Diverse and expanded buying groups create internal conflict
B2B purchasing has changed. It used to be straightforward, one or two decision makers, typically IT-led, made the call. Not anymore. Budgets now span across departments, and buying decisions include people from marketing, operations, sales, and tech. For large investments, you may be dealing with 5 to 16 decision makers, each pulling in a different direction. That’s not just inefficient, it’s a risk to actual deal success.
This complexity creates friction, what Gartner calls “unhealthy conflict.” When internal teams can’t align on priorities, time is lost, execution stalls, and vendors get caught in the crossfire. In these moments, the chance of making a successful investment drops significantly. With more people at the table, decision speed doesn’t necessarily improve, it slows, unless there’s clear, deliberate effort to create consensus.
This isn’t a problem of individual competence. It’s structural. Different departments are working toward different goals. Without a strategy to align them, even the most logical decision can fall apart under layers of competing priorities and internal miscommunication. This is where leadership matters. It’s your job to fix the system so your teams can make clear decisions when it counts.
According to Gartner research, buying groups with a high level of internal consensus are 2.5 times more likely to close on a “high-quality deal,” meaning the investment is aligned with business needs, offers long-term ROI, and deploys efficiently. These are operational results with measurable impact.
Delainey Kirkwood, Principal of Research at Gartner’s Sales Practice, puts it clearly: leadership teams must treat consensus as a high priority. If you want better results, don’t just optimize processes, optimize alignment. That’s what changes outcomes.
Equipping sellers to foster alignment within diverse buyer groups
In a world where one-size-fits-all messaging fails, sales teams need more than a product pitch. They need tools to connect the dots for stakeholders who don’t always agree. The job today is managing the dynamics of a fragmented decision-making group and bringing them into alignment without overcomplicating the process.
Chief Sales Officers (CSOs) need to lead this shift. Your sellers are often the only people with visibility across the entire buying group. If they’re not trained to spot misalignment early and guide the group toward a shared position, you’re going to lose deals, even when your offering ticks every box. Being relevant to each individual isn’t enough. What matters most is helping these individuals understand each other well enough to move forward together.
Tailoring content to specific roles or organizational needs makes sense, but there’s a limit. If you over-customize messaging at the individual level, you can trigger confirmation bias. That just reinforces narrow perspectives and weakens group cohesion. Effective sales communication serves the group first. It clarifies shared goals, not just personal pain points.
This is a strategic play. It’s more than messaging, it’s about structuring enablement and training around a real-world buying journey. CSOs who prioritize this give their sales teams an upper hand. Sellers who can navigate internal buyer politics, simplify complexity, and anchor everyone to a common value narrative will consistently outperform.
Delainey Kirkwood, Principal of Research at Gartner’s Sales Practice, highlights this challenge directly: “CSOs must properly equip their sellers to foster agreement and alignment among diverse buyer groups.” Ignoring this advice isn’t a small oversight, it’s a missed opportunity to drive high-impact deals in a shifting and increasingly decentralized business environment.
Underinvestment in learning & development jeopardizes digital adoption
A lot of companies want to scale with digital, automation, AI, and advanced systems that promise greater efficiency. But internal readiness often doesn’t match the ambition. You can roll out tech fast. What holds it up isn’t the software, it’s the people. Without solid investment in learning and development (L&D), the technology stalls or gets underutilized. That’s a high-cost failure with long-term consequences.
There’s pressure everywhere to manage costs while showing transformation progress. But cutting back on training to save budget only weakens the result. Teams that aren’t trained properly can’t extract value from new tools. That’s not inertia, that’s lost capability. If adoption is sluggish or inconsistent, you don’t just fall behind, you fall short.
Tom Enright, Vice President Analyst at Gartner’s Supply Chain Practice, made it clear: “While technology promises long-term cost savings, the lack of investment in L&D jeopardises these initiatives.” If you want long-term gains, you need to fund the short-term ability to use and scale the tools correctly. Anything less is just technology on paper.
Leadership needs to recognize training as infrastructure, not an add-on. When executive teams sponsor digital change but don’t support skill-building at the same pace, the vision breaks mid-flight. When you invest in capability, you unlock adoption. And you don’t need five years to see the upside, you’ll see faster rollout, fewer delays, and more effective use of your stack across teams.
The companies that get this right will win. The ones that deprioritize L&D will keep spinning their wheels in implementation. No matter how advanced the tech is, without the capability to use it, nothing moves.
Comprehensive training strategies enhance digital transformation success
Digital transformation doesn’t end after deployment. It begins with how prepared your teams are at launch, and continues well after. Success depends on more than just selecting the right tech. The difference lies in whether your organization is structured to build knowledge before, during, and after new systems go live. Training can’t be treated as a single event or a checklist item. It needs to be built into your transformation strategy from the start.
A consistent learning structure ensures that teams actually apply what the tools can do. This helps avoid bottlenecks, slow adoption, and underperformance. It’s not about overloading people with information upfront, it’s about timing and reinforcement. Knowledge that evolves with the process helps teams stay aligned, adapt quickly, and improve continuously.
This is a leadership discipline. The companies that lead in digital execution don’t just invest in software, they embed learning processes deep into their execution model. These investments protect transformation efforts from common breakdowns caused by skill gaps or organizational resistance. They create environments where digital capabilities stick and scale.
Tom Enright, VP Analyst at Gartner’s Supply Chain Practice, highlighted this clearly at Gartner’s Supply Chain Symposium/Xpo: “High-performing learning environments are emerging as strategic differentiators. Leaders in these enterprises embed L&D initiatives in their new technology investments and are therefore better able to shield these activities from short-term budget pressures.”
For executives looking to build lasting digital infrastructure, this isn’t optional, it’s core. Train your teams before rollout, coach them throughout deployment, and reinforce knowledge continuously. Digital ROI isn’t just tied to the tool, it’s locked into how well your people execute with it.
Key takeaways for decision-makers
- Diverse B2B buying groups are slowing decisions: Leaders should prioritize building cross-functional alignment early in the buying process, as larger and more fragmented buying groups significantly increase conflict and reduce deal quality.
- Sellers need better tools to guide group consensus: CSOs must equip sales teams to manage stakeholder complexity and align group priorities, focusing less on individual tailoring and more on shared decision facilitation.
- Skimping on training undermines digital ROI: Organizations aiming for productivity gains through tech adoption must invest in learning and development, or risk underperformance and stalled transformation efforts.
- Continuous training is now a competitive edge: Executives should embed L&D across the full implementation cycle to ensure tech investments deliver results, shield transformation from budget cuts, and drive long-term execution strength.
