The salesperson prepares to explain the product. The buyer arrives with comparisons, references, and questions about implementation. The presentation is still on the second page when the question that changes the meeting arises: who is accountable if this doesn't work with our process?
The situation is illustrative. It's not a testimonial from an interviewed client, but an analytical snapshot of a tension in business-to-business purchasing. Sellers might remain organized to transmit information, while buyers need to reduce uncertainty about consequences.
The thesis of this report is not that the buyer has become self-sufficient. It is that the utility of commercial dialogue changes with the decision. Explaining an easily searchable specification is different from helping an organization understand compatibility, implementation risk, and accountability. Consultative selling isn't about talking more; it's about producing clarity for a real purchase.
In-Person Has Not Disappeared
In the 2024 B2B Pulse, McKinsey surveyed nearly 4,000 decision-makers from 34 sectors, across eight major industries and 13 countries. The report describes the persistence of the rule of thirds: approximately one-third prefer in-person interactions, another third prefer remote ones, and another third prefer digital self-service at different stages of the journey. The primary source, from September 2024, does not support the conclusion that the salesperson has disappeared.
It also doesn't allow for the conclusion that every Brazilian company should divide investments equally among the three channels. These are aggregated preferences from an international survey, not a causal allocation plan. The most defensible implication is that imposing a single path may disregard how a portion of buyers wish to proceed.
Continuity matters more than the number of channels. If a doubt resolved remotely returns as a problem in an in-person meeting, the multiplicity creates additional effort. The journey must allow the purchase to move forward without the person having to carry the memory of the negotiation alone.
Buying for a Company Is Not a Solo Decision
The Webster and Wind model of organizational buying behavior, published in 1972, proposes considering environmental, organizational, social, and individual dimensions. It is a conceptual model, not a modern survey with buyer percentages. Its merit is to remind us that the person speaking with the salesperson may not be deciding alone.
The need may arise from operations, the budget may depend on management, the specification may go through a technical area, and the contract may be reviewed by another department. These roles are not fixed: in a small business, the same person may hold them all. The salesperson needs to verify the existing process rather than assuming a universal organizational chart.
In Brazil, this perspective helps avoid a common misinterpretation. A lack of response from the contact person might be disinterest, but it could also be a decision that still lacks internal support. The hypothesis only becomes information when the client clarifies what is missing. Demanding answers without understanding the stage is not consulting; it's a transference of commercial anxiety.
Retail and Agribusiness: The Need Beyond the Specification
In a hypothetical retail example, a chain evaluates a restocking system. The product might meet the technical checklist and still face questions about integration, training, and accountability for stockouts. The article about the sale that a stockout transfers to the competition shows why the decision cannot be restricted to the features screen.
In agribusiness, an equipment purchase can involve capacity, maintenance, parts availability, training, and access to financing. This is not a real case or a statistical frequency. The example demonstrates that comparing machines does not exhaust the comparison of their conditions of use.
Responsible consultative selling makes these elements debatable and verifiable. It does not promise productivity without a technical basis, invent savings, or use the calendar to create false urgency. If suitability depends on unknown information, the proposal must register this condition.
The Salesperson as a Translator of Consequences
My interpretation is that sales work gains relevance when it translates specifications into consequences, without overstepping what it can prove. This means explaining what the solution does, what it requires of the buyer, what it does not solve, and how it will be monitored. The translation includes limitations, not just benefits.
The informed buyer may need less of a generic presentation and more of a conversation about exceptions. A representative without authorization to discuss implementation or conditions may seem dispensable not because the profession has disappeared, but because the company has separated the promise from the ability to be accountable for it.
There are also situations where self-service is sufficient. Repurchasing a standardized item does not always require a meeting. Respecting this frees up time for complex decisions and reduces interaction costs. The salesperson's utility should not be measured by the obligation to be present in every purchase.
Consulting Begins with the Possibility of Not Selling
Listening that only serves to adapt arguments is still persuasion centered on closing the deal. The difference appears when the analysis leads to the conclusion that the offer is not suitable or that the timing is not right for the investment. A 'no' can protect a future relationship.
There is no proof here that a change in approach will guarantee growth. There is evidence of a plurality of channels and a useful model for understanding organizational decisions. This analysis pieces these elements together to question the sales organization, without turning correlation or theory into a promise.
If the buyer already knows the catalog, what important uncertainty is your team capable of clarifying—and which ones are continually handed back to them as if they were exclusively their problem?
Sources and Methodology
McKinsey — B2B Pulse 2024. Published on September 12, 2024; nearly 4,000 B2B decision-makers, 34 sectors, eight major industries, and 13 countries. Survey of declared preferences and behaviors; an international comparison, not a Brazilian census or causal proof of a strategy.
Webster and Wind — A General Model for Understanding Organizational Buying Behavior, 1972. Conceptual model published in the Journal of Marketing, 36(2), pages 12–19; not a current survey with a Brazilian sample or a conversion estimate.
Opening photograph: illustrative image from stock photo service Unsplash; does not depict a company or case investigated in this article.