{"id":185,"slug":"gartner-six-buying-jobs-non-linear","title":"Gartner: B2B buyers complete \"six buying jobs\" in non-linear \"looping\" order","kind":"reference","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["kevin","claude-code","candid-team"],"topics":["agency-methodology","b2b-buying"],"reference_body":"**Claim:** Per Gartner's B2B buying journey research, B2B buyers complete **six buying jobs** in non-linear / \"looping\" order — not a sequential funnel:\n\n1. Problem identification\n2. Solution exploration\n3. Requirements building\n4. Supplier selection\n5. Validation\n6. Consensus creation\n\n**Source:** <https://www.gartner.com/en/sales/insights/b2b-buying-journey>\n\n**Confidence:** Verified (Gartner primary).\n\n**Implication for IA:** A linear funnel-shaped site (Home → Services → Pricing → Contact) assumes a sequence buyers don't follow. The IA should support **mid-funnel re-entry** from any page — e.g., a buyer in the \"validation\" job lands on a case study, then jumps back to \"solution exploration\" on a vertical page. Cross-links between vertical pages, case studies, and services pages enable the loop. See [[gartner-buying-journey-bowl-of-spaghetti]] for the canonical metaphor and [[gartner-6-to-10-decision-makers-2019]] for the group-size finding.","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[],"incoming":[{"slug":"gartner-buying-journey-bowl-of-spaghetti","title":"Gartner: real B2B buying journey looks \"like a big bowl of spaghetti\" (pull quote)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"gartner-6-to-10-decision-makers-2019","title":"Gartner: typical B2B buying group is 6-10 decision-makers; ~95% revisit earlier decisions (CSO Update, 2019)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"gartner-77pct-b2b-purchase-very-complex-2019","title":"Gartner: 77% of B2B buyers say their latest purchase was \"very complex or difficult\" (CSO Update 2019)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"rule-expose-industry-and-service-as-orthogonal-axes","title":"RULE: Expose Industries and Services as two orthogonal axes in the top nav. Don't hide one behind the other.","kind":"rule","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"research-brief-ia-multi-vertical-service-business","title":"Research brief: Information architecture for service businesses with multiple verticals (piece 6 of 15)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}]},"created_at":"2026-05-22T19:40:49.049Z","updated_at":"2026-05-22T19:40:49.049Z"}