Commercial Alignment Audit (CAA)

Are You Signal or Noise to Your Buyers?

The Problem: You can’t see your own blind spots. Buyers research you long before they ever talk to you, in your absence, and form a verdict you never hear.
The Shift: In Barrett’s 2026 research across 229 ANZ B2B organisations, three in four failed the shortlist test, not because their product was inferior, but because their digital footprint read as noise, not signal.
The Solution: The CAA tells you exactly what buyers, and the AI tools they now use to shortlist vendors, find when they look for you, scored against the same four-part framework every time.

Five Questions That Determine Who Wins

Ask yourself these before a competitor answers them first.

1. When a prospect reads your website today, can they see in under 20 seconds what their business will achieve by working with you? Not what you do. What they achieve.
2. When buyers research you, do they feel understood, or do they feel talked at or ignored completely? B2B buyers decide with both their heads and their hearts.
3. In your sector, is any competitor already making their advantage felt online, before a single conversation begins? If not, the first to create that certainty owns the shortlist every competitor has to respond to. That could be you.
4. Across your digital channels, are the named humans who deliver your service visible in the buying conversation? Or is your company account talking to the market while the BDMs, account managers, and technical experts who actually do the work stay silent?
5. When your teams are in front of clients, are they having conversations about what clients need to achieve commercially and personally? Or presenting products, quoting prices, and hoping the relationship does the rest?

Why This Matters Now

• More than 60% of buying decisions are shaped before a buyer speaks to anyone.
• The average buying committee now has 13+ stakeholders, each researching independently.
• 71% of decision-makers are Millennials or Gen Z, loyal to experiences, not institutions. The friction that kept buyers in place for decades has gone.
• Barrett assessed 229 ANZ B2B organisations in 2026. Three in four presented as noise, not signal.

Commercial Alignment Audit (CAA) – How the Audit Works

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How is the CAA different from a customer satisfaction survey?
   A satisfaction survey asks existing customers how they feel after buying. The CAA assesses how prospective buyers, including the AI tools they now use, experience you before they ever buy, or even speak to you.
2. Do you need access to our internal systems to run a CAA?
   No. The CAA is an external, buyer’s-eye assessment. We look at what’s publicly findable and visible, the same way your buyers do.
3. How long does a CAA take?
   It can happen very quickly. You book an audit and a report can we ready for you within 2-3 days.
4. What happens after the audit?
   You get a findings report and a prioritised action plan. Many clients move directly into our Sales Strategy & Messaging Design or Sales Training work to close the gaps the CAA identifies
5. How This Differs From Our Internal Audit (SSOA)
   The CAA is the external lens: how buyers see you. Our Sales Strategy & Operations Audit (SSOA) is the internal lens: how your sales strategy and operations actually function, across 17 dimensions. Most organisations benefit from both. The gap between what you believe internally and what buyers experience externally is often where the real opportunity sits. Link to SSOA here