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How to Influence Buying Groups with Data, Intent, and ABM
A conversation with Sydney Sloan, Chief Market Officer at G2.
B2B buying has transformed.
What was once a one-on-one sales conversation is now a team sport, spanning roles, departments, and even geographies. Today’s buyers are informed, autonomous, and collaborative. They’re forming buying groups long before sales ever enters the conversation. And if your go-to-market (GTM) team isn’t aligned to this reality, you’re already playing catch-up.
In this episode of The Revenue Lounge, Randy Likas sits down with Sydney Sloan, Chief Market Officer at G2, to unpack how marketing and sales teams can evolve to influence modern buying groups. She is a 4X CMO, board member and advisor with decades of experience in driving transformative growth and innovation for high-tech companies. Sydney offers a masterclass in using data, intent signals, and segmentation to win complex deals.
Here’s a breakdown of the conversation—and why it matters.
🚨 Why Buying Groups Matter More Than Ever
The traditional lead-based model is failing. As Sydney puts it, “MQLs are noise.” They flood sales with contacts that aren’t ready to buy—leading to frustration, wasted time, and missed opportunities.
Instead, modern revenue teams must focus on identifying buying groups—clusters of stakeholders from the same account showing interest in your solution. These signals can come from downloading content, comparing vendors, visiting your pricing page, or just quietly researching on review platforms.
A single lead might lie. But a buying group rarely does.
“When you have executive alignment and more than three people in the buying cycle, close rates are 44% higher.”
– Sydney Sloan, CMO, G2
🧠 Data Is the Foundation. But it Needs to Be Smart
Sydney breaks down three types of intent data:
Third-party: Activity across the open web (e.g., searches, keyword trends).
Second-party: Data from trusted ecosystems like G2—category views, comparisons, reviews.
First-party: Visitor behavior on your own website, CRM engagement history, and sales activity.
The magic happens when you triangulate these data sources. For instance, if someone downloaded your whitepaper (first-party), compared your product with a competitor on G2 (second-party), and searched relevant terms online (third-party)—you’ve got a red-hot buying group signal.
But here’s the catch: if your CRM is a mess or your systems are siloed, you’ll never connect those dots.
“There’s no excuse not to have tier 1 and 2 accounts built out with clean, up-to-date contacts across buying personas.”
🔁 The New GTM Playbook: From Leads to Stakeholders
Moving to a buying group strategy requires more than good data—it requires GTM alignment.
Instead of chasing individual MQLs, Sydney recommends:
Scoring accounts, not contacts.
Tracking signals at the account level to prioritize outreach.
Rethinking SDR metrics: focus on meetings with multiple personas, not just any meeting.
Partnering marketing, sales, and product around a shared account strategy.
Sydney shares how G2 moved to an account-based model where the sales team gets tailored engagement strategies based on segment (SMB, mid-market, enterprise). Every team member—from demand gen to product marketing—knows who their core personas are and how they relate to each other.
🧩 Operationalizing Buying Groups at Scale
At Forrester’s recent event, a key theme emerged: evolving from “buying groups” to “buying networks.” This includes partners, peers, analysts, and ecosystems that influence buyer decisions.
Sydney highlights a few scalable tactics to work with buying groups:
Persona Workshops: G2 ran hands-on workshops using real Gong quotes to help every department internalize customer personas.
Segmented Campaigns: Instead of generic ABM, G2 builds micro-segments like “Security companies using 6sense, not yet G2 customers,” and tailors messaging accordingly.
Pipeline Meetings: Marketing, sales, and SDRs review the same data together bi-weekly to troubleshoot stuck opportunities and improve velocity.
Deal Acceleration Programs: Everyone in stage 2 of the pipeline gets invited to bi-weekly virtual events to deepen relationships and drive conversion.
⚖️ Brand vs. Demand: It’s Not Either/Or
Many companies struggle with where to invest: long-term brand or short-term pipeline.
Sydney makes it clear: do both, early and often.
Brand earns you a seat at the table. G2’s Buyer Behavior Report shows average vendor shortlists are down to just three.
Demand capture turns that attention into pipeline.
“Brand is giving something away with no ask. Demand is giving something away to capture a contact. Different plays, both essential.”
📈 Rethinking KPIs for Buying Group Success
MQLs are out. So what’s in?
Sydney advocates for shared KPIs across marketing and sales focused on:
Pipeline creation
Closed-won revenue
Retention
Internally, marketing can track velocity, lead-to-meeting time, and program-level cost-per-lead. But in cross-functional pipeline meetings, everyone should speak the same language: revenue.
🧹 The Data Problem: Why RevOps Must Lead
One of the biggest blockers to activating buying group strategies is messy, siloed data. Marketing tools hoard information. Sales tools don’t sync well. And critical insights never make it to the opportunity record.
The solution? A strong Revenue Operations team.
“I’ve surrendered. Marketing Ops now sits in RevOps—and that’s a good thing. RevOps should own the data foundation.”
Clean data doesn’t just support GTM alignment—it powers AI and automation. And as Sydney warns, “Bad data trains bad agents.”
🚀 Final Takeaways: Winning with Buying Groups
Buying groups are real—and they convert better. Track and engage multiple stakeholders early.
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Use intent signals across data types. Build workflows that treat G2 comparisons and pricing page visits as bottom-of-funnel signals.
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Go beyond ABM. Focus on micro-segments to tell sharper, more personalized stories.
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Align GTM with shared KPIs. Eliminate the MQL silo and focus on revenue outcomes.
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Fix your data. Clean, enriched CRM data is essential for sales, marketing, and AI.
Want to build a buying group motion that works?
Start by getting your GTM teams aligned, your data house in order, and your content strategy laser-focused on each persona in the buying network.
And if you’re still chasing MQLs, it might be time to hit pause—and rebuild for the way B2B buying actually works today.
Want to hear more stories from revenue leaders? Subscribe to The Revenue Lounge podcast to never miss an episode!
More Resources
How to Strategically Engage and Conquer Buying committees
Delve into the complexities of engaging buying groups and unveiling strategic approaches to conquer the challenges that arise. In Sales, the key to accelerating deals lies in understanding the nuances of buying group dynamics.
5 Steps to Navigate Buying Groups in 2025: A RevOps Guide
5 Steps to Navigate Buying Groups in 2025: A RevOps Guide RevOps 10 min In today’s business environment, B2B buying is never just one person. According to Forrester Research, more than half of global business buyers purchase in complex buying scenarios that include more people, more departments, and generally higher price points. And this buying group can be made up of 7 to 20 people! Unlocking the power of buying groups is a crucial aspect of the B2B landscape. This blog is a synopsis of our conversation with revenue operations leader, Nandini Karkare. She is currently the SVP of RevOps at Zywave. Nandini suggests strategic steps to navigate through the realms of Revenue Operations and helps uncover the strategies, insights, and best practices that constitute a comprehensive guide to mastering the dynamics of buying groups. Read on to get actionable tips on how you can navigate buying groups in 2025 (and beyond). And implement the learnings to create a winning GTM motion. Here are the 5 steps Nandini recommends: 1. Decode Your Buying Groups The buying groups typically consist of members from departments and they all contribute different aspects. It is critical to understand the scope of decision-making including the people who play the most significant roles in making the call. Gartner’s report on B2B Buying highlights that 77% of B2B purchases involve a buying group of four or more people. PS: The key stakeholder can turn out someone altogether different from who you had building a relationship with all along. a. Capturing Buying Group Members Effective buying group management means considering not just decision-makers but influential stakeholders across departments. Misidentifying key players or focusing solely on the main contact risks derailing the sale. (i) How can you map the entire buying group efficiently? Leverage internal and external data to identify the key players Segment the Group by Role and Influence (ii) Not everyone in the buying group holds equal power or influence. Segment them into categories: Decision-makers (who give the final heads-up) Influencers (who sway the decision) Users (who use the product and provide feedback) Budget owners b. The Role Transition Within a Buying Group Moving the focus from a buying group to a renewal or expansion committee includes knowing precisely who remains in the relationship, as well as who becomes more active as an account grows. (i) New roles may emerge in a Buying Group Technical or operational leaders may become more influential post sale, since they are now using the product. (ii) The focus shifts from buying to renewal The interaction should be more about the return on investment (ROI) of the product placed on the market, ongoing value delivery, and ongoing needs. (iii) Alignment between the buying groups and renewal committee Leveraging the same enthusiasm and relationships generated at the first-buying stage helps in anchoring the transitions and preventing any drop-offs in engagement. Related Resource: Navigate Enterprise Buying Committees: Strategies for Driving Alignment c. Understand the Personal and Collective Priorities of a Buying Group As per McKinsey & Company, B2B buying decisions increasingly require engagement across departments, with 60% of purchasing committees including members from outside traditional procurement, like IT and HR. 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Aligning KPIs Across Teams Different departments oftentimes work in silos. RevOps should strive to align these departments and check if these KPIs match the overall business objectives. Gaps must be closed if their KPIs don’t align. iii. Setting RevOps KPIs As you approach the end of the first 30 days, start establishing RevOps-specific KPIs that match company goals, which may involve metrics like revenue increase, conversion rates, or improvements in overall efficiency. 3. Tech Stack Audit Deep dive into the existing tools that your company is using. Identify all redundancies, and find opportunities to streamline the entire tech stack. i. Map Out Tools Compile a list of all tools used by teams, noting their purpose and how they work with the CRM. ii. Evaluate Use and Cost Determine if tools are actively used or if there are duplicates. Look for cost-saving opportunities by consolidating tools when possible. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVDJ9KI1tGw&t=869s Next 30 days – Alignment and Control The next 30 days marks a shift from discovery to alignment. The goals should be to create cohesion between departments (e.g., Sales, Marketing) and laying down effective controls. The improvements need to be implemented without overwhelming the teams. This phase combines
10 Ways to Improve Sales Efficiency in 2025
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Sales efficiency refers to the ability of a sales team/rep to generate better results with the least amount of resources, time, and effort. It is about finding ways to simplify and optimize every stage of the sales cycle, from lead generation and prospecting to qualification, presentation, negotiation, and closing. That doesn’t mean your reps have to constantly make more calls or send more emails. Instead, they must focus on high-quality leads, prioritize activities that have better ROI, and eliminate unnecessary steps without hampering sales success. In a nutshell, sales efficiency is about focusing on the right activities, with the right people, at the right time. But, isn’t this sales effectiveness? Definitely not! Keep reading! Sales Efficiency vs. Sales Effectiveness Businesses often use sales efficiency and sales effectiveness interchangeably. While they are closely related, they focus on different aspects of the sales process. Sales efficiency is working optimally towards achieving the sales goals while sales effectiveness is more about setting the right goals and making sure progress is made in that direction. Think of the concept of sales efficiency as a car’s speed, while sales effectiveness is the destination the car is trying to reach. Sales efficiency involves optimizing the car’s speed, fuel, and minimizing stops, allowing it to reach its destination faster and with less cost. In contrast, sales effectiveness is all about choosing the right route, navigating through traffic, and making necessary adjustments to ensure the car reaches its desired destination. Sales effectiveness is the quality of the actions, while efficiency is the speed of the actions. Julie Thomas, President and CEO at Value Selling Associates To achieve success in sales, it’s essential to prioritize both efficiency and effectiveness. Neglecting efficiency could result in a sales team struggling to achieve its goals within the required timeframe. Meanwhile, ignoring effectiveness could lead to a lot of effort being put in without making any progress toward the right goals. Enough of pessimism! Let’s shift our perspective to how sales efficiency can positively impact your business outcomes. How Does Sales Efficiency Boost Revenue? Sales efficiency can indeed make a significant difference in the success and growth of a business. Here are some ways in which sales efficiency can have a positive impact: 1. Resource optimization Sales efficiency plays an integral role in optimizing resources within the sales function. By identifying areas of inefficiency and eliminating low-impact activities, businesses can allocate their resources effectively. This includes streamlining sales processes, automating routine tasks, and leveraging tech to introduce productivity in processes. It also helps to identify the most effective sales channels and optimize human resources by aligning suitable responsibilities with the reps’ skill sets. Optimal resource allocation helps businesses create a lean and effective sales operation. 2. Identify improvement areas & refine sales performance As a company strives for sales efficiency, it carries out a thorough evaluation of its sales processes and team performance, exposing multiple areas for improvement and growth opportunities. By analyzing data and metrics, companies are able to pinpoint bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and areas of underperformance. This then allows them to correct measures for increasing productivity, optimizing workflows, and eliminating blockers. 3. Improved customer experience Sales efficiency goes beyond just closing deals; it also focuses on delivering an exceptional customer experience throughout the sales journey. 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Adaptability to market changes Sales efficiency equips businesses with the agility and flexibility to adapt to dynamic market conditions. By continuously monitoring market trends, customer behavior, and competitor activities, companies can proactively adjust their sales strategies and approaches. This allows them to seize emerging opportunities and overcome challenges. Efficient sales processes also help them to quickly respond to changing customer needs, competitive landscape, and tech advancements, ensuring sustained growth. Measuring Sales Efficiency Measuring sales efficiency is a must for businesses to assess their performance and identify areas where improvement is needed. One commonly used formula to measure sales efficiency is: Sales Efficiency = (Revenue / Sales & Marketing Costs) x 100 This formula calculates the ratio of revenue generated to the costs incurred in sales and marketing activities. It provides a quantitative measure of how effectively a company is utilizing its resources to generate revenue. A higher sales efficiency ratio indicates that the business is generating more revenue relative to its sales and marketing costs, suggesting a more efficient and effective sales operations. Now, you may want to ask – what is a good sales efficiency ratio? A high sales