Why 75% of Buyers Don’t Want Reps and How Framemaking Can Win Them Back (with Brent Adamson)

In a recent Gartner survey, 75% of B2B buyers said they’d
prefer a rep-free buying experience. That’s a wake-up
call for sales and marketing leaders everywhere.


So, is this the end of sales as we know it… or the start of
something better?


On this episode of the B2B Roundtable Podcast, I sit down with my
friend Brent Adamson, co-author of The
Challenger Sale and author of the new book The Framemaking Sale.
Brent explains why buyer confidence—not more information—is the
real barrier to closing big deals today, and how leaders can help
their teams become the sellers customers actually want to talk
to.


Brent Adamson on Framemaking and the Future of Sales
Key Takeaways


Buyers want confidence, not more information.
The real risk isn’t being ignored—it’s being irrelevant.


Framemaking is the answer. Instead of
persuading, sellers must help buyers frame decisions and build
confidence in themselves.


Four forces undermine confidence today:
decision complexity, information overload, objective
misalignment, and outcome uncertainty.


Sales and marketing must unite. The mission is
to build buyer confidence in themselves—not just in the
supplier.


AI won’t replace sellers, but it raises the
bar. The sellers who thrive will show up as trusted
guides and sense-makers.

Pull Quotes

“It’s not your customer’s confidence in you that matters. It’s
their confidence in themselves.” — Brent Adamson


“If you could be the one seller your customer actually wants to
talk to, that’s an incredible place to be.” — Brent Adamson
Guest Bio

Brent Adamson is a researcher, speaker, and
author best known for co-authoring The Challenger Sale. His new
book, The Framemaking Sale, explores how sales professionals can
rebuild buyer confidence and create customer interactions that
truly add value.


Connect with Brent on LinkedIn


Get the Book: The Framemaking Sale
Full Transcript

Brian Carroll:
Welcome to the B2B Roundtable Podcast, where we bring together
ideas, people, and strategies shaping the future of sales and
marketing.


Today, I’m joined by my friend Brent Adamson,
one of the most influential voices in sales. You may know Brent
from his groundbreaking book The Challenger Sale, which
reshaped how we think about commercial conversations.


I’m excited because we’re talking about his new book, The
Framemaking Sale. And it couldn’t come at a more urgent time. In
a recent survey, 75% of B2B buyers said they’d
prefer to purchase without ever talking to a sales
rep. Is this the end of sales as we know it—or
could it be the start of something better?


Brian Carroll:
We’re going to talk about why buyers have lost confidence in
sales, what’s driving this shift, what it really means to be a
framemaker, how leaders like CMOs and VPs of Sales can build
teams customers actually want to talk to, and what the future of
selling looks like in an AI-driven world. Brent, you open your
book with that stat—75% of B2B buyers would prefer a rep-free
buying experience. That’s wild.


Brent Adamson:
First of all, it’s great to see you, Brian. Thanks for the
invite. That statistic comes from Gartner research, one of the
last pieces I worked on before leaving in 2022. We asked
thousands of B2B buyers: “If you could buy a large complex
solution without ever talking to a sales rep, would you prefer
that?” Seventy-five percent said yes.


Now, that doesn’t mean they actually buy without sellers—it means
they’d prefer not to. The data shows a
big and growing gap between customer preference and
customer reality. That gap represents risk for sellers.


Brian Carroll:
So it’s not the end of sales—it’s the end of salespeople not
adding value.


Brent Adamson:
Exactly. The question at the heart of this book is
simple: What would it take to be the one seller—or the one
team—that customers actually do want to talk to? If you can
be that person—showing up less like a seller and more like a
human—you can differentiate not only from competitors but also
from the overwhelming flood of information customers already
face.
Buyers Don’t Want More Info, They Want Confidence

Brian Carroll:
What are the ways sellers unintentionally undermine buyer
confidence?


Brent Adamson:
One of the biggest findings is around decision
confidence. When customers feel highly confident in
their decisions, they are up to 10x more
likely to make a high-quality, low-regret purchase.


But most sales and marketing teams focus on building confidence
in the supplier— “trust us, our brand, our product.” What
actually matters more is the buyer’s confidence
in themselves.


The real opportunity is helping customers feel confident in the
questions they’re asking, the research they’ve done, their
alignment as a team, and their ability to execute. That’s what
Framemaking is all about.


Brian Carroll:
Can you define Framemaking? How is it different from Challenger
Selling?


Brent Adamson:
Framemaking is about creating the context—or “frame”—that helps
customers make sense of complexity and move forward with
confidence.


It’s built around two key moves: prompting and
bounding.


Prompting = introducing ideas or perspectives they may
not have considered.

Bounding = narrowing focus so they can prioritize what
matters most.



Together, those moves create a frame that gives customers
both ease and agency—the decision feels
simpler, and they feel like they made it.


Challenger is part of this lineage—it’s about teaching and
reframing—but in today’s world of overwhelming content, simply
adding more insights isn’t enough. Customers don’t need another
“smart idea.” They need help making sense of all the smart ideas
already on the table.
Four Forces Undermining Buyer Confidence

Brent Adamson:
In the book we unpack four big challenges that undermine buyer
confidence:
Decision Complexity – too many people,
too many steps. Information Overload –
endless content, conflicting advice, and AI adding even more noise.
Objective Misalignment – different
stakeholders with competing priorities. Outcome
Uncertainty – even if they believe the solution
works, buyers fear their team won’t implement it well.

The job of a framemaker is to help buyers navigate these
challenges—simplifying, prioritizing, and guiding them without
taking away their sense of ownership.
From Challenger to Framemaker

Brian Carroll:
If I’m a VP of Sales or Marketing, how do I coach my team
differently? How do I stop undermining confidence?


Brent Adamson:
Challenger was about showing up with powerful insights. That
still matters, but in today’s content-saturated world, simply
adding more insights can overwhelm customers further.


What buyers need now isn’t just more ideas—they need help
making sense of all the ideas. That’s
where Framemaking comes in. It’s not about proving how smart you
are; it’s about helping customers feel smart and confident in
themselves.


Brian Carroll:
That word—sensemaking—is powerful. Buyers are overwhelmed. They
don’t want another rep adding noise. They want someone to help
them make sense of it all.


Brent Adamson:
Exactly. And that’s the opportunity. Show up as the one person
who helps buyers cut through complexity and feel good about
moving forward. That’s how you become the rep they actually want
to talk to.
A Story of Framemaking in Action

Brent Adamson:
One of my favorite examples is from a sales rep we call “Tara.”
She sold human capital management solutions. In a discovery
meeting with the head of HR, she suggested bringing procurement
into the conversation early.


Most reps would avoid procurement until late in the process. But
Tara said: “In working with other customers like you, we’ve
found that when procurement gets involved earlier, things go much
smoother. You might consider inviting them now.”


That simple nudge reframed the process, avoided future
roadblocks, and built customer confidence. That’s Framemaking in
action—it doesn’t have to be grand. Sometimes it’s just a
well-placed phrase that frames the decision differently.
Marketing’s Role in Framemaking

Brian Carroll:
What role does marketing play in this shift?


Brent Adamson:
A huge one. Marketing can gather stories, lessons, and pitfalls
from customers and feed them back into sales plays and content.
Instead of just creating thought leadership about the supplier,
marketing can create confidence content—tools, checklists,
benchmarks, diagnostics—that help buyers feel more confident in
themselves.


Imagine win-loss analysis focused not on why customers chose you,
but on what they wish they’d done differently in their buying
journey. That insight is gold. It can shape sales plays, create
powerful collateral, and make your content strategy far more
valuable.
AI and the Future of Selling

Brian Carroll:
With AI moving so fast, what does the future of sales look like?


Brent Adamson:
AI can surface options, compare vendors, and even create
frameworks. But at the end of the day, customers are still human.
After all the data, many will say, “I just wish I could talk
to someone.”


The sellers who thrive will be the ones who become that
“someone”—the trusted guide who helps customers feel clarity,
confidence, and connection. That’s the future of sales.
Closing Thoughts

Brian Carroll:
Brent, you landed it. At the core, this is about empathy and
human connection.


Brent Adamson:
Yes. There’s never been a better alignment between doing what’s
right for sales and doing what’s right for humanity. If you want
to hit quota, win big deals, and earn that President’s Club
trophy, the way to do it is by helping customers feel confident
in themselves.


Brian Carroll:
And that’s what The Framemaking Sale is all about. If
you want to dive deeper, get a copy—it’s packed with strategies,
stories, and tactics that will change the way you sell.


Brent, thanks as always for joining me.


Brent Adamson:
I appreciate you, man.


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