#20: UNDERSTANDING THE COVERT CUSTOMER

Chip Royce, Flywheel Advisors

Time to read: 6 minutes

In today’s digital-first business landscape, a new breed of buyer has emerged—one who operates in the shadows, researches extensively before making contact, and fundamentally challenges traditional B2B sales approaches.

Meet the Covert Customer: the decision-maker who completes up to 80% of their buyer’s journey before ever engaging with your sales team.

This isn’t mere speculation. According to Gartner research, B2B buyers spend only 17% of their purchase journey meeting with potential suppliers, and when multiple suppliers are being considered, your company’s share of that time drops to a mere 5-6%. The implications are profound: your opportunity to influence purchase decisions through direct engagement has shrunk dramatically.

The question isn’t whether Covert Customers exist—it’s how effectively your organization can adapt to this fundamental shift in buying behavior. Let’s decode this enigmatic persona and develop a strategic framework for connection.

Profiling the Covert Customer: Digital Natives Redefining Purchase Pathways

The typical Covert Customer belongs predominantly to the Millennial and Gen Z demographics—digital natives who’ve never known a world without internet access. According to LinkedIn’s B2B Institute, these generations now represent approximately 59% of the global workforce and will control an increasingly significant portion of B2B purchasing decisions by 2025.

Their approach to procurement is marked by several distinctive traits:

• Self-directed research: 77% of B2B buyers state they conduct extensive online research before engaging with vendors (Demand Gen Report)
• Skepticism toward sales messaging: 43% prefer a completely sales-rep-free experience (Gartner)
• Peer validation: 92% trust recommendations from peers over company messaging (Nielsen)
• Multi-platform investigation: The average B2B buyer consumes 13 pieces of content across multiple channels before purchase (FocusVision)

These behaviors create a substantial visibility challenge. Traditional pipeline metrics fail to capture the early-stage activity of these prospects, creating dangerous blind spots in your go-to-market strategy.

The Strategic Implications: Why Traditional Approaches Fail

The Covert Customer phenomenon fundamentally undermines several long-standing B2B sales assumptions:

1. Lead qualification models break down when prospects refuse to self-identify until late stages
2. Marketing attribution becomes problematic when research happens across numerous anonymous touchpoints
3. Sales cycles appear artificially compressed because the early investigation stages remain invisible
4. Competitive intelligence gaps emerge when evaluations happen behind closed doors

This isn’t merely an inconvenience—it represents an existential threat to organizations clinging to outdated customer acquisition frameworks. According to Forrester, companies that fail to adapt to these changing buying dynamics experience 15-30% lower win rates compared to more agile competitors.

The Five-Pillar Framework to Engage the Covert Customer

1. Leverage Advanced Data Analytics to Decode Digital Body Language

The first step in connecting with Covert Customers requires moving beyond basic website analytics to establish a comprehensive digital intelligence system. This means deploying technologies that can identify patterns in anonymous visitor behavior and begin connecting disparate touchpoints into coherent buyer journeys.

• Behavioral intelligence tools that track content consumption patterns
• IP-based visitor identification to recognize company-level engagement
• Intent data subscriptions that reveal research activity across external platforms
• AI-driven predictive models that identify patterns indicating purchase readiness

According to Demand Metric research, companies leveraging advanced behavioral analytics generate 58% more qualified pipeline and close deals 23% faster than those relying on traditional lead generation metrics.

Remember: your data remains inherently incomplete. The signals you gather through these methods represent starting points for hypothesis development, not definitive conclusions about buyer intent.

2. Build Trust Through Radical Transparency and Value-First Engagement

Covert Customers remain hidden partly due to deep skepticism about vendor motivations. Breaking through requires demonstrating an authentic commitment to buyer success rather than transaction-focused relationships.

Successful trust-building strategies include:

• Unbiased comparison content: Creating genuinely balanced product comparisons that acknowledge competitor strengths
• Transparent pricing: Publishing clear pricing information that eliminates the “contact sales” barrier
• Accessible expertise: Offering no-strings consultation opportunities without aggressive qualification
• Customer advocacy platforms: Creating spaces where prospects can directly engage with existing customers without sales interference

The ROI on transparency is compelling. According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, 81% of buyers say trust is a deciding factor in their purchasing decisions, and companies prioritizing trust-building see customer lifetime values increase by up to 306% (Deloitte).

3. Implement Structured Revenue R&D to Test Engagement Hypotheses

The uncertainty surrounding Covert Customer behavior demands a systematic experimental approach. Revenue R&D — the structured testing of go-to-market hypotheses—becomes essential for discovering effective connection strategies.

This process involves:

• Hypothesis formation: Developing testable theories about where Covert Customers gather information and how they evaluate options
• Controlled experiments: Creating parallel market engagement approaches with clear success metrics
• Rapid iteration: Quickly abandoning unsuccessful approaches and scaling promising tactics
• Cross-functional collaboration: Breaking silos between marketing, sales, and product teams to create cohesive customer experiences

Organizations implementing formal Revenue R&D processes see 1.7x higher revenue growth compared to competitors (McKinsey). The key is maintaining experimental discipline—approximately 70% of your tests will fail, but the insights gained prove invaluable for refining your approach.

4. Develop Multi-Channel Distribution Networks to Expand Visibility

Covert Customers actively avoid direct vendor engagement, making third-party channels essential for reaching them during critical research phases. This requires expanding beyond direct sales to cultivate diverse distribution networks.

Effective multi-channel strategies include:

• Industry analyst relationships: Ensuring accurate representation in the research resources buyers trust
• Technology marketplace presence: Maintaining comprehensive profiles on platform evaluation sites
• Strategic channel partnerships: Developing relationships with complementary solution providers
• Community engagement: Participating authentically in industry forums and discussion spaces

The impact is significant. According to Forrester, companies with mature multi-channel strategies achieve 91% higher year-over-year customer retention rates and 3.4x greater annual revenue growth.

5. Adopt Account-Based Marketing to Personalize Anonymous Journeys

When direct identification remains challenging, Account-Based Marketing (ABM) offers a viable alternative by focusing on organizational patterns rather than individual contacts. This company-level targeting allows for personalized outreach even when specific decision-makers remain anonymous.

Effective ABM for Covert Customers includes:

• Firmographic targeting: Creating content specifically addressing industry-specific challenges
• Role-based messaging: Developing resources that speak to functional responsibilities rather than named individuals
• Account-level engagement tracking: Monitoring company-wide interaction patterns to identify purchase signals
• Coordinated outreach: Ensuring consistent experiences across all potential touchpoints within target accounts

The numbers support this approach. According to ITSMA, 87% of B2B marketers report that ABM initiatives outperform other marketing investments in ROI. For targeting Covert Customers specifically, ABM delivers 97% higher conversion rates from target account to closed business.

The Covert Customer isn’t disappearing—they represent the future of B2B buying. While their hidden nature challenges conventional sales and marketing approaches, organizations that successfully adapt gain tremendous competitive advantage.

By leveraging data intelligence, building authentic trust, engaging in systematic experimentation, developing diverse channels, and implementing account-based strategies, forward-thinking companies can transform this challenge into a significant growth opportunity.

Remember: The most successful approaches will emphasize buyer enablement rather than seller control. In the end, Covert Customers aren’t trying to avoid value—they’re seeking to access it on their own terms, free from artificial friction. The companies that recognize and respect this fundamental shift will find themselves winning more often, even when the competition remains fierce.

Chip Royce helps companies decode their Covert Customers and transform invisible prospects into loyal partners.

Reach out to get creative, bespoke ideas how your business can thrive in this new era of hidden decision-makers