Five shifts I'm watching in commoditized B2B markets right now

Five shifts I'm watching in commoditized B2B markets right now. Each one breaks an assumption that was true ten years ago.

1. Buyers research more, talk to sellers later. The average B2B buyer is about 70% through the decision before the first sales call. The funnel inverted.

2. Founder-led content outperforms brand-led content. A CEO posting twice a week beats a marketing team running campaigns. The signal is a human with a point of view, not a company with a budget.

3. Channel margins are compressing, but channel reach is expanding. Distributors who add operational value survive. Pure resale margins are dying.

4. Sales cycles are getting longer, deal sizes are growing. Buyers consolidate vendors. The deals that close are bigger, slower, and need senior sponsorship.

5. AI is collapsing the bottom 30% of sales tasks. Research, intro emails, note-taking. The top 30%, deal architecture, executive relationships, problem framing, becomes more valuable, not less.

Operators planning for 2027 build for these. The ones still optimizing for 2019 lose share quietly for 18 months and loudly for 6.