Everyone's talking about BGM, but how do you measure maturity? | Analysis from Pretzl's new Buying Group Index

Everyone's talking about buyer group marketing. Far fewer are doing it well, and most organisations have no reliable way of knowing how mature their approach really is. For this sponsored episode, Joel Harrison is joined by Greg Salmon, CEO of Pretzl, and Jeff Lowe, Pretzl's go-to-market advisor and a former CMO and Chief Commercial Officer at SMART Technologies, to unpack the 2026 Buyer Group Index. Produced in association with the ANA and research firm NewtonX, the Index surveyed 200 senior go-to-market leaders and measured 28 practices against commercial outcomes, from pipeline velocity to time to market.➡️ Greg explains why so much of what passes for buyer group marketing is persona-based nurture under a new name, why the single score of the MQL is so comforting and so misleading, and how to reach the hidden influencers and build trust with people a vendor may never meet. He also warns that AI can scale bad assumptions as easily as good ones. Jeff draws on his years client-side to argue that separate sales and marketing teams are an outdated idea, explains why connected data has become a CMO's problem, and sets out what the leading organisations do differently.What You'll LearnWhy so much of what passes for buyer group marketing is persona-based nurture under a new name, and how to tell the difference.How to identify the hidden influencers in a buying group and build trust with people you may never meet.Why AI is speeding up go-to-market activity without automatically improving growth, and what to do about how AI represents your brand.Why connected data and genuine sales and marketing alignment are the highest-impact practices, and among the weakest.What the leading organisations do differently, and how to benchmark your own maturity in around 15 minutes.Chapters00:00 Introduction: Pretzl and buyer group marketing01:57 Introducing the 2026 Buyer Group Index03:59 When buyer group marketing is persona nurture by another name04:38 What a maturity score of 63.2 tells us07:01 Why the MQL is so hard to let go of10:06 Who the hidden influencers are11:25 Building trust with people you never meet12:28 Practical step: mapping your buyer group14:57 When most buyer research happens out of sight16:31 Why AI isn't automatically improving growth17:36 How AI represents your brand18:49 Practical step: the next 90 days20:09 Jeff Lowe: from client-side to Pretzl20:59 Why the real benchmark is lower than 63.222:18 Connected data and the systems gap24:00 Should sales and marketing be one team?26:56 What the leading organisations do differently29:23 Practical step: benchmark your own maturity31:31 Wrap-upFollow Greg Salmon, Jeff Lowe and PretzlGreg Salmon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/greg-salmon-280a1412/Jeff Lowe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jefflowe2/Pretzl: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pretzlco/Take the free Buyer Group Index assessment: [link]If you're responsible for go-to-market and want an honest view of where your organisation stands, this conversation is for you. It's practical, candid and packed with first steps you can act on now.🌐 Visit Joel Harrison's website to explore exclusive reports, upcoming events, and join the B2B marketing community ➡️ https://www.joelharrisonb2b.com/💬 Is your buyer group marketing the real thing, or persona nurture with a new name? Let us know in the comments below.🔔 Subscribe to the channel for weekly insights, interviews, and on-the-ground perspectives from the world of B2B marketing. https://youtube.com/@JoelHarrison-B2B?sub_confirmation=1📲 Follow Joel Harrison and Trust & Influence in B2B across the web: LinkedIn ▶ https://linkedin.com/in/joelharrison/ Podcast ▶ https://trust-influence-in-b2b.captivate.fm/ Instagram ▶ https://instagram.com/joelharrisonb2b/#JoelHarrisonB2B, #B2BMarketing, #ThoughtLeadership, #MarketingPodcast, #B2BInsights, #JoelHarrison, #B2BStrategy, #BuyerGroupMarketing, #BuyerGroups, #GoToMarket, #GTMStrategy, #SalesAndMarketing, #ABM, #RevOps, #AIinMarketing, #CMOLeadership, #B2BGrowth