Think you control the buyer journey? Think again... | Why LLMs and influencers are in the driving seat, with John Rockhold of Spotlight

The winning vendor is usually already on the buyer's shortlist before a single sales conversation happens, and increasingly, it isn't a salesperson or a website that put them there. It's a large language model, quietly checking what real people are already saying about you.John Rockhold, VP of Market Engagement at Spotlight, joins Joel Harrison to unpack Influence Orchestration, Spotlight's new research into how buying preference now forms in AI answer engines, peer communities and analyst conversations, long before a deal ever reaches a pipeline. John's team interviewed 23 leaders who build and measure B2B influence, reviewed 27 published studies of buyer behaviour, and analysed millions of AI engine answers and citations across B2B technology categories. The conversation also draws on Spotlight Summit, the event John's team ran in Kansas City the week this episode was recorded, where Joel spoke alongside Bijou Barry, Megan Burns and other voices shaping this shift.What you'll learnWhy buyer preference now largely forms out of sight, in AI prompt windows, peer conversations and communities, before a vendor even knows a deal existsWhat separates the vendors AI answer engines actually recommend from the ones they ignoreWhy earned trust compounds over time, while paid attention resets the moment you stop paying for itWho should really own influence inside a B2B company, and why almost nobody does todayWhat to check in your own AI visibility on Monday morning, and what to do if you don't like what you findIf you find this conversation valuable, please take a moment to subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating or review. It really helps other B2B marketers discover the show.Chapters00:00 Introduction: the shortlist is already written01:47 Welcome, John Rockhold02:08 Inside Spotlight Summit04:22 What Spotlight does, and where the report began08:25 Why “Influence Orchestration”11:22 The day one shortlist: 95% and what it means for the buyer journey15:05 Robots, humans, and the return of intermediaries16:55 The verification loop: how buyers check what the machine tells them19:20 Earned versus owned: the quote, the sidebar, and the flip22:13 Megan Burns and the internal trust problem25:28 Why nobody owns influence, and why that has to change26:42 The 50% ceiling: when owned content collapses your visibility28:20 Three predictions for 2027 and 202833:48 What to check on Monday morning35:15 Does compounding influence favour challengers or incumbents?38:33 What John learned at Spotlight SummitChapter times are taken from the pre-edit transcript. Re-time against the published cut once the final edit is locked.Follow John RockholdLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnrockhold/Spotlight: https://spotlight-io.com/More from Trust & Influence in B2B🌐 Visit Joel Harrison's website to explore exclusive reports, upcoming events, and join the B2B marketing community: https://www.joelharrisonb2b.com/💬 What's the one place your buyers are checking that you haven't thought about yet? Let us know in the comments.🔔 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/#B2BMarketing #TrustAndInfluence #InfluenceOrchestration #AIinMarketing #GEO #AEO #BuyerJourney #AnalystRelations #B2BPodcast #MarketingPodcast #JoelHarrison #Spotlight #JohnRockhold