Verified Confidence: medium
Primary source found; it says the same thing, the scope matches, and it is reasonably current.
Safe rephrasing
Gartner's 2017 survey of 750 B2B buyers found they spent 17% of buying time meeting all potential suppliers combined, so any one vendor got about 5–6%.
What the source says
Gartner research finds that when B2B buyers are considering a purchase, they spend only 17% of that time meeting with potential suppliers. When buyers are comparing multiple suppliers, the amount of time spent with any one sales rep may be only 5% to 6%. ... n = 750 B2B buyers. Source: Gartner 2017 Digital B2B Buyer Survey.
Gartner — Win More B2B Sales Deals (eBook), citing the 2017 Digital B2B Buyer Survey
- Commonly cited as
- "Buyers spend just 17% of their time with sales reps"
- True origin
- Gartner — Win More B2B Sales Deals (eBook), citing the 2017 Digital B2B Buyer Survey
- Type
- Stat check: A widely repeated statistic traced back to its origin.
- Year
- 2017 survey
- Data as of
- Gartner 2017 Digital B2B Buyer Survey (n=750)
- Last checked
- Method & sample
- Gartner survey of 750 B2B buyers, 2017; share of buying-group time by activity.
- Drift between quote and source
- Age: 2017 survey, still cited by Gartner
- 17% is all suppliers combined; any one vendor gets about 5–6%
- Interest
- Gartner sells sales and marketing research.