Regional B2B’s opportunity: one joined-up journey for 2027
For executives and leaders in regional Victorian businesses selling to other businesses
The short version
Business buyers can meet a supplier in several places: an AI answer, a website, a phone call, a site visit. If you sell to other businesses in regional Victoria, the opportunity may be making every step tell the same story. As you look towards 2027, could those steps build the same picture of your business?
3 signals
1The journey is more than finding a supplier.
Gartner's B2B buying report maps tasks from identifying a problem and exploring solutions through to choosing a supplier and using the solution. Its guidance puts useful website content alongside those tasks: buyers need different answers at different points. (Gartner, B2B Buying Report, 2023)
2Digital and people can work together.
In Gartner's 2022 survey, buyers who used supplier-provided digital tools with a sales representative were 1.8 times as likely to report a high-quality deal as those using the tools independently. That is a survey finding, not a promise about your sales. (Gartner, 2022 B2B Buyer Survey, published in its 2023 report)
3The first step needs accurate information.
Google's Business Profile guidance recommends complete, accurate details so customers can understand what you do, where you are and when they can visit. That is one part of the journey you can check, not a guarantee of visibility or enquiries. (Google Business Profile Help)
What this could mean for you
The buying journey hasn't simply moved online. It has spread out. A buyer might read an AI answer on Monday, your website on Tuesday, call on Thursday and meet you at a site visit the week after. Each step is a chance to build confidence, or to raise a question.
Your buyers may encounter your business in several places before they speak with you. You cannot control every description they see. You can make the information you own clear and consistent.
The opportunity is consistency. Picture the AI answer, the website, the LinkedIn page, the capability statement and the person on the phone. Do they agree on who you help, what you help them with and what happens next? Your team can add context and answer the questions a page leaves open.
Different words are fine. Different promises are worth a conversation. If your website describes a broad service but your team usually recommends one particular starting point, a buyer may be left wondering which to expect.
Follow that next step too. Does the quote or follow-up carry through what the website and conversation led the buyer to expect? If you are reviewing your 2027 plans, this could be one small check before adding more activity. The aim is a journey that makes sense to the person taking it.
Area: Tools
1 move to try in 7 days
About 30–45 minutes. Leave with one useful correction to a buyer's journey.
Pick one service and compare how a buyer would hear about it, with someone who handles enquiries.
- Start with a real question. Choose something a prospective customer has actually asked, such as “Can you help a business like ours?” Read your website and one other place you describe your services. Separately, ask a teammate how they would answer.
- Compare the answers. Do they describe the same customer, the same help and the same next step? Follow that step into a quote or follow-up if you have one. If you already use an AI assistant, you could ask it the question too. Treat its answer as a snapshot, not a verdict. Do not paste in customer details or confidential information.
- Agree on one useful correction. Choose the mismatch most likely to confuse a buyer. Ask the person or agency responsible to update one description, or agree on a clearer answer together. You do not need to rewrite everything this week.
A question for your team
“If a buyer met us online on Monday and in person on Friday, would they meet the same business?”
If AI is not something your team wants to explore yet, leave that part out. Comparing your website with a real conversation is a useful check in its own right. If the answers already agree, keep what works. Selling to the public? Try it with one of your customers’ questions.
What we do not know
These are established research and guidance, not new findings this week. Gartner's comparison used 503 B2B buyers who had used at least one supplier-provided digital technology in its 2022 survey; it does not prove that the representative caused the better outcome. Its journey framework is guidance, not a count of how every buyer behaves. Google's guidance concerns its own local listings. Neither source gives results specifically for regional Victoria, and neither proves that matching your descriptions will increase sales. AI answers vary by tool, question and time: a check is a snapshot, not a verdict.
Put the conversation into practice
Interested in working with us?
We coach executives and leaders to bring their team and marketing and technology agencies together around the customer journey. If you’d like a coach beside you, tell us what you’re working towards. We can explore whether working together suits you. No need to take the Check first.