Meet Our Software Advisors: Your Experts for Better Leads

October 27 2025
Contributor: Shubham Gupta

Turn advisor-led conversations into sales-ready leads that reduce vendor effort and boost conversions.

In B2B software sales, speed and quality don’t always align. You can fill the pipeline fast, but the leads don’t convert too often. Conversely, chasing only the “perfect” opportunities slows growth. That’s where personalized 1:1 conversations with software advisors make a difference.

By speaking directly with buyers, they uncover intent, confirm fit and qualify readiness before a lead ever reaches your team. This is a smarter way to balance volume with quality and ensure your sales conversations start further down the funnel.

Why software advisors matter today

Traditional lead-gen still relies on volume, but that’s not enough in today’s B2B market. Buyers want relevance, not just outreach. They expect personalized interactions that show vendors understand their needs.

Software advisors bridge the gap between buyers and vendors, adding human insight to an overly automated process. Their conversations filter out noise, highlight urgency and match buyers with the right vendors.

The impact is measurable: 79% of buyer interactions that resulted in a purchase were based on an advisor’s recommendation [1]. In other words, the vendors who earn buyer trust today are the ones leveraging advisors to:

  • Focus on quality, not just quantity
  • Reveal urgency and context that forms and bots miss
  • Build connections that speed up the path from first call to closed deal
     

Meet the team behind the decision-shaping conversations

Behind every qualified lead is a real person guiding the conversation. To date, our advisors have made more than 1 million software recommendations[2]. A number that reflects both scale and trust.

Our advisors aren’t just software experts; they’re trusted partners who listen, ask the right questions and connect buyers to vendors with precision and care. 

Here are a few of the people leading those conversations:

1. Matt Ramsey

Matt[3] has spent nearly a decade helping small business leaders navigate software decisions in HR, CRM, project management and manufacturing. With a background in retail management and social work, he brings patience and empathy to every call.

One business owner remembers, “Matt contacted me quickly and was able to recommend several vendors with products to meet my needs. This saved me a lot of time and effort.”

His favorite part of the role? Helping business owners move past confusion and leave conversations with a trustworthy shortlist.

Matt says the key is realism:

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Vendor tip: Review your PPL campaign targeting regularly to focus on buyers with budgets and timelines that align with your solution, ensuring a stronger fit and higher conversion.

2. Michael Ziemba

Michael [4] has been with Software Advice for over 12 years, moving from advisor to team manager. He now leads nine advisors who together speak with over 40 businesses every day about goals, budgets and the systems that fit best.

One client noted, “After several questions about my needs and requirements, Michael promptly put me in contact with several top-rated CMMS vendors. Considering the amount of software out there, the team at Software Advice is very well educated.”

What drives him most is hearing that moment of recognition from buyers, that they’ve saved months of research and are on the right track.

Michael often reminds vendors that choosing the right system is about foresight, not just features:

Vendor tip: Keep your product profile updated with the features and differentiators that matter most for long-term adaptability. This helps advisors position your solution as a strategic fit, not just a short-term patch.

3. Niko Bernardone

Niko [5] joined Software Advice in 2020 and quickly rose to manage a team of eight advisors. He specializes in guiding buyers through accounting, construction and project management software decisions, helping nearly 25 businesses find the right fit each day.

A recent buyer shared, “Niko made some great recommendations and I did end up choosing one of his suggestions for my website and POS. Saved me tons of time and headache searching on my own!”

His motivation is simple: removing barriers so businesses can focus on growth, not endless research.

For Niko, it’s about cutting through complexity:

Vendor tip: Make sure your profile highlights how your product scales beyond basic needs. Advisors can then connect you with buyers looking for advanced capabilities like forecasting and expense management.

How advisors deliver qualified leads in three simple steps

Turning interest into sales-ready leads takes more than a form fill. Our software advisors qualify buyers in three clear steps: targeting your ideal customer profile, matching them through BANT conversations and delivering leads with detailed notes that help your team close faster.

Step 1: Set your ideal customer profile

The first step in building a pipeline that converts is defining who belongs in it. With over 2 million verified reviews across more than 45,000 software products,  our comparison sites—Capterra, GetApp, and Software Advice—give advisors the scale and credibility to reach your audience [6]. But precision matters more than volume.

Inside your Gartner Digital Markets account, you set the filters that matter most: company size, number of users, industry, geography and even the features buyers are actively looking for. These inputs tell advisors exactly who to connect with: your ideal customer profile, not just anyone browsing.

Here’s a look at the targeting filters advisors use to home in on your ICP:

Once targeting is set, software advisors begin conversations with buyers and match your product with only buyers who meet these criteria. This upfront filter saves vendors from chasing irrelevant names and keeps your sales team focused on high-intent opportunities that can actually convert.

Step 2: Match with BANT-qualified leads

Once your targeting criteria are set, our software advisors step in. Each year, thousands of buyers call after visiting our comparison sites with high-intent, category-based searches. These buyers are serious about software—they just need guidance to cut through the noise.

Advisors use their experience (backed by more than 1 million buyer conversations) to connect your ICP filters with buyers' needs [2]. They qualify each lead in real time, applying the BANT framework to ensure only high-intent buyers move forward into a qualified sales pipeline.

  • Budget: Do they have funds allocated for the purchase?
  • Authority: Are they the decision-maker or part of the buying team?
  • Need: What business challenge is driving the search?
  • Timeline: When are they planning to buy?

Only once a buyer is confirmed as high-intent and sales-ready, advisors match them with your solution (and up to four others). At the same time, they capture context that automated funnels miss—whether it’s frustration with current tools, hidden urgency in a contract renewal or the exact outcomes the buyer is targeting.

Here’s a quick look at how advisors qualify buyers through conversations, using the BANT framework to connect you with leads who truly fit your ICP.

Step 3: Turn qualified matches into real conversations

When a lead reaches your sales team, advisors have already done the heavy lifting—qualifying intent, confirming fit and capturing details buyers rarely share in forms. What you receive isn’t just a contact, but context that makes the first call feel like the second or third.

Instead of starting with generic discovery, your team walks in knowing why the buyer is searching, what challenges they’re trying to solve and how soon they plan to act. That insight means your demos are sharper, sales lead follow-up is faster and prospects see your solution as relevant from the very first touch.

Integration ensures this context flows directly into your CRM for vendors running larger campaigns. Sales reps don’t waste time transferring notes or scrambling to prepare, they’re ready to move as soon as a lead lands. And with optional scheduling, advisors can even lock in meeting times, cutting out the back-and-forth and giving your team more time to focus on closing.

Success in action: Vendors growing with our advisor support

Vendors are already seeing measurable results when working with advisors. These examples show how targeted qualification and advisor-led conversations translate into pipeline growth and sales outcomes.

Squaretalk hits 85% opportunity-to-sale conversion

The challenge: Squaretalk was generating plenty of inbound interest but struggled with low-fit leads and long buyer research cycles. They needed a faster connection with the right prospects while boosting credibility.

How Gartner Digital Markets helped:

  • Claimed and optimized their Gartner Digital Markets product listing, and ran a structured review collection campaign (80+ reviews) to build trust.
  • Enrolled in our Engaged Buyers program and launched a campaign (formerly PPC Campaigns/ Sponsored Profiles), with localized landing pages to reach the right buyers.
  • Software advisors matched Squaretalk with qualified buyers, sharing context-rich notes for faster sales engagement.

The outcomes:

  • 85% opportunity-to-sale conversion rate.
  • 22 deals closed in one year from Gartner Digital Markets leads.
  • 28% MQL→SQL and 42% SQL→Opportunity conversion rates on Gartner Digital Markets-sourced funnel stages.
  • 53% on-site conversion lift after adding a multi-step form with review badges.
     

“I would highly recommend Gartner Digital Markets for two main reasons. It provides high-quality leads and helps build brand awareness and credibility with reviews and badges.” — Noam Dorr, Marketing Manager, Squaretalk

FreeAgent CRM drives 70% of monthly SQLs

The challenge: FreeAgent CRM needed a consistent flow of high-quality leads aligned with their ICP. Traditional channels delivered uneven volumes and forced sales teams to spend extra time qualifying.

How Gartner Digital Markets helped:

  • Claimed and optimized their Gartner Digital Markets product listing to reach decision-makers in the right roles and industries.
  • Launched a qualified leads (PPL) campaign powered by advisor conversations and BANT qualification.
  • Leveraged detailed Software Advisor notes to personalize outreach, shorten qualification cycles, and book meetings faster.
  • Adjusted targeting dynamically to align with evolving ICPs.

The outcomes:

  • 60–70% of monthly SQLs sourced from Gartner Digital Markets leads.
  • 20–30% SQL-to-meeting conversion rate.
  • 10% of meetings converted into pipeline opportunities.
  • A consistent weekly flow of leads that supported forecasting and growth.

“We appreciate Gartner Digital Markets because of the flexibility of its criteria to reach the exact industries and ICPs we want to target. It’s also great being able to rely on a channel that generates a steady volume of leads every week that supports our growth goals.” — Luis Lizola, Senior Digital Marketing Manager, FreeAgent CRM

The power of 1:1 conversations: unique buyer insights

AI can generate names. It can score forms. But it can’t hear hesitation in a buyer’s voice, ask a clarifying question or catch urgency when a renewal deadline is casually mentioned. That’s the difference expert advisors bring to the table.

Every day, advisors talk with buyers actively searching for software but struggling to cut through the noise. These conversations uncover insights that never surface in automated funnels:

  • The real business problem driving the search.
  • Whether the caller has budget authority or is gathering options for leadership.
  • Timelines hidden behind events like new hires, product launches or compliance changes.

Every advisor call moves past the checkboxes. Through conversations, they uncover urgency, context and priorities that numbers alone can’t capture.

AI can accelerate workflows, but left on its own, it risks drowning vendors in lookalike leads. Human-to-human conversations cut through that sameness, delivering signals that matter and buyers ready to talk.

What this means for vendors

When advisors qualify and deliver leads, your sales team doesn’t waste time chasing names, they engage with buyers who are ready to act. That shift changes sales performance in three ways:

  • Higher conversion rates: Qualified buyers are likely to schedule a call or demo. In fact, 33% of leads schedule an appointment with a recommended vendor.
  • Less sales friction: Call notes from advisors mean your team starts with context, not cold introductions.
  • Shorter cycles: With budget, authority and timelines confirmed, deals move forward faster.

Instead of spending hours qualifying or filtering, your reps focus only on real opportunities.

The result? More meetings booked, faster cycles and sales teams that spend their time where it counts most.

Learn more about qualified leads at Gartner Digital Markets

 
Shubham Gupta

Shubham Gupta

Shubham is a writer at Gartner Digital Markets, specializing in project management. His research for Gartner Digital Markets is informed by nearly 200,000 authentic user reviews and more than 10,000 interactions between Gartner Digital Markets software advisors and project management software buyers.

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