Where the 95% idea comes from
The idea comes from Professor John Dawes, of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, in a study done with LinkedIn's B2B Institute. The conclusion is that, in any given quarter, only about 5% of the companies in a B2B market are ready to buy.
So how do you get to that number? From how often companies replace a solution. If a company replaces a kind of system or supplier every five years on average, that is twenty quarters, and only one in twenty, or 5%, falls in the current quarter.
The other 95% may well have the problem, but they are not in the market right now.
The mistake of fighting only for the 5%
Most sales effort goes to the 5% who are already buying. Those are the companies that research, ask for quotes and meet three or four vendors at the same time.
Whoever arrives at that point competes on price with everyone else. The company already has an idea of the solution and a vendor list, and the seller walks in to answer questions someone else helped frame.
What happens at the start of a buying moment
Before asking for a quote, a company goes through a period in which it starts to move. That movement is visible to whoever knows how to read the market, weeks or months before it turns into a request for proposal.
Whoever talks to the company at that start helps shape the problem and the solution. The conversation is about how the company handles it today, not about price.
How EarlyLeads puts this idea to work
EarlyLeads was built to find the company at that start. Every night it reads the market of your ICP and picks out who has entered a buying moment and, at 7 a.m., delivers those people with the reason for each one and a ready outreach.
And the other 95% are not left out. The market intelligence shows which companies in your ICP already solve the problem in a way similar to yours and which are moving, which helps you decide where to invest in content and media for those who are not buying yet.
The sales question changes. Instead of how many companies exist in your market, the question becomes which of them started moving this week.
How EarlyLeads works
- You enter your company's website. In minutes, EarlyLeads builds your ICP, with industries, titles and problems, and you adjust whatever you want.
- Every night, EarlyLeads reads your market and picks out who has entered a buying moment.
- At 7 a.m., the day's leads arrive in your inbox, each with the why and a ready outreach. Your team sends it, through the channel it already uses.
Frequently asked questions
Will the 95% never buy?
They will, just not now. Each company enters a buying moment on its own schedule, and whoever was already present when that happens gets ahead.
Does this apply to every B2B market?
The exact number changes with how often your market replaces a solution, but the logic holds. The longer the buying cycle, the smaller the share of the market buying in any quarter.
What should I do with those who are not buying yet?
Educate them. Content and media that change how those companies see the problem, so that when the moment comes, they already know you.