Vikas Mittal, Jones Graduate School of Business, Rice University
Vivek Astvansh, Desautels Faculty of Management, McGill University
Sonam Singh, Muma College of Business, University of South Florida
Vikas Mittal, Vivek Astvansh, and Sonam Singh analyze a longitudinal
survey of 40,000 B-to-B clients and advise suppliers to grow their sales
by investing in existing clients rather than just chasing new clients.
The importance of B-to-B companies in the global economy cannot be overstated. From 2022 to 2023, the business-to-business (B-to-B) sector accounted for a staggering 83 percent of the global economy and an astounding 73 percent increase in sales across industries worldwide. In the United States alone, the B-to-B sector accounts for 65 percent of the Gross Domestic Product and employs more than 100 million people.1
Growing sales is a B-to-B company’s raison d’être. On average, B-to-B companies invest 2 to 5 percent of their gross revenue in sales growth strategies tailored to their products, markets, and customers.2 B-to-B suppliers invest capital to introduce new products, target current customers, identify prospective customers, and expand to new geographic markets.
Growing sales is a company’s raison d’être.
These companies continually rely on a two-pronged growth strategy centered around their customers.3 They invest in retaining existing customers and attracting new customers by generating, developing, and converting leads through online advertising, customer account management, trade shows, and sales calls.4 A typical B-to-B supplier that aims to earn $100 million may invest between $2 and $5 million in these activities.5
Before investing in such a growth strategy, the leaders of a B-to-B supplier must consider several critical questions. Should they focus more on developing current customers or nurturing new leads?6 What proportion of spending should they direct at online versus in-person sales activities?7 And how can they adjust their strategy in response to external events like the COVID pandemic or new trade tariffs, which may affect different customers’ needs and behaviors in different ways?8 Answers to these essential questions are not readily available.
We conducted in-depth interviews with twenty-five CEOs, chief strategy officers (CSOs), and chief marketing officers (CMOs) of B-to-B suppliers in the United States. These respondents represented a range of industries including real estate, technology, industrial distribution, business simulation software, executive recruiting, consulting, oilfield services, manufacturing outsourcing, and finance. Their annual sales ranged from $5 million to over $10 billion.
The interviews revealed several strategic tensions that B-to-B executives face and how they resolve them.
About 80 percent of suppliers rely on executives’ gut feelings and intuition when they revise their investments from one year to the next, deciding how to allocate funds to sales calls, online advertising, trade shows, and other categories. Some executives make a bottom-up revision, updating each category and then totaling the amounts, while others work from the top down, choosing a single, total amount and then allocating percentages to different categories.
As the CEO of a valve manufacturing company with $700 million in annual sales said, “The leadership team mostly relies on the VP of Sales to give guidance. To the best of my knowledge her guidance is based on intuition and educated guesswork. Sometimes we just adjust the numbers up or down based on what we are hearing from other competitors in the local area.”
The CEO of another engineering company with $20 million in annual sales stated, “There is no rigorous model to figure out our customer mix or growth spend. We go where
we think the best return is. A lot of it is based on having our ear to the ground. The sales team guides us.”
More than 95 percent of the B-to-B executives said they focus their sales and marketing budget on customer acquisition, rather than on satisfying existing customers in the hope of earning repeat business and referrals.
The CEO of an advertising agency with roughly $5 million in 2023 sales quipped, “We are hunters. Most of our assignments are one-and-done. If we don’t continuously acquire new customers, we will cease to grow.”
The chief commercial officer of an oilfield services company with more than $5 billion in 2024 sales told us, “New customers are the lifeblood of any company. Without new customers, you stagnate growth. You can only eke out so much from customers where you have high share of wallet.” (Share of wallet describes the percentage earned by one vendor of a customer’s spending on a given category.)
About 60 percent of our respondents said they base their spending on the advice of their vendors. Salesforce, for example, suggests that sales calls and email newsletters are more effective than brand-building activities like blog posts and expert content.9 Another brand consulting firm recommends that suppliers focus on industry conferences, trade shows, and website marketing to grow sales.10
The marketing director of a quality-testing equipment distribution company with $6 million in 2024 sales told us, “Our big spend is on SEO spending and we rely 100% on our vendors. Frankly, he helps us set the monthly spend, and we go with it.”
The sales vice president of an education services company stated, “Last year we spent over $1.5 million on developing a new website based on the advice of a consultant. We
believe it will help retain current customers who can interact with us with more confidence.”
Our respondents revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic had starkly different effects on different B-to-B suppliers:
We searched published papers dealing with B-to-B strategy but found none that addressed the value of nurturing current customers relative to hunting for new leads, the comparative allocation of funds to online versus personal contact efforts, or comparing the pre- and post-COVID approaches of such companies.
In the absence of precise data, measurement, and guidance, it can be no surprise that CEOs, CSOs, and CMOs at B-to-B suppliers continue to spend millions on suboptimal customer-centered sales growth strategies, an approach that can eventually result in wasted resources, sluggish sales growth, increased expenditure on acquiring customers, and a low-quality customer base.
B-to-B suppliers continue to spend millions on suboptimal customer-centered sales growth strategies, an approach that can eventually result in wasted resources, sluggish sales growth, increased expenditure on acquiring customers, and a low-quality customer base.
There are two ways to determine how effective suppliers’ strategies are: ask the executives of B-to-B suppliers or ask their customers.
Three obstacles limit the value of asking B-to-B suppliers’ executives which strategies they use, how much they spend on each, and whether their practices are successful: salience, intuitive leaps, and egocentrism.11 Put another way, CEOs, CSOs, and CMOs see their company’s growth practices as relevant; assume, often without evidence, that they will drive success; and believe that other companies must do much the same. After
all, if they didn’t believe in their practices, they would change them.
The alternative, which provides a relatively unbiased measure of the success of various strategies, is to ask a representative sample of customers who use a specific supplier. Customers know which growth strategies they respond to; chief sales, marketing and executive offers at suppliers are just guessing.
To this end, we use data from the monthly Stratonomics-B2BTM study of 44,822 customers of more than 6,000 suppliers from 2017 to 2024. Each month, a new set of customers, randomly chosen from a panel, completes the survey. Panelists are precluded from future surveys for at least six months.
Each selected respondent completes a proprietary assessment of a B-to-B supplier, evaluating its performance across eight strategic areas, in addition to overall customer value, customer loyalty, key behaviors, demographics, and firm characteristics.
Useful to our research, each B-to-B customer respondent answered: “How did you learn about this supplier for your current project?” by checking one or more of seven options:
We categorized the seven options into four groups (see table 1).
COVID-19 effects: The B-to-B executives we interviewed disagreed about how their customers’ behavior had changed since COVID-19. Some believed that the pandemic had reduced their customers’ reliance on personal contact while others did not. We compared the success of growth strategies during three periods: before (2017–2019); during (2020–2022); and after (2023–2024) COVID-19 (see figure 1). Since respondents could choose more than one of the seven options presented, the sum of the percentages represented by each bar can exceed 100 percent.
Between 62 and 86 percent of our respondents hired a supplier who had already worked for them or who had been referred to them by a colleague who was already using the supplier.
Figure 1 reveals four essential points:
Customer loyalty ranks #1 at any time! In all three periods, customers reported loyalty as the most persuasive growth strategy. Between 62 and 86 percent of our respondents hired a supplier who had already worked for them or who had been referred to them by a colleague who was already using the supplier. However, their responses also showed that online media and personal contact increased in importance over time as ways to nurture current customers as well as acquire new leads.
Erroneous beliefs: Many of the CEOs, CSOs, and CMOs we interviewed said that their growth strategy focused exclusively on acquiring, nurturing, and converting new leads. A few suppliers’ customer relationship management databases did not even have a field for sales visits to current customers.
COVID-19 effects: Customer loyalty grew from 62 percent before COVID-19 to 82 percent during the pandemic and then to 86 percent afterward. In other words, customer loyalty grew by 39 percent from before COVID-19 to after. Given that it requires little to no marketing spending, the most reliable and least expensive strategy to grow sales is to nurture existing profitable customers for repeat business and referrals.12 Highly satisfied customers give their suppliers repeat business, buy more related products from the supplier, refer others, and continue to buy even when the supplier’s rivals lower their prices.
Most B-to-B executives understand the need for a strong online presence, but they may not recognize how it has grown. More B-to-B customers now find suppliers through
online research (44 percent), and to a lesser extent through online advertising (26 percent).
Erroneous beliefs: Many of the CEOs, CSOs, and CMOs we interviewed said that they had increased their online advertising by more than 200 percent but had not invested at all in customer retention efforts. Even after COVID, online advertising (26 percent) was less effective at drawing new customers than referrals (33 percent) or online research (44 percent). When we asked executives to define online research, most mentioned browsing suppliers’ websites, using LinkedIn, and even asking ChatGPT to identify suppliers. Such leaders should consider whether their emphasis on online advertising is detrimental to finding new customers by building online assets and earning referrals
from existing customers.
COVID-19 effects: Before COVID-19, 31 percent of B-to-B customers found suppliers through online research and online advertising. Unsurprisingly, this percentage grew to 79 percent during COVID-19. But since then, it has receded to 70 percent. While it made sense to spend more on online assets during the pandemic, the decision of many B-to-B
executives to keep ramping up does not appear to be warranted. Instead, they should conduct a judicious analysis to optimize their online spending. Moreover, given that online research is considerably more effective than online advertising, most would do better to build online assets like their website, LinkedIn presence, and AI-usable content.
B-to-B executives must not underestimate the importance of human interaction. More than 55 percent of B-to-B customers find their suppliers through sales calls (30 percent) or trade shows (25 percent). Sales visits and trade shows are critical to educating customers, building relationships, and developing leads.
Erroneous beliefs: In our interviews, two executives told us they had eliminated all physical sales methods and relied entirely on online strategies. They had based their
decision on the recommendations of a few online marketing and branding agencies, never realizing that an exclusively online approach might not be the most effective way to increase sales.
B-to-B suppliers can use trade shows and sales visits to build their brand, educate prospective buyers about their business, and strengthen their relationships with existing customers. By using statistical attribution models, executives can find the best mix of online and personal interactions.13
COVID-19 effects: Before COVID-19, 29 percent of B-to-B customers preferred suppliers that offered personal contact. During COVID, that proportion actually increased to 51 percent. And it has continued to grow since, reaching 55 after COVID.
Print media produce only limited sales growth (15 percent), in part because most traditional media outlets are also available online. Even so, from before COVID-19 to after, print media use grew by 100 percent.
Erroneous beliefs: Several executives indicated that all their companies’ content was digital and online. They produced no printed sales materials at all. Yet printed content can be valuable for recruiting customers who dislike having a plethora of logins, fear online theft, or are offline enough to find using online channels inconvenient. To accommodate a range of customer preferences, we advise that suppliers offer a print media option.
COVID-19 effects: Before COVID-19, 7 percent of B-to-B customers preferred print media. During and after the pandemic that number stabilized at 15 percent.
B-to-B executives can rapidly increase their sales by focusing on existing customers.
How to Succeed Growing sales by introducing new products or entering new markets can be expensive and time-consuming. By contrast, B-to-B executives can rapidly increase their sales for less by focusing on existing customers.
Our research offers valuable, factual guidance that B-to-B executives can act on, rather than relying on the intuitive leaps of branding and sales consultants. This guidance is firmly rooted in the experiences of more than 44,000 B-to-B customers and we have arranged it into three essential points.
A B-to-B supplier’s best move is to satisfy its current customers, and its leaders’ investment choices should reflect that. Their next priority should be to build a strong online infrastructure that rewards customers’ research, and after that, robust online advertising.
These leaders should never underestimate the importance of personal contact; trade shows and sales visits are essential. Since the COVID pandemic, the human touch is more vital than ever.
1. Intandemly, “Navigating the Ever-Changing B2B Industry Insights,” LinkedIn, September 21, 2023, https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/navigating-ever-changing-b2b-industry-insights-intandemly/
2. “How Much Should You Spend on Lead Generation,” Mezzanine B2B Growth Agency, 2019, https://info.mezzaninegrowth.com/blog/the-just-right-leadgeneration-budget
3. “Future of B2B Sales: The Big Reframe,” McKinsey & Company, November 2022,
https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/growth-marketing-and-sales/
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5. Ruth Stevens, Maximizing Lead Generation: The Complete Guide for B2B Marketers (Pearson Education: 2012); Myriam Ertz et al., “Transforming Business-to-Business Marketing from Tradition to Digitalization: A Taxonomic Review of Current Trends, Methodologies and Future Paths,” Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing 40, no. 6 (February 2025): 1335-1354.
6. Peter C. Verhoef, “Understanding the Effect of Customer Relationship Management Efforts on Customer Retention and Customer Share Development,” Journal of Marketing 67, no. 4 (2003): 30-45; Glenn B. Voss and Zannie Giraud Voss, “Competitive Density and the Customer Acquisition–Retention Trade-Off,” Journal of Marketing 72, no. 6 (2008): 3-18.
7. Morten Bach Jensen, “Planning of Online and offline B2B Promotion with Conjoint Analysis,” Journal of Targeting, Measurement and Analysis for Marketing 16, no. 3 (2008): 203-213.
8. Martin Mende et al., “Exploring Consumer Responses to COVID-19: Meaning Making, Cohort Effects, and Consumer Rebound,” Journal of the Association for Consumer Research 8, no. 2 (2023): 220-234.
9. Andrew Baldino, “B2B Sales Statistics 2023: Insights to Shape Your Sales Strategy,” Thinkfic Plus, September 20, 2023, https://www.thinkific.com/blog/b2b-sales-statistics/.
10. “Blue Atlas Marketing Homepage,” Blue Atlas Marketing, accessed January 31, 2026,
https://www.blueatlasmarketing.com
11. More on the strategy inhibitors: Walter Herzog et al., “Marketers Project Their Personal Preferences onto Consumers: Overcoming the Threat of Egocentric Decision Making,” Journal of Marketing Research 58, no. 3 (2021): 456–475; Vikas Mittal and Shrihari Sridhar, Focus: How to Plan Strategy and Improve Execution to Achieve Growth (Springer Nature, 2021).
12. Vikas Mittal et al., “The Right Way to Manage Unprofitable Customers,” Harvard Business Review 86, no. 4 , April 2008.
13. P. K. Kannan et al., “The Path to Purchase and Attribution Modeling: Introduction to Special Section,” International Journal of Research in Marketing 33, no. 3 (2016): 449-456.
14. Vikas Mittal et al., “To Cut Costs, Know Your Customers,” MIT-Sloan Management Review, November 4, 2020.