Up to 40% of B2B deals stall because of hidden buyers.

That’s the headline finding from the latest Edelman–LinkedIn B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report. And if you work in enterprise sales, policy innovation, or scaling a fast-growth business, you already know the frustration: a deal looks promising, momentum builds, then suddenly — it goes cold.

It’s not always the buyer you can see who blocks progress. It’s the ones you can’t.

Who are the hidden buyers?

Hidden buyers are senior stakeholders — in finance, legal, procurement, or the C-suite — who hold decisive influence over whether a deal moves forward. They rarely appear in CRM pipelines, seldom take sales calls, and are almost impossible to reach through traditional ABM tactics.

Yet, according to Edelman–LinkedIn’s research, they:

• Consume just as much thought leadership as functional buyers (63–64% spend over an hour a week engaging with it).
• Prefer bold, perspective-shifting ideas over checklists (86% want fresh perspectives that challenge assumptions).
• Value accessible, human content — quick takeaways, conversational tone, visually distinct formats.
• Can become champions for lesser-known brands, often leveling the playing field against better-known incumbents.

In other words: if you want to reach hidden buyers, you can’t rely on sales. You need thought leadership.

Why thought leadership is a GTM strategy, not just “content”

Too often, thought leadership is treated as a marketing checkbox — publish a white paper, host a webinar, call it done. But the data shows something different:

• 95% of hidden buyers say strong thought leadership makes them more receptive to sales outreach.
• 71% trust thought leadership more than conventional sales decks or product sheets when assessing a supplier’s capabilities.
• During the RFP stage, 79% are more likely to champion a proposal from companies that consistently produce high-quality thought leadership.

This isn’t content for content’s sake. It’s about shaping the conversations that happen behind closed doors, where deals are won or lost.

The touchpoint reality

Hockeystack’s research confirms this. In B2B SaaS sales, it takes on average:

• 54 touchpoints and 700+ LinkedIn impressions to move from awareness to MQL.
• 87 touchpoints to progress from MQL to SQL.
• 81 touchpoints to close the deal.

That’s more than 220 interactions, spread across months and multiple stakeholders.

Without strategic thought leadership, those interactions default to noise. With it, every touchpoint can work harder — planting bold ideas, building credibility, and winning trust with both visible and hidden buyers.

What this means for leaders

For government innovators, enterprise strategists, scaleup founders, and startup CMOs, the lesson is clear:

• Government agencies: Thought leadership can demystify new ideas for procurement officers and policy stakeholders who don’t want to be “sold to.”
• Enterprises: It bridges the credibility gap with resistant functions like risk, finance, or compliance.
• Scaleups: It’s a way to punch above your weight, outshining bigger competitors with sharper ideas.
• Startups: It accelerates credibility when you don’t yet have market recognition.

Innovation on purpose, applied to GTM

At Disruptors Co, we don’t see thought leadership as a separate marketing exercise. We see it as a strategic lever in go-to-market — tightly aligned with revenue operations, customer journeys, and innovation strategy.

That means:

• Helping leaders develop bold narratives that challenge assumptions.
• Translating those narratives into formats that hidden buyers actually consume.
• Integrating thought leadership with sales enablement and RevOps to measure its impact on deals.

Because in today’s market, thought leadership isn’t optional. It’s how you win over the buyers you can’t see.

If hidden buyers are stalling your deals, it’s time to rethink your GTM strategy. Let’s talk about how thought leadership can move your bold ideas past the blockers and into the market.