{"id":559601,"date":"2026-07-16T15:21:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T15:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.harrisburgnewsnow.com\/news\/story\/559601\/67-of-b2b-buyers-want-a-repfree-experience-most-demos-still-require-booking-a-call.html"},"modified":"2026-07-16T15:21:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T15:21:12","slug":"67-of-b2b-buyers-want-a-repfree-experience-most-demos-still-require-booking-a-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.honolulunewsnow.com\/news\/story\/559601\/67-of-b2b-buyers-want-a-repfree-experience-most-demos-still-require-booking-a-call.html","title":{"rendered":"67% of B2B Buyers Want a Rep-Free Experience, Most Demos Still Require Booking a Call"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"67%<\/a><\/div>\n
Industry research reveals that B2B buyers increasingly prefer self-guided software evaluations, yet most vendors still require sales calls to access product demos. Inkly explains how AI-powered demo agents are closing this gap by delivering interactive, personalized product experiences without requiring immediate sales involvement.<\/div>\n

New industry data shows a widening gap between how B2B buyers want to evaluate software and how most companies still gate access to product demos<\/p>\n

A growing body of research shows most B2B buyers now prefer to explore a product on their own before ever speaking with a salesperson, yet the majority of vendors still require booking a call just to see how the product works.<\/p>\n

According to Gartner’s most recent sales survey, 67% of B2B buyers say they prefer a rep-free buying experience: evaluating solutions without direct interaction from a salesperson, at least for the early stages of research. But supply hasn’t caught up to that demand: separate research from Forrester found only 44% of B2B buyers currently have access to a self-directed demo before making contact with a vendor.<\/p>\n

The gap sits squarely between what buyers say they want and what most product and sales teams are set up to offer them.<\/p>\n

“Buyers have made it clear they want to evaluate on their own terms before talking to anyone<\/strong>,” said Aileen Wu, Founder of<\/strong> Inkly<\/a>. “Most companies are still asking them to book a meeting just to find out if the product is worth their time.”<\/p>\n

A more nuanced picture emerges from the data<\/p>\n

The research doesn’t suggest buyers want to eliminate sales conversations altogether. Gartner’s findings show that while buyers favor self-service for general research and early learning, they still turn to sellers when a decision requires judgment, for example, determining whether a product genuinely fits their company’s specific needs.<\/p>\n

That distinction matters for how companies design their demo experience. Static product tours and prerecorded walkthroughs can address the early, self-serve stage of evaluation, but they can’t answer the specific, situational questions that come up as buyers get further into the evaluation. These are questions that today typically require a live rep.<\/p>\n

Where AI demo agents fit in<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is the gap Inkly was built to close. Rather than a scripted click-through demo, Inkly deploys an AI-guided demo agent that lets prospects explore a product, ask questions in natural language, and get answers specific to their use case, without needing a rep on the call to do it.<\/p>\n

“Self-serve doesn’t have to mean generic,”<\/strong> said Aileen Wu, Founder of Inkly. “The goal isn’t to remove the human from the process; it’s to let buyers get further on their own before a human needs to step in.”<\/p>\n

Inkly’s platform captures what buyers ask, click, and get stuck on during these self-guided sessions, giving sales teams the context to make the eventual human conversation, when it happens, sharper and faster.<\/p>\n

About Inkly<\/strong><\/p>\n

Inkly is the AI demo agent <\/a>for go-to-market teams. It lets prospects explore, ask questions, and discover product value on their own, 24\/7, before ever booking a call, while giving sales and marketing teams visibility into what buyers actually care about. Learn more at inklyai.dev.<\/p>\n

Media Contact<\/span>
Company Name:<\/strong> Inkly<\/a>
Contact Person:<\/strong> Aileen Wu
Email:<\/strong> Send Email<\/a>
Address:<\/strong>82 S Gould St
City:<\/strong> Sheridan, 82801
State:<\/strong> WY
Country:<\/strong> United States
Website:<\/strong> https:\/\/www.inklyai.dev\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Industry research reveals that B2B buyers increasingly prefer self-guided software evaluations, yet most vendors still require sales calls to access product demos. Inkly explains how AI-powered demo agents are closing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.honolulunewsnow.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559601"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.honolulunewsnow.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.honolulunewsnow.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.honolulunewsnow.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.honolulunewsnow.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=559601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.honolulunewsnow.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559601\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.honolulunewsnow.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=559601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.honolulunewsnow.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=559601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.honolulunewsnow.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=559601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}