New research reveals leading organizations report 70% higher pipeline velocity than their lowest-performing peers.
Research shows most go-to-market (GTM) organizations are still early in adapting to modern buyer groups and identifies the practices most closely tied to commercial performance.
LONDON — September 1, 2026 — Pretzl, in partnership with The Association of National Advertisers (ANA), today announced the launch of the Buyer Group Index (BGI), a new GTM performance benchmark and assessment framework that reveals how effective organizations are adapting to complex B2B buying groups and where their systems are falling short.
To build a rigorous and actionable benchmark, Pretzl and the ANA worked together to bring the Buyer Group Index to life.
The research was developed in response to recurring discussions within the ANA's B2B Leadership Council, where senior marketing leaders consistently raised concerns about declining pipeline performance despite increasing activity and growing buyer complexity. Many were also questioning whether their go-to-market investments were keeping pace with today's buying environment. The research, conducted by independent research firm NewtonX, looks to better understand these issues and outlines clear actions B2B marketers can take for better outcomes.
The Buyer Group Index measures how effectively organizations are executing the practices needed to orchestrate complex B2B buyer groups. The study evaluated 200 senior GTM leaders globally across 28 GTM practices, with each practice weighted based on its statistical relationship to five commercial outcomes: pipeline value, pipeline velocity, time-to-market, efficiency and GTM confidence. The weighting ensures the index reflects not only whether organizations are adopting these practices, but also how closely those practices are associated with stronger business performance.
The research arrives as B2B buying becomes more complex, less visible and increasingly shaped by AI. Buyers are researching earlier, vendor discovery is moving outside traditional sales and marketing visibility, and AI is changing how companies find, evaluate and shortlist vendors. The BGI gives GTM leaders a practical way to understand whether their team's systems are keeping up and which improvements are most likely to move performance.
The Inaugural Buyer Group Index found:
At a time when AI is driving tool adoption, workflow redesign and new expectations for efficiency, GTM leaders need to distinguish between activity and advantage. That is exactly what the Buyer Group Index was designed to cut through. It connects organizational capability — how well GTM teams understand, map and engage complex buyer groups — directly to commercial outcomes, giving business leaders a reliable external benchmark against which to pressure-test their own go-to-market systems.Dagmara Szulce, EVP B2B Practice, ANA
The study shows that the biggest performance gaps are not isolated marketing problems. They are system-level GTM issues, and the most important practices are often the least developed. For example, the most important practice in the model — connecting customer and account data sources into a single source of truth — showed the worst result for actual performance.
The practices most likely to unlock commercial performance include:
The market has moved faster than the GTM systems most companies still rely on. AI is accelerating execution, but speed alone does not create growth. The organizations pulling ahead are the ones that understand how the full buyer group actually makes decisions, connect marketing and sales around the journey, and use data to decide where to focus. The Buyer Group Index gives leaders a practical way to see where they stand and what to prioritize next.Greg Salmon, CEO, Pretzl
The research also reflects a broader shift in how B2B decisions are made. Buyer-side executives interviewed for the study described purchasing journeys that are increasingly self-directed, distributed across more stakeholders and shaped by AI-enabled discovery before vendors have direct visibility. For GTM leaders, that means influence is often won or lost earlier than traditional funnel metrics can show.
For senior marketing, sales and revenue leaders, the implication is clear: optimizing individual functions, channels, or campaigns is no longer enough. GTM performance increasingly depends on whether the entire system can coordinate around the buyer group.
Alongside the report, Pretzl and ANA are launching a personalized BGI assessment that allows organizations to benchmark their own GTM performance against the market, compare themselves to leading organizations and identify the highest-impact actions to prioritize next. The Buyer Group Index assessment is available through Pretzl.
The Buyer Group Index was unveiled at the ANA Masters of B2B Marketing Conference during a mainstage session titled “Announcing the Buyer Group Index: How Leading Companies Are Orchestrating Buyer Groups in an Age of Complexity.” The session brought the research to life through a discussion of buyer-group orchestration, marketing-sales alignment and the shift from lead-centric GTM to journey-based buyer-group strategy.
About the Research
The Buyer Group Index was commissioned by ANA in partnership with Pretzl and conducted by independent research firm NewtonX. The study surveyed 200 senior GTM leaders globally. It also included qualitative interviews with buyer-side executives and GTM leaders to provide perspective from both sides of the deal process. The BGI evaluates 28 practices and weights them based on their relationship to five commercial outcomes: pipeline value, pipeline velocity, time-to-market, efficiency and GTM confidence.
About the ANA
The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) is the definitive voice of the marketing industry. Since 1910, we have set and advanced the agenda for marketing transformation, connecting over 1,600 member companies to an influential global network, insights and resources that drive growth. Our members represent 20,000 brands and $400 billion in annual marketing investment. Through industry-leading research, the CMO Growth Council, and our proprietary Growth Agenda and Practices, the ANA empowers marketers to shape the future of marketing and create lasting impact for their organizations and the industry.
About Pretzl
Pretzl works with GTM leaders to create strategies that work for today's pressures and complexities. From understanding buyer groups and their journeys, to accelerating pipeline through integrated systems and campaigns, Pretzl is shaping the future of B2B marketing for its clients. Services include pipeline acceleration, brand strategy, journey mapping, communications, media, innovative brand experiences, thought leadership and more. As businesses evolve their go-to-market systems for a more complex buying environment, Pretzl helps create a clearer path to growth. Learn more at pretzl.com.
MEDIA CONTACT
Pretzl: press@pretzl.com
More of this in your inbox
Subscribe to our updates.
Get fresh marketing insights rooted in customer science to help you stay ahead.