Think you control the buyer journey? Think again... | Why LLMs and influencers are in the driving seat, with John Rockhold of Spotlight

The winning vendor is usually already on the buyer's shortlist before a single sales conversation happens, and increasingly, it isn't a salesperson or a website that put them there. It's a large language model, quietly checking what real people are already saying about you.

John Rockhold, VP of Market Engagement at Spotlight, joins Joel Harrison to unpack Influence Orchestration, Spotlight's new research into how buying preference now forms in AI answer engines, peer communities and analyst conversations, long before a deal ever reaches a pipeline. John's team interviewed 23 leaders who build and measure B2B influence, reviewed 27 published studies of buyer behaviour, and analysed millions of AI engine answers and citations across B2B technology categories. The conversation also draws on Spotlight Summit, the event John's team ran in Kansas City the week this episode was recorded, where Joel spoke alongside Bijou Barry, Megan Burns and other voices shaping this shift.

What you'll learn

Why buyer preference now largely forms out of sight, in AI prompt windows, peer conversations and communities, before a vendor even knows a deal existsWhat separates the vendors AI answer engines actually recommend from the ones they ignoreWhy earned trust compounds over time, while paid attention resets the moment you stop paying for itWho should really own influence inside a B2B company, and why almost nobody does todayWhat to check in your own AI visibility on Monday morning, and what to do if you don't like what you find

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Chapters

00:00 Introduction: the shortlist is already written

01:47 Welcome, John Rockhold

02:08 Inside Spotlight Summit

04:22 What Spotlight does, and where the report began

08:25 Why “Influence Orchestration”

11:22 The day one shortlist: 95% and what it means for the buyer journey