Understanding Buying Groups in HubSpot

1. What Is a Buying Group?

A buying group (also called a buying committee) represents the group of people involved in a company’s decision to purchase a product or service.

In HubSpot, a buying group connects:

• Contacts (people involved in the decision)

• Deals (the sales opportunity)

• Companies (the account)

This structure helps sales teams understand who influences the deal, what role each person plays, and how engaged they are throughout the sales process.

---

2. Buying Groups vs. Contact Lists

In short:

• A list answers: “Who fits this filter?”

• A buying group answers: “Who’s driving this specific deal and what’s their role?”

---

3. Buying Roles

Each contact in a buying group can have one or more of these roles:

• Decision Maker – Has final authority to approve or reject the purchase

• Budget Holder – Controls financial approval

• Champion – Supports your product internally

• Influencer – Advises or shapes the decision

• End User – Uses the product daily

• Blocker – Might prevent or delay the purchase

These roles help sales teams prioritise outreach and tailor communication to each stakeholder’s influence level.

---

4. How Buying Groups Work

• Buying groups live inside deal records.

• Each buying group is linked to a specific deal.

• You manually or automatically assign contacts to the group with a buying role.

• You can view engagement metrics (e.g. last contacted date, email opens) per contact.

• Reports can show role coverage (e.g. “Is there a Decision Maker on every deal?”).

---

5. Automation and AI

• HubSpot does not automatically identify Decision Makers or other roles.

• You can use workflows to assign roles based on rules (e.g. job title contains “VP” → Decision Maker).

• If your account uses HubSpot Breeze AI, it can suggest missing or likely roles based on data patterns.

• You cannot enrol an entire buying group directly into workflows or marketing emails, but you can target its members using contact or deal filters.

---

6. Why It Matters

Buying groups give sales and RevOps teams:

• Clear visibility into who is influencing each deal.

• A shared framework for multi-stakeholder selling.

• The ability to report and forecast based on role coverage and engagement.

• Stronger collaboration with marketing in Account-Based Marketing (ABM) strategies.

---

7. Example

Deal: TechCorp – Sales Hub Enterprise
Buying Group Members:

This view gives the sales team clarity on who to engage, how to tailor messaging, and what gaps exist in stakeholder coverage.

---

Key Takeaway

Lists help you find people.
Buying groups help you understand and close with them.

---

Would you like me to format this as a HubSpot knowledge base article layout (with headings, bullet styling, and internal linking placeholders) so you can paste it directly into your HubSpot KB?

Here’s a ready-to-publish version of the article, formatted to HubSpot Knowledge Base standards — clean structure, scannable headings, internal linking placeholders, and consistent tone.
You can copy-paste this directly into your HubSpot KB editor.

---

Understanding Buying Groups in HubSpot

Overview

A buying group (also called a buying committee) represents the team of people involved in a company’s decision to purchase a product or service.

In HubSpot, buying groups connect:

• Contacts – the individuals involved in the purchase

• Deals – the sales opportunities you’re managing

• Companies – the accounts those deals belong to

This setup helps sales teams map stakeholders, track engagement, and understand influence within each deal.

---

Why Buying Groups Matter

Buying decisions in B2B sales rarely involve one person. Buying groups allow sales teams to:

• Identify who influences or approves the deal

• Track engagement and activity by role

• Close gaps (e.g. missing a Budget Holder or Decision Maker)

• Align with marketing for Account-Based Marketing (ABM) strategies

In short, lists tell you who’s in your database, while buying groups tell you who’s making the decision right now.

---

Buying Groups vs. Contact Lists

Key takeaway:

A list shows you potential buyers.
A buying group shows you who’s actually deciding on a deal.

---

Buying Roles

Each contact in a buying group is assigned one or more buying roles to show their influence and responsibility in the decision process.

---

How to Create a Buying Group

1. In your HubSpot account, navigate to Sales → Deals.

2. Open the relevant deal record.

3. Scroll to the Buying Groups section.

4. Click Add Buying Group → Create New Group.

5. Name the group (e.g. TechCorp Sales Hub Buying Committee).

6. Click Add Members and select contacts.

7. Assign a Buying Role to each contact.

8. Save the group.

The buying group will now appear inside the deal, showing all contacts, their roles, and engagement history.

---

Automation and Smart Assignment

HubSpot doesn’t automatically identify who the Decision Maker or Budget Holder is.
However, you can automate or assist the process using workflows and AI suggestions.

Option 1: Workflows

Create a contact-based workflow to set buying roles automatically:

• Trigger: Job title contains “VP” or “Director”

• Action: Set buying role = Decision Maker

You can repeat this for other patterns:

• “CFO” → Budget Holder

• “Ops” or “Manager” → End User / Champion

• “Procurement” → Blocker

Option 2: HubSpot Breeze AI (if available)

If your account includes HubSpot Breeze AI, it can analyse deal and contact data to:

• Suggest missing or likely roles

• Recommend follow-up actions

• Highlight role coverage gaps (e.g. “No Budget Holder assigned”)

---

Reporting and Insights

Once roles are assigned, HubSpot allows you to:

• Track engagement by role (e.g. “Last contact date for Decision Maker”)

• Identify deals missing key roles

• Report on role coverage and influence patterns

• Improve forecast accuracy by focusing on fully mapped buying groups

---

Practical Example

Deal: TechCorp – Sales Hub Enterprise

The buying group view lets sales reps quickly see:

• Who’s engaged

• Who still needs outreach

• Which roles are missing or inactive

---

Important Notes

• Buying groups cannot be enrolled directly in workflows or marketing emails.

• You can still target members of buying groups using contact or deal filters.

• The best approach is to combine structured buying groups with smart workflows and custom reports.

---

Quick Reference Summary

---

Key Takeaway

Lists help you find potential buyers.
Buying groups help you close deals by showing who’s influencing them.