Scott Gillum on the hidden buyer journey in B2B marketing

In this conversation, Kevin Lee (E‑Marketing Association) sits down with Scott Gillum, author of The Hidden Buyer Journey, to unpack what really drives B2B purchase decisions beneath the dashboards and attribution models. Scott explains why traditional B2B personas are often just “selling scenarios,” and how personality types, emotions, trust, and credibility actually shape complex, multi‑stakeholder deals. Drawing on research across 15 industries, he shows how “birds of a feather flock together” — certain roles and industries consistently attract similar personality types, which opens the door to mass personalization at scale. They discuss: How personality and emotion influence the real B2B buyer journey Using DISC and AI‑based profiling to understand buying groups and mobilizers Why trust, credibility, and “hope” often outweigh features at the moment of decision The shift from volume to conversion‑focused marketing and sales Human‑to‑human selling in an AI‑saturated world What modern CMOs, CROs, and GTM teams should prioritize this year