Here’s a stat that should make every sales leader uncomfortable: 61% of B2B buyers now prefer a completely rep-free buying experience, according to recent Gartner research.

And it gets worse. 73% of buyers actively avoid sellers who send them irrelevant outreach.

But before you panic about the death of B2B sales, let’s talk about what this data actually means, and what most people are getting wrong about it.

The Real Problem Isn’t Human Interaction

Look, buyers don’t hate sales reps. They hate wasting time with reps who don’t know what they’re talking about.

The Gartner survey revealed something critical: 69% of B2B buyers report inconsistencies between what they see on vendor websites and what sales reps tell them.

Think about that. Seven out of ten prospects catch your sellers giving outdated, incomplete, or contradictory information compared to your marketing materials.

That’s not a “buyers prefer self-service” problem. That’s a trust problem.

Your Demo Is Often the First Moment of Truth

When prospects finally agree to see a demo, it’s frequently their first high-stakes interaction with your actual product. Not your marketing site. Not your case studies. Your product.

And if that demo is outdated, generic, or—worse—requires jumping on a call just to understand what your product actually does, you’ve already burned through whatever trust the buyer had left.

This is where most B2B companies get buyer enablement backwards. They invest in sales training, call coaching, and email sequences while their demo experience remains stuck in 2019.

Buyer enablement starts with demo quality, not sales training.

The Multi-Channel Reality Nobody Talks About

Here’s another uncomfortable truth: B2B buyers now use an average of 7 different channels before making a purchase decision—4 digital, 3 non-digital, according to TrustRadius research.

The average sales cycle? 4.6 months.

And high-growth companies don’t just show up in more places, they show up in 17 marketing channels compared to 15 for their slower-growing competitors.

That might sound like a marginal difference. But when you’re the only vendor present at a critical research moment, say, when a prospect is evaluating solutions at 11 PM from their phone after their kid’s soccer game, that “marginal” difference becomes the only difference.

Your product demo needs to work everywhere: website embed, sales email, LinkedIn share, mobile browser, Slack message, boardroom presentation. If you’re still relying on “hop on a call and I’ll show you” as your primary demo strategy, you’re invisible at 6 of those 7 buyer touchpoints.

The Demo Automation Differentiation Crisis

Here’s where things get messy. As demo automation has exploded as a category, buyers are facing a new problem: nobody can tell these products apart anymore.

TestBox’s “State of Demo Automation 2025” report revealed something fascinating, buying complexity in this space is through the roof because vendors are overselling to multiple use cases.

Marketing teams want interactive website tours. Sales reps want live demo environments. SE teams want sandbox automation. Most tools claim to do all three. Few do any of them well.

The result? Solutions engineering orgs often lack dedicated budgets for demo tools, requiring intense champion management and cross-functional alignment just to get a tool approved.

For buyers evaluating demo solutions: Ask vendors for their PRIMARY use case. Then demand customer references specifically for YOUR use case. The best “demo automation” tool for your organization might actually be three specialized tools instead of one jack-of-all-trades platform.

What This Means for Your Demo Strategy

Let’s bring this back to what actually matters: building trust with buyers who are already skeptical.

The rep-free preference isn’t about eliminating human interaction. It’s about respecting buyers’ time and giving them the information they need, when they need it, without friction.

Your demo needs to serve multiple masters: the 11 PM self-service researcher, the buying committee reviewing three vendors simultaneously, the champion who needs to share something internally without scheduling another meeting, and yes, the AE who wants to personalize the experience for a high-value enterprise deal.

This is where AI-powered personalization becomes critical. Not AI that writes generic emails at scale, but AI that adapts your demo experience to match each buyer’s specific context, industry, role, and use case, whether they’re engaging with a rep or not.

Platforms like Walnut enable exactly this kind of adaptive demo experience. Our AI technology can customize messaging for different personas automatically, while InsightsAI shows you which parts of your demo actually drive engagement and which ones prospects skip.

The Bottom Line

61% of buyers prefer rep-free experiences because 69% don’t trust reps to give them accurate information.

Fix the information gap, and you fix the trust gap.

That starts with ensuring your demo, the most product-revealing asset you have, is always current, always relevant, and always accessible across every channel where buyers are researching.

Because in a world where prospects are actively avoiding irrelevant outreach, the companies that win will be the ones whose demos do the qualification work before a rep ever gets involved.

---

Key Takeaways

• 61% of B2B buyers prefer rep-free buying experiences, primarily due to trust issues with sales rep information accuracy
• 73% actively avoid sellers who send irrelevant outreach, making first impressions critical
• 69% report inconsistencies between vendor websites and what sellers tell them, creating fundamental trust gaps
• B2B buyers now use 7 different channels (4 digital, 3 non-digital) before purchasing decisions
• High-growth companies show up in 17 marketing channels vs 15 for competitors—presence at critical research moments matters
• Demo automation category faces differentiation crisis as vendors oversell to multiple use cases
• Solution: Demos must work seamlessly across all buyer touchpoints without requiring sales intervention

---

FAQ

Why do 61% of B2B buyers prefer rep-free experiences?

It’s not that buyers hate human interaction, they don’t trust sales reps to provide accurate, consistent information. 69% of buyers report inconsistencies between vendor websites and what sellers tell them, creating fundamental trust issues.

How many channels do B2B buyers use before making a purchase?

The average B2B buyer now uses 7 different channels (4 digital, 3 non-digital) before making a purchase decision, with an average sales cycle of 4.6 months.

What’s the biggest demo automation buying mistake?

Choosing a “jack-of-all-trades” platform that claims to serve marketing tours, sales demos, and SE sandboxes equally well. Ask vendors for their PRIMARY use case and demand customer references specifically for your use case.

How should demos adapt to the rep-free buying preference?

Your demo needs to work seamlessly across every channel where buyers research: website embeds, email shares, mobile browsers, Slack messages, and boardroom presentations—without requiring a sales call to understand the product.

What separates high-growth companies in demo strategy?

High-growth orgs leverage 17 marketing channels vs 15 for non-growth companies. They ensure their demos are accessible and optimized for every potential buyer touchpoint, not just scheduled sales calls.

How do you build trust when buyers avoid sales outreach?

Start with demo quality and consistency. Ensure your product demonstrations provide accurate, up-to-date information that aligns perfectly with your marketing materials, eliminating the information gaps that destroy buyer trust.

---

Sources: Gartner B2B Buyer Survey 2025, TrustRadius Marketing Trends Report, TestBox State of Demo Automation 2025