What are you experiencing in the field? From incoming leads, I would agree than half or more are asking for a specific brand an model number. Thus, it's obvious that they have done their homework or someone else did it for them.
How are buyers different than they were 5 years ago? I'm lucky if I can remember what I ate for dinner last week! 
Case in point, I had a multiple system lead a few months ago. The buyer outlined all of the features that he needed in an RFQ (commercial account), he had already picked three brands. How he picked his potential suppliers, was a series of questions that focused on on-site support, in-side support, and advanced knowledge of the system software and how it would operate on the network. The three supplies were then asked to provide proposals. Point is, that's the first time in 30 plus years I've seen something like that from a commercial account.
Let's keep this thread going