{"id":1072,"slug":"forrester-state-business-buying-2024-13-stakeholders","title":"Forrester State of Business Buying 2024 — avg B2B purchase involves 13 stakeholders; 89% of decisions cross multiple departments; Amy Hayes named lead","kind":"reference","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["kevin","candid-team"],"topics":["b2b-buying","buying-committee"],"reference_body":"**Claim:** Forrester's *State of Business Buying, 2024* — for which **Amy Hayes, vice president and research director at Forrester**, is the named research lead — found that the average B2B purchase now involves **13 stakeholders**, with **89% of buying decisions crossing multiple departments**. Hayes summarized the implications: *\"As buyers reevaluate how they engage with organizations, providers must ignite action and put buyers first to create meaningful experiences.\"*\n\nForrester's 2025 update extended the figure to **13 internal stakeholders + 9 external influencers**. Gartner's parallel research puts typical buying-committee size at **6–10 stakeholders**, with members each conducting independent research before group discussion.\n\n**Sources:**\n- Forrester, *The State of Business Buying, 2024*.\n- Forrester 2025 update.\n- Gartner buying-committee research (B2B Marketing Practice).\n\n**Confidence:** Verified.\n\n**For Candid — important caveat:** These figures are **not realistic** for a $3M residential GC, where the committee is more often two to four people (owner, spouse/office manager, sometimes a GM, sometimes a trusted subcontractor or peer). But the **structural dynamic** — multi-stakeholder consensus, looping deliberation, the \"86% of B2B purchases stall\" pattern Forrester documents — applies even at the small-firm scale. Marketing-vendor engagements at $3M GCs commonly stall not because the owner says no but because **the spouse or office manager has unresolved concerns that the owner has not surfaced**.\n\n**Operationalizes:** [[rule-recognize-spouse-office-manager-as-primary-buyer]].","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[{"slug":"research-brief-psychology-gc-marketing-aversion-may-2026","title":"Research brief: the psychology of marketing aversion among general contractor owners (May 2026 foundation)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"gc-owner-spouse-as-primary-buyer-not-gatekeeper","title":"GC owner's spouse is a primary buyer in majority of $1M–$10M residential firms, not a gatekeeper — often the first-mover on marketing adoption","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}],"incoming":[{"slug":"rule-recognize-spouse-office-manager-as-primary-buyer","title":"Rule: recognize the GC owner's spouse / office manager as a primary buyer, not a gatekeeper","kind":"rule","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"}]},"created_at":"2026-05-24T23:24:06.361Z","updated_at":"2026-05-24T23:24:06.361Z"}