Forrester research shows 92% of B2B buyers start with a vendor in mind and 41% have a single preferred vendor before formal evaluation. Marketing must shift from demand capture to preference building.
"If 92% of buyers already have a vendor in mind, then marketing's job is not lead generation. It is preference formation."
Ninety-two percent of B2B buyers start their buying process with at least one vendor already in mind. Forty-one percent have a single preferred vendor locked in before any formal evaluation begins.
That is the finding from Forrester's 2024 Buyers' Journey Survey, now being widely cited as the research firm pushes its "preference marketing" framework into 2026 strategy conversations.
The implication is blunt: if your brand is not in the consideration set before a buyer starts looking, your sales team is fighting for scraps.
What the data says
Forrester's research found that buying has become "an act of confirmation, not selection." Buyers arrive at the evaluation stage with preferences already formed by brand awareness, peer recommendations, content consumption and prior experience.
The traditional B2B funnel assumes a sequence: awareness, then consideration, then evaluation, then purchase. Forrester's data collapses that model. The consideration and evaluation stages are increasingly happening simultaneously, often without the selling organisation knowing.
Of B2B buyers start their buying process with at least one vendor already in mind
Why it matters for Australian B2B businesses
Australian B2B companies tend to invest heavily in bottom-of-funnel tactics: Google Ads, LinkedIn lead gen forms, sales outreach. The assumption is that you catch buyers when they are ready. Forrester's data suggests you are too late.
The businesses winning deals are the ones that shaped the buyer's shortlist months or years earlier through thought leadership, category association, peer visibility and consistent brand presence. The RFP is a formality. The decision was made in the research phase.
This is particularly acute in industries with long sales cycles. Professional services, SaaS, enterprise technology, consulting. If your sales cycle is 3 to 6 months, the preference formation window is 6 to 18 months before that.