But don’t just take our word for it.
A recent Gartner survey showed that respondents now rank interactive demos as the most useful website resource when purchasing SaaS. Specifically:
- Buyers rated interactive demos more useful than case studies, product videos, analyst reports, or free trials
- Interactive demos help buyers understand product value faster and earlier in the decision journey
How we prove ROI is changing dramatically. Long gone are the days when buyers are looking to trudge through in-depth proof of concept meetings or read paragraph after paragraph of case studies.
The companies that are winning today are connecting buyers with the product faster. In another study, Gartner found that buyers who found supplier-provided information helpful in progressing through their buying journey were 2.8x more likely to experience purchase ease, and 3x more likely to go bigger with less regret.
That’s not just about having content. It’s about the right kind of content: interactive, relevant, and product-driven. When buyers can explore the product on their terms, they gain clarity, confidence, and momentum.
In a world of complex decisions and constant internal consensus-building, making it easier to buy is the ultimate differentiator.
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