Wednesday, April 15, 2026
This blog is the fourth and final in a series exploring the top themes identified by Partner Andrew Cloutier dominating Anova’s voice-of-the-client research in 2026.
86% of global B2B buyers reported a purchase process stall in 2024. (Forrester) If your sales team is spending more time chasing decisions that never come, you’re not alone – and the forces driving this trend are only intensifying.
In our win/loss research, Anova tracks two types of variables: those faced by each individual sales team (their company’s unique buyer needs, specific platform features, industry-specific factors), and general trends encountered by every sales team no matter the industry or product. One of the general themes we’ve seen change the most in recent years is the speed of decision-making. Companies are taking longer and longer to select vendors, and increasingly, no solution is selected at all. Across our interviews, we’ve identified three drivers behind this shift.
1 – Greater Size of Decision-Making Teams and Deferred Accountability
Consider this, from a recent Anova interview: “We came together as a committee, and then the 47 did the final evaluation, and we presented it to our executive sponsors for approval.” Forty-seven people in a final evaluation – before it even reached the executives who could approve it. While 47 is an outlier, consider this quote from a media technology vendor’s client: “Decision makers include my team, Content Lab, along with our Customer Experience Planning and Optimization Group… our Behavioral Strategies and Planning group helps to drive our planning process. The Head of that organization is a peer to my VP and is also a key stakeholder and decision-maker around both the adoption, the use evolution, and investment in [client]. Ultimately, the CMO has a say as well.” That’s six distinct functions, with several levels of seniority, involved in the decision-making process.
Buying teams have grown substantially across industries. Depending on the source, the average now ranges from roughly 7 (CEB) to as many as 14–23 (Gartner). Anova’s research shows that more than half of sales processes involve third parties, and 67% reach decisions by consensus. In this environment, it’s increasingly difficult for sales teams to break through gridlock. When any one of a dozen stakeholders could have veto power — let alone when the goal is full consensus — it’s natural for decisions to stall.
2 – Data Overload
Technology has made it easier for buying teams to access information; firms like Gartner and Forrester provide detailed vendor comparisons across a range of industries, and AI platforms can surface research at a scale that was previously impossible. But access to more information has not made decisions easier. In many cases, it has made them harder.
When a dozen – let alone 47 – stakeholders each independently review sales presentations, third-party reports, and customer testimonials, they are going to reach independent conclusions – if they engage with the materials at all. Building consensus is difficult under any circumstances. Every additional piece of information layered into that process makes it exponentially harder.
3 – Macroeconomic Uncertainty
Global macroeconomic uncertainty has placed increased scrutiny on every budget dollar. AI disruption, a softening labor market, and geopolitical risk are new variables that buying teams must now factor into vendor decisions. Business uncertainty, while down from its 2023 peak, remains meaningfully elevated compared to pre-COVID levels. At the same time, many teams are being asked to do more with less, which raises the stakes on every spending decision and makes leaders more reluctant to commit without exhaustive evaluation.
When interest rates or tariff policy could shift rapidly, the instinct is to wait. And waiting, for many buying teams, has become the default.
Conclusion: How you can address slow decision-making among your prospects
When these three puzzle pieces are placed together, it’s clear why buying cycles are stretching longer and longer. More leaders are in the room with their fingers on the scale, each reviewing more data, with increased economic uncertainty thrown into the mix. Complexity isn’t going away – so the real question is how your team adapts.
Start by tightening who you pursue. Better prospect qualification means your salespeople spend their time where it’s most likely to pay off, not chasing committees that were never going to reach a decision. Next, push higher and broader. The further your team can build relationships up and across the decision-making chain, the less vulnerable you are to one sceptic in a room of 47 derailing everything. Finally, treat stalled and no-decision outcomes as a source for continues improvement. If you aren’t systematically learning from those lost cycles – through a formal win/loss program – you’re leaving critical intelligence on the table.
The sales teams winning in this environment aren’t the ones waiting for decisions to get easier. They’re the ones building the discipline to understand why deals stall and relentlessly closing those gaps.
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