New Walker Sands Research Reveals Major B2B Growth Maturity Gap

95% of B2B leaders say their marketing approach must significantly evolve to further align teams, strategies, systems and measurement

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nearly all B2B leaders (98%) say their organization clearly understands what modern, mature B2B marketing looks like. Yet, 95% still say their current marketing approach needs significant evolution to compete with the most advanced B2B and B2C brands, revealing a substantial divide between growth ambition and execution.

That gap is at the center of new research from Walker Sands, an integrated marketing and growth services agency helping B2B brands turn disconnected channel activity into measurable business outcomes.

The 2026 B2B Growth Maturity Assessment — based on a survey of 200 U.S.-based senior marketing, sales, growth and business leaders working at B2B organizations generating more than $100 million in annual revenue — examines the barriers preventing mid-market and enterprise brands from turning go-to-market (GTM) strategy into predictable business growth. Among them: disconnected systems, measurement gaps and limited cross-functional alignment between marketing, sales and business leadership.

In particular, the report finds that a limited ability to orchestrate marketing and sales efforts across the full buyer journey (29%) and difficulty aligning marketing, sales and business teams (28%) are the two most common internal challenges limiting organizational growth.

Those challenges carry greater stakes as expectations for immediate business results rise. Most (92%) B2B leaders agree they face increased pressure to deliver short-term revenue, while 89% say misalignment between marketing, sales and business leadership makes it harder to balance those short-term demands with long-term growth priorities.

“The biggest barriers to B2B growth aren’t always obvious in isolation,” said Erin Spanski, Senior Vice President, Insights + Strategy at Walker Sands. “But when organizations look to align brand, demand and revenue, existing gaps start to reinforce fragmented decision-making, competing business goals and conflicting priorities across teams. Over time, these disconnects make it harder for leaders to execute against a shared growth strategy, and easier for short-term revenue pressures to pull focus from opportunities that can drive sustainable growth and real business outcomes."

Additional highlights from The 2026 B2B Growth Maturity Assessment include:

• 48% of B2B leaders rate their organization's level of growth maturity as high performing
• 53% strongly agree their marketing organization has reached a level of maturity that allows it to operate effectively at scale across an increasingly complex set of channels and touchpoints
• 56% are very confident their organization's marketing approach is keeping pace with modern B2B buyer expectations
• 51% strongly agree their organization's marketing measurement accurately reflects revenue impact
• When asked where they expect to increase investment most over the next year, B2B leaders ranked AI-enabled marketing operations and automation first, and measurement frameworks that connect marketing activity to pipeline and revenue second

The research also reveals a disconnect between the business outcomes marketing is expected to deliver and the influence the function has over factors that determine those outcomes.

Nearly nine out of 10 (89%) B2B leaders say marketing is expected to drive revenue outcomes without having full control over the levers that influence them, and less than half (45%) say executive leadership views marketing as a core driver of the company’s growth strategy.

What’s more, 67% of marketing leaders struggle to understand which business outcomes their C-suite/executive team expect marketing to influence in the first place — and nearly four out of five (79%) struggle to demonstrate the impact of their marketing activities on business success to company leaders.

“When marketing teams struggle to understand and demonstrate the impact of their work, it’s easy to focus on measurement as the problem. But our research suggests these challenges are symptoms of something bigger,” said Spanski. “B2B leaders across marketing, sales and executive teams must align GTM strategy and the systems that support it. Strategy without the right systems is difficult to scale and measure; systems without shared strategic direction generate activity without a clear connection to business outcomes. Sustainable growth requires both pieces to work as one with operationalization across the full buyer lifecycle.”

Collectively, these findings point to a broader B2B growth maturity issue: GTM strategy and the systems required to activate and improve it are too often disconnected. That makes it harder to coordinate execution, measure performance, and connect brand and demand activity to revenue.

Closing this gap requires B2B organizations to advance GTM strategy and systems as parts of the same GTM engine. As a result, organizations will see stronger alignment across teams, shared accountability, clearer coordination toward business outcomes and an increased ability to use performance insights to inform future growth decisions.

Walker Sands developed the report as part of its Outcome-based Marketing (OBM) approach, which helps B2B brands align sales, marketing and executive direction around a North Star business goal and unified GTM engine.

To read the full 2026 B2B Growth Maturity Assessment, click here.

About Walker Sands

Walker Sands is an integrated B2B growth services agency with expertise in strategy, data, content, creative, strategic communications, digital marketing and RevOps. The agency’s Outcome-based Marketing (OBM) approach helps B2B brands grow, build reputation, generate demand, drive engagement and strengthen market position. A 10-time Inc. 5000 honoree, Walker Sands is one of the fastest-growing B2B agencies in the world, proudly serving 100+ clients from offices in Chicago, Seattle and Boston. Learn more at walkersands.com.