Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has overtaken traditional search for a quarter of B2B buyers, according to research from Responsive.
Inside the Buyer’s Mind: What Shapes B2B Decisions Today surveyed 350 B2B buyers across industries, regions, and company sizes to understand how enterprise buying behavior is evolving. The findings: Nearly two-thirds of marketers are using GenAI as much as or more than search when researching vendors.
But despite AI transforming how buyers discover and evaluate vendors, the study finds that the deciding factors remain fundamentals: trust, industry expertise, and the quality of the request for proposal (RFP) response.
Responsive’s Shankar Comments
Ganesh Shankar, CEO of Responsive, offers all of the finding take together shows enterprise buying has changed for good.
“AI now determines who makes it onto the shortlist. But the RFP remains the proving ground where credibility is tested and trust is won,” said Shankar in a statement. “The companies that win will be those that adapt quickly and show real expertise when it matters most.”
AI’s Impact
AI has moved moving mainstream: 47% of buyers already use AI in time-sensitive stages such as market research and questionnaire drafting, and 53% plan to increase usage over the next year. That acceleration is disrupting the early stages of the buying journey and shifting how vendors need to think about visibility.
The way buyers gather initial context is no longer limited to web searches, peer input, or analyst sites. It now includes conversational tools that summarize, compare, and recommend vendors in real time. Nearly one in three buyers are more likely to consider vendors using GenAI or agentic AI, and 42% say the same for automation.
The report noted U.S. firms quicker to embrace AI search as 48% of U.S. buyers say they use GenAI for vendor discovery, compared to just 14% in other regions. Other key findings included:
- RFPs remain decisive: 61% of buyers say they start the process with a preferred vendor in mind, but nearly half (45%) say they are open to switching from their initial preference. The RFP response is the most important factor shaping buying decisions, cited by 81% of buyers.
- Trust ranks above price: Industry expertise (52% say this carries significant weight) outranks price (49%) and product fit (46%) in final decisions.
- Technology industry leads GenAI adoption: 80% of buyers in tech use GenAI at least as much as search for vendor research — 21 points higher than other industries. And more than half of tech buyers (56%) report using chatbots as a top source to discover new vendors, compared to just 28% across other industries.
Rearchitecting Sales
The report concluded that across stages, B2B buyers are operating in three new ways: setting the tone earlier; execution matters as much as fit; and trust travels fast as organizations are watching how vendors use AI.
“[AI is] rearchitecting the sales process,” the authors write. “They influence when buyers engage, how they compare vendors, and what ultimately drives their decisions. For revenue teams, closing the gap means spotting these shifts early and advancing yourself at the moments that matter most.”
Download the full report by visiting the Inside the Buyer’s Mind: What Shapes B2B Decisions Today page.
