Everyone's talking about BGM, but how do you measure maturity? | Analysis from Pretzl's new Buying Group Index

Fantastic.

And so, so, um, you've had all that transition over this period of the year, and you've, and you're kind of helping to build out that position, your kind of strength in the new, the new name, and the trust in the new name by a new piece of thought leadership research, which is called the Buyer Group Index.

Is that right?

Yep.

So, um, something that we've produced in association, um, with the ANA and then with, um, kind of first party, uh, great market research carried out by NewtonX.

Um, and basically from surveying 200 senior go-to-market professionals to break down, um, what goes into, um, good buyer grouping engagement, um, across 28 different practices, um, what that means, um, what leaders are doing, what laggards are doing, and to tr- try and break down what is otherwise an enormous subject that can be paralyzing i- in its vastness for some organizations to actually some practical steps and to work out where people stand.

I think we, like, it, there's definitely a truism about people moving from MQLs to accounts to thinking about buyer groups.

And we think, or our, our take was, there's probably quite a big gap between aspiration and reality of people saying, "This is what we want to be doing, but where do we start?" So we didn't wanna just have another kind of fluff piece that said, "Yeah, but buyer groups are the future," but rather try and have something which breaks that down into achievable steps to understand where you sit, um, to be able to take an assessment, to kind of see how you sit against your peer group and break that into a, so what can we do practically, um, to, to go forward.

But my perspective, that's best practice and thought leadership, right? 'Cause to, you need to have a position in a market, you need to kind of stand for something and have some, be quantified by research, but then take it through to practical tips, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So it's absolutely not a fluff piece.

It's, it's, it's got all the necessary stages to be great thought leadership.

So, you know, you're living the dream in that respect.

Hopefully so.

[laughs] Hopefully so.

[laughs] And I guess in terms of the objective, just to, just to kind of, just to, to circle back on that.

I mean, as you say, a lot of complexity around this, a lot of misunderstandings, potentially a lot of, um, uh, intimidatory perspectives.

You know, it, it, it seems complex, and so you're trying to unpick that and allow people to understand it in a, in perhaps a more, a, a more relatable way.

Yeah, completely.

I, I think that, um, the risk becomes, I've been in a lot of rooms with people that say, "Yeah, b- buyer group, uh, marketing, buyer group go-to-market, that's what we're all about." And then go on to describe persona-based nurture programs by a different name, and that's almost the worst of all worlds.

It's kind of similar to account-based marketing practitioners saying, "We bought Success, and therefore we're doing ABM," if, if you know what I mean.

There's, uh, a lot that goes into understanding the rational and irrational and traceable and non-traceable things that go into the magical forming of consensus across a buyer group, and then shifting into action, and how can you reduce the error margins that go into understanding those and then acting upon them.

Okay.

So, so, yeah, a real depth of thought going into this.

Fantastic.

And so, so, um, you've had all that transition over this period of the year, and you've, and you're kind of helping to build out that position, your kind of strength in the new, the new name, and the trust in the new name by a new piece of thought leadership research, which is called the Buyer Group Index.

Is that right?

Yep.

So, um, something that we've produced in association, um, with the ANA and then with, um, kind of first party, uh, great market research carried out by NewtonX.

Um, and basically from surveying 200 senior go-to-market professionals to break down, um, what goes into, um, good buyer grouping engagement, um, across 28 different practices, um, what that means, um, what leaders are doing, what laggards are doing, and to tr- try and break down what is otherwise an enormous subject that can be paralyzing i- in its vastness for some organizations to actually some practical steps and to work out where people stand.

I think we, like, it, there's definitely a truism about people moving from MQLs to accounts to thinking about buyer groups.

And we think, or our, our take was, there's probably quite a big gap between aspiration and reality of people saying, "This is what we want to be doing, but where do we start?" So we didn't wanna just have another kind of fluff piece that said, "Yeah, but buyer groups are the future," but rather try and have something which breaks that down into achievable steps to understand where you sit, um, to be able to take an assessment, to kind of see how you sit against your peer group and break that into a, so what can we do practically, um, to, to go forward.

But my perspective, that's best practice and thought leadership, right? 'Cause to, you need to have a position in a market, you need to kind of stand for something and have some, be quantified by research, but then take it through to practical tips, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So it's absolutely not a fluff piece.

It's, it's, it's got all the necessary stages to be great thought leadership.

So, you know, you're living the dream in that respect.

Hopefully so.

[laughs] Hopefully so.

[laughs] And I guess in terms of the objective, just to, just to kind of, just to, to circle back on that.

I mean, as you say, a lot of complexity around this, a lot of misunderstandings, potentially a lot of, um, uh, intimidatory perspectives.

You know, it, it, it seems complex, and so you're trying to unpick that and allow people to understand it in a, in perhaps a more, a, a more relatable way.

Yeah, completely.

I, I think that, um, the risk becomes, I've been in a lot of rooms with people that say, "Yeah, b- buyer group, uh, marketing, buyer group go-to-market, that's what we're all about." And then go on to describe persona-based nurture programs by a different name, and that's almost the worst of all worlds.

It's kind of similar to account-based marketing practitioners saying, "We bought Success, and therefore we're doing ABM," if, if you know what I mean.

There's, uh, a lot that goes into understanding the rational and irrational and traceable and non-traceable things that go into the magical forming of consensus across a buyer group, and then shifting into action, and how can you reduce the error margins that go into understanding those and then acting upon them.

Okay.

So, so, yeah, a real depth of thought going into this.