Funnely enough, AI is changing B2B sales
The B2B marketing funnel is changing fast.
A recent survey by B2B market research platform Wynter shows how.
**84% of CMOs now use tools like Claude, ChatGPT and Perplexity for vendor discovery.
**68% of CMOs start their discovery in an AI chat window before they open Google and certainly before they visit your website.
Which means most CMOs are building their shortlists in a closed environment fed by information from AI. So if AI tools don’t “know” you, your website never even gets the chance to make an impression.
The rapidly evolving shape of the B2B marketing funnel is laid out in a good piece by Fast Company’s Daria Gonzalez titled “How AI is upending the B2B marketing funnel.”
In it, she explains that your brand now has to perform for two very different audiences.
1. AI: Google once cared about your broad, SEO-optimized content. AI doesn’t. It wants specificity and authority. It surfaces brands that occupy a distinct niche and are mentioned on highly regarded platforms. If you sound like you--an expert in your field--AI will treat you like someone. If you sound like everyone else, AI will treat you like no one.
2. People: When they do click on your site, they arrive already-informed by AI. They’ve done the basic research and they’ve decided to take a look at you. What they want to see is insight, expertise, depth, not the same trendslop they’ve seen at five other websites.
Gonzalez sums it up this way. “What works in 2026 is content that is rooted in a genuine, brand-driven point of view. For AI, that means thought leadership that reflects actual expertise rather than content designed to bring in search volume. For humans, it means creative work that feels distinctly, irrevocably human.”
The first tier of the B2B marketing funnel has totally changed.
**Broad, high-volume content is out. It doesn’t serve AI (which wants expertise) and it bores people (who want depth).
**Brand depth is in. Human expertise and insight is what pulls customers in and closes the sale.
