Focus on the Right B2B Buyers in 5 Research-Backed Steps
In B2B solution selling, revenue and win rate do not increase from chasing more prospects. Trying to be all things to all people dilutes focus, value, and differentiation. Profitable growth comes from targeting the right B2B buyers with the highest likelihood to:
- Value what you have to offer.
- Purchase your full solution.
- Expand the deal size.
- Stay as a long-term client.
Too many sales organizations confuse sales activity with sales progress. They widen the top of the sales funnel, flood sales teams with marginal leads, and then wonder why conversion rates stall, and cycle time grows.
The smarter move is a disciplined focus on the right B2B buyers.
How to Focus on the Right B2B Buyers
- Start with Strategic Fit, Not Volume
The first step is clarifying what “right” means. Right buyers are not simply those who can buy. They are ideal target clients whose needs, circumstances, and belief systems align tightly with your differentiated capabilities and strategic priorities.
Research published in the Harvard Business Review by Thomas V. Bonoma and Benson Shapiro on customer segmentation demonstrates that sales teams outperform when their sales strategies segment based on strategic value and buying behavior — not just industry or size.
Action to Take: Define your ideal customer and unique value proposition. Then focus on attracting and winning them. Analyze your most profitable accounts. Where do you win repeatedly? Where do you deliver measurable impact? Patterns will emerge — industry dynamics, business models, maturity levels, leadership mindset, urgency triggers. These patterns define your ideal customer profile. - Identify the Economic Buyer and the Real Buying Group
In complex B2B sales, decisions are rarely made by a single individual. Research by Gartner found that the average B2B purchase often involves six to ten stakeholders. Yet many teams still sell as if one person decides.
Sales strategies that ignore different stakeholders and their motivations lose momentum late in the cycle. Strategies that anticipate and align with all key stakeholders gain speed and credibility.
Action to Take: Focusing on the right B2B buyers means mapping the full buying group — economic decision-makers, technical evaluators, operational users, and potential blockers — and understanding what matters most to each (e.g., risk mitigation, operational efficiency, financial return, or political capital). - Prioritize Strategic Pain Points
For buyers, not all pain points are equal. Sales rep simulation assessment data finds that the right B2B buyers are those facing high-priority problems tied directly to strategic outcomes — revenue growth, cost optimization, risk reduction, market expansion — that you can help solve.
If your solution addresses mission-critical priorities, budget issues dissipate and deal velocity accelerates. If you are addressing marginal improvements, you compete on price, timing, and attention span.
Action to Take: Focus your energy on buyers who cannot afford to maintain the status quo in the areas that you deliver the best results. - Use Data to Qualify Ruthlessly
Disciplined sales focus requires courage. It means saying no to deals, situations, and buyers who are not a good fit for what you have to offer — regardless of the brand name or dollars at stake. Data can expose which buyers drain resources and which fuel growth.
Action to Take: Compare high-performing pitches, solutions, and segments against underperforming ones to see where you do best. Increase sales qualification rigor and walk away from misaligned opportunities. - Align Marketing and Sales Around Value Creation
Once agreed upon, the entire organization from legal to product development to customer service must align around what helps your customers to succeed. Marketing and sales enablement especially must ensure that all tools and messaging speak directly to target client strategic priorities and economic outcomes.
Action to Take: Follow a business sales training best practice: make it easy for target clients to try and buy what you have to offer. Align around a defined buyer profile and shared qualification criteria to create a narrower and more productive sales funnel.
The Bottom Line
Focusing on the right B2B buyers is about precision not aimless activity. High performing sales teams prioritize strategic pain points with target buyers to create more predictable and profitable sales growth. In complex B2B environments, disciplined focus consistently outperforms scattered pursuit.
To learn more about increasing sales team performance, download The 4 Most Important Attributes to Look for When Sales Reps Miss Their Targets