Survey. Self-reported by a sample. Read it as what this population says it does, not as a measurement of what it does.
Two thirds of buyers would rather not talk to you, and the number went up six points in a year. For a vendor that is a distribution problem. For a buyer it is a description of how your own team already works.
The practical version: by the time a security vendor gets a first call, the internal shortlist usually exists. It was assembled from peer conversations, a community thread, documentation the buyer read alone, and whatever an answer engine surfaced when somebody typed the problem rather than the product name. The sales process starts after the evaluation has already narrowed.
This is why product documentation and public technical writing outperform gated content in security. The gate does not delay a buyer who prefers to work alone; it removes you from their evaluation entirely.
What this does not mean
This does not mean sales teams do not matter. Gartner's own follow-on research found that 69% of B2B buyers turn back to sales reps specifically to validate AI-generated insights, so the rep-free preference describes the discovery phase rather than the whole purchase. It also does not mean buyers who avoid reps buy faster or better. Gartner has separately reported that rep-free journeys correlate with higher purchase regret.
Take this to your board
Gartner finds sixty-seven percent of B2B buyers prefer a buying experience with no sales representative involved.
Say the peer figure and your own in the same breath. A number without a comparison invites the board to supply one from memory.
Sources
Every external figure on this page, with its origin, sample, and the date it was last checked by hand.
67% of B2B buyers say they prefer a rep-free buying experience, up from 61% reported in the equivalent survey the previous year.
Preference stated in a survey, not observed behavior. The prior-year figure of 61% comes from Gartner's 2025-06-25 release, so the year-over-year move is comparable across two Gartner instruments rather than inferred across vendors. Gartner blocks automated fetching, so both figures were confirmed from the public release text.
Common questions
Do B2B buyers want to talk to sales representatives?
Mostly not during evaluation. Gartner's 2026 sales survey found 67% of B2B buyers prefer a rep-free buying experience, up from 61% in the equivalent 2025 survey. The same body of research also found 69% of buyers return to sales reps to validate insights generated by AI tools, so the preference is phase-specific.
What does a rep-free preference mean for security vendors?
The shortlist is built before first contact. Buyers assemble candidates from peer conversations, public documentation, and answer engines, then approach vendors to confirm a decision that has already narrowed. Gated content does not slow that buyer down, it removes the vendor from consideration.
Do buyers who avoid sales reps make better decisions?
Not necessarily. Gartner has reported that rep-free buying journeys correlate with higher purchase regret, and its later research found 69% of B2B buyers return to sales representatives specifically to validate insights generated by AI tools. The stated preference describes the discovery phase rather than the whole purchase.
