The 95/5 rule: reaching future B2B buyers

Where does 95/5 come from?

John Dawes of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute set out the argument in a report published with LinkedIn’s B2B Institute in 2021. If organisations buy from a category once every five years, roughly 20% buy in a year, or 5% in a quarter when purchases are evenly spread. The remaining 95% do not buy during that quarter.

Dawes describes the ratio as a guide rather than a precise rule and suggests calculating it for the category in question. The time period matters: a quarterly share does not describe the number of active buyers on a particular day.

Being considered when the search begins

In 6sense’s 2025 Buyer Experience Report, 95% of studied purchases went to a supplier on the initial shortlist. Nearly 4,000 buyers across North America, EMEA and Asia-Pacific reported purchases worth at least $25,000 made in the previous two years.

The survey does not isolate a campaign’s effect or represent every market. It does suggest a useful question: what do potential buyers already know about the company before sales is contacted? Previous experience, recommendations and information encountered earlier can all be worth examining.

The practical aim is to make a relevant capability recognisable. That requires choosing problems the company can explain well and showing how it addresses them. Publishing more is only useful if the material helps with that task.

Be remembered in a relevant buying situation

Jenni Romaniuk of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute describes mental availability as how easily a brand comes to mind in buying situations. Category entry points are the circumstances that cue that recall. The question extends beyond name recognition: when would a buyer think of this company?

For an IT migration company, replacing a system without interrupting service would be an illustrative situation to examine. Expert reasoning can help people understand the problem; documented implementations then help them assess the supplier’s capability. Familiarity and credibility have complementary roles. Remembering a name does not establish that the supplier can deliver.

A continuing presence can combine advertising, specialist media, events, recommendations and accessible content. Choose the situations the company wants to be associated with, then create consistent opportunities to encounter its name and knowledge. This is an application of mental availability to influence planning, not a claim that each publication creates a measurable memory.

Plan for future buyers as well as active projects

For leadership, 95/5 raises a question of timing: what place is the company preparing in decisions that do not yet exist? Between projects, it can help people recognise a problem, understand options and identify its capabilities. During a tender, those foundations need to be developed through costs, timing, delivery conditions and references.

A documented case can explain the original problem, the constraints and the implementation choices. An expert interview can address a difficulty buyers regularly encounter. Both can be useful before a sales enquiry arrives and remain available when a project starts.

Combine these ongoing explanations with known renewal dates. Review the audiences reached, the questions received and the documents used in sales conversations. The ratio does not dictate a budget split; it helps explain why immediate enquiries cannot be the only measure of this work.

In large B2B markets, preparation also concerns advisers, partners and people who help shape the criteria used by the industry. A purchase-frequency calculation does not measure their role. It nevertheless leaves a reason to look beyond people who already declare an immediate project.

What the estimate assumes

The time between purchases differs from the time needed to choose a supplier. A contract renewed every three years may involve several months of comparison beforehand. Dividing a quarter by the contract interval estimates purchases in that period, not the number of organisations already considering their options.

Seasonal renewals, new entrants, additional purchases and regulatory changes can all affect demand. An annual average will conceal these concentrations. The customers in a CRM may also differ from the wider market: they describe the known customer base, not every organisation the company could serve.