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The people who co-decide on your contract read along long before they talk to you

In many companies, people who never talk to sales have a say in buying decisions. A study by Edelman and LinkedIn shows that they read anyway. In five charts, I show who these hidden decision-makers are and how to reach them with thought leadership.

Aug 4, 2026 · 3 min read
by Martin Reza Tschapke
Meeting room behind a glass wall, with four people at a long table

If you sell to companies, you usually talk to one person: the head of marketing, the workshop manager, the managing director. But decisions are often also made in the background, by people from finance, procurement or legal. They don’t know your offer in detail, and you don’t know them. They read anyway.

Hidden decision-makers read as much as the specialists

Every year, Edelman and LinkedIn ask executives how thought leadership influences their buying decisions. In 2025, they separated two groups for the first time: target decision-makers, who are involved as experts for a product, and hidden decision-makers. These are people who have a say but represent another function, such as finance, procurement, legal or compliance.

The result: both groups read almost the same amount. 63 % of hidden decision-makers spend more than an hour a week on thought leadership, 55 % use it to vet providers. And 64 % trust it more than marketing materials.

Paired bars comparing hidden and target decision-makers: read thought leadership for over an hour a week 63 and 64 percent, vet providers with it 55 and 56, more effective than advertising 71 and 73, trust it more than marketing materials 64 and 65, pointed to a provider by their own C-suite 35 and 41 percent.
Survey of 1,934 executives in the US, 2025.

One caveat: the respondents were executives in the US, all reached via LinkedIn. The study measured the effect of thought leadership in general, not of LinkedIn as a channel. In 2024, the same study covered seven countries, including Germany. There too, just over half of decision-makers read thought leadership for at least an hour a week, and 73 % considered it more trustworthy than marketing materials.

They rarely talk to sales

The difference lies elsewhere. 71 % of hidden decision-makers have little or no contact with sales. So they get to know a provider mainly through what it publishes. The effect is correspondingly large: 95 % are more open to being contacted after strong thought leadership, and 79 % are more likely to advocate for that provider in the selection process.

Three key figures on hidden decision-makers: 71 percent have little or no contact with sales, 95 percent are more open to contact after strong thought leadership, 79 percent are more likely to advocate for that provider in the selection process.
Survey of 1,934 executives in the US, 2025.

In the end, understanding the problem wins

What tips the balance in the final choice? For 85 % of hidden decision-makers, it’s important that a provider understands their own challenges. Whether it’s seen as the safest choice matters to only 41 %. And 53 % of all respondents say: when a provider publishes strong thought leadership, its brand recognition matters less.

Bar chart, important in the final choice of a provider for hidden decision-makers: understands our challenges 85 percent, understands industry trends 76, is a leading expert 74, strategic fit 68, cultural fit 56, safest choice 41 percent.
Hidden decision-makers, survey in the US, 2025.

For the self-employed and small firms, that’s good news. It’s hard to compete with the brand recognition of large agencies or consultancies. With their expertise, you can, if you make yours visible.

Most aren’t buying now, but later

Why this pays off even when nobody inquires right away is explained by marketing researcher John Dawes’ 95-5 rule. If a company switches a service provider about every five years on average, only around 5 % are looking in any given quarter. Up to 95 % aren’t buying right now. Dawes himself calls it a rule of thumb. But the direction is clear: those who aren’t looking today will later choose someone they know by then.

Grid of 100 squares, 5 of them green: with a provider switch about every five years, around 5 percent of business clients are looking in a quarter, around 20 percent in a year.
Worked example based on John Dawes, Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, 2021.

Writing for people you never meet

The study also shows how hidden decision-makers recognize good content. 91 % see it as a sign of quality when a piece points out challenges or opportunities they hadn’t recognized. 86 % prefer ideas that challenge their assumptions. And 65 % like a human, less formal tone. The gap to practice is large: in 2024, only 15 % of decision-makers rated the thought leadership they read as very good or excellent.

Three cards with features of good thought leadership: show the unseen (91 percent see this as a sign of quality), challenge assumptions (86 percent), write like a human (65 percent), each with an example sentence.
Hidden decision-makers, survey in the US, 2025. Examples: own.

Where to start

  1. Name the hidden decision-makers. Who has a say in your projects without you ever meeting them? For a new website, it’s often the management or accounting, for consulting, procurement.
  2. Answer their questions. What does it cost, what does it deliver, what’s the risk? One post per question, understandable without expert knowledge.
  3. Take a position. Better a clear thesis with reasons than a list of tips you can find anywhere.
  4. Keep going. Most people read today and buy later. Better one post a week that you sustain than three that stop after a month.

I help the self-employed, coaches and small firms present their expertise so that it also reaches people who never talk to them: with a clear personal brand and content for social media. If you’d like to talk about it, get in touch.

Sources

  1. Edelman & LinkedIn (2025): 2025 B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report. Survey of 1,934 executives in the US, March/April 2025. edelman.com
  2. Edelman & LinkedIn (2024): 2024 B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report. Survey of 3,484 people in seven countries, including Germany. edelman.com
  3. Dawes, J. (2021): Advertising effectiveness and the 95-5 rule: most B2B buyers are not in the market right now. LinkedIn B2B Institute. linkedin.com

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