Overview of McKinsey & Company research: The economics of B2B growth. What it takes to thrive and how events contribute.

The McKinsey research on B2B growth is a strong validation of something top performing field marketers have known for years: events are not being replaced by digital, they are becoming more important than ever as part of an integrated revenue engine.

Key Takeaways from the Study

1. The New B2B Growth Formula

According to McKinsey, companies outperforming their peers are building growth around three connected capabilities:

1. Hyperpersonalization – highly tailored experiences for individual accounts
2. AI at scale – using AI to improve targeting, engagement, and execution
3. Sales-led account governance (ABM) – clear ownership and accountability for revenue

The real advantage doesn’t come from any one capability. It comes from integrating all three into a unified commercial system.

2. Buyers Still Want Human Interaction

One of the most important findings:

B2B buyers divide their interactions almost equally across in-person, remote, and digital channels.

McKinsey calls this the “Rule of Thirds.”

Buyers use an average of 10 channels during the purchasing journey and expect to move seamlessly between them.

Translation:

• Digital is essential.
• AI is essential.
• But human relationships remain equally important.

In fact, McKinsey reinforces the idea that:

“Business moves at the speed of trust.”

For complex enterprise purchases, buyers continue to prefer human interactions when stakes, deal size, and risk increase.

This is exactly where field marketing and events create disproportionate value.

3. Events Are a Major Differentiator for Personalization

McKinsey found the largest performance differences between leaders and laggards occur during:

• Social engagement
• Chatbot interactions
• Events

Why?

Because events create opportunities for:

• Account-specific experiences
• Executive engagement
• Industry-specific conversations
• Peer networking
• Product demonstrations
• Trust-building moments

The highest-performing companies are no longer running generic events. They are creating highly personalized experiences for strategic accounts and buying committees.

4. Sales and Marketing Alignment Is No Longer Optional

One of the strongest findings in the study:

Organizations with sales-led ownership of ABM activities were significantly more likely to achieve higher revenue growth.

McKinsey found that market leaders:

• Assign clear account ownership
• Align incentives across teams
• Measure account-level performance
• Integrate marketing activities directly into sales motions

The takeaway for field marketers:

Events should not operate as standalone marketing programs.

The most effective programs are built jointly with:

• Sales leadership
• AEs
• SDRs
• Customer Success
• RevOps

When sales owns the account strategy and marketing owns the experience strategy, pipeline acceleration becomes measurable and repeatable.

5. AI Makes Events More Effective, Not Less Relevant

The study positions AI as an amplifier—not a replacement for human engagement.

AI enables:

• Better account selection
• Personalized invitations
• Meeting recommendations
• Content customization
• Follow-up prioritization
• Pipeline analysis

But the actual relationship-building still happens through conversations, meetings, executive roundtables, dinners, and customer events.

The winning formula is:

AI + Personalization + Human Connection

Not one or the other.

https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/the-surprising-economics-of-b2b-growth-the-new-survival-threshold-and-what-it-takes-to-thrive