The New B2B Buyer

Written by Kelly Flynn
What Promo Sales Reps Must Understand

When you sell swag, you’re not just competing with the next distributor; you’re competing with new expectations, self-service digital solutions, and more.  

Recent B2B research shows a clear shift toward independent buying, digital self-service, and “prove-it” decision-making. In promo, that shift is amplified by tighter timelines, more stakeholders, and rising scrutiny around sustainability, origin, and compliance. Buyers still need you—but they need you differently than they did five years ago. 

Buyer Preferences 

In one Gartner sales survey (Aug–Sep 2024), 61% of buyers preferred a “rep-free buying experience,” and 73% said they actively avoid suppliers who send irrelevant outreach. 

For distributors, this doesn’t mean you should implement a “set it and forget it” approach. In fact, now is the time to remove friction, increase confidence, and help buyers avoid mistakes by providing tailored, consultant style promotion solutions. This is especially important around decoration constraints, ship windows, compliance, substitutions, and budgeting. 

In the promotional product industry, a distributor is often chosen by: 

  • Who shows clear options, timelines, and price ranges? 
  • Who provides proof that the promotional products work with case studies and reviews? 
  • Who responds fast with a clean quote and visuals?  

A practical shift for this model is to assume you’re joining the conversation late. 

So, your outreach and follow-up should answer: “What would stop this buyer from choosing someone else?” 

Expanding Your Reach 

Gartner notes the typical enterprise buying group includes 5–11 stakeholders across about five functions, and that organizational change drives most purchases.  

We’ve seen it and heard what our B2B customers want. Marketing wants brand consistency. HR wants an onboarding impact. Events want speed. The practical shift is to sell to the whole group, not just your point of contact. Creating a one-page “internal-forward” summary your contact can paste into Slack/Teams/email can turn one yearly purchase into a sale you can rely on each quarter.  

What You Should Do Differently Now 

Build your asset kit 

Creating reuseable assets based off your client’s industry or previous buying history can increase your profits and keep you in demand for their future needs. Some things to consider are their timeline, proofing, budgeting, and curated collections.   

Replace generic outreach 

If 73% of buyers avoid irrelevant outreach, the bar for cold messaging is: specific and useful.  
Make every touch about a decision blocker: 

  • “Here are 3 kit builds that hit your ship window” 
  • “Here’s how other teams handle ship-to-home address collection” 
  • “Here’s a substitutions plan for volatile inventory” 

Read our blog here on how to plan your outreach using AI tools . 

Sell “risk reduction” 

As mentioned, buyers may think they prefer self-service, but self-service can lead to increased risk. You’re not just a salesperson; you’re an expert in your field and know the products and decoration better than anyone. Include your sales pitch along with your case studies and be transparent about your experience to increase the value. Think consultant not just a sale.  

Make It Easy for Your Customer Base to Say Yes 

The sales reps who win consistently aren’t just creative. They’re structured. They anticipate questions before they’re asked. They remove friction before it appears. They understand that in today’s environment—where buyers prefer rep-free research, buying groups are larger, and compliance scrutiny is higher—the role of the promo rep is to make the decision feel safe. 

Need help getting started? Talk to an AIM Rep on what AIM can do to help you meet the needs of the new buyers.  

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