94% of B2B Buyers Use AI to Research You Before You Ever Reach Out

The shortlist is forming before your SDR sends the first email. New 2026 data shows 94% of B2B buyers use LLMs like ChatGPT during research, 95% of the time the eventual winner was already on the buyer's Day 1 shortlist, and 80% of decision-making happens before a seller enters the room. For GTM teams, this is a category-entry problem disguised as a pipeline problem — if you're not visible in AI-assisted research, you're not losing deals late, you're never getting considered.