Foreword by
Andy Champion
Senior Vice President of International Sales, 6sense
The B2B sales landscape has fundamentally changed. Today's reality presents both a challenge and an opportunity: buying groups have expanded to include 10-13 stakeholders, yet vendors receive just 17% of these groups' time during evaluation. This compressed engagement window leaves little room for error.
The data tells a compelling story. By the time a potential customer makes contact, 69% of their buying journey is complete. They have researched solutions, formed opinions, and often created vendor shortlists—all before a single sales conversation. But here’s the critical insight: 84% of buyers purchase from the first vendor they engage. That makes being timely and relevant in your outreach - across the buying journey - a critical necessity.
This statistic should catch every sales leader's attention. It represents the difference between shaping the buying journey and arriving after key decisions have already been made. But achieving early engagement at scale requires a fundamental shift in how sales and marketing teams operate. The traditional approach of casting wide nets and qualifying leads through generic scoring models no longer serves us in this environment.
Our research shows that sales teams leveraging AI and intent data are 12-15 times more likely to secure meetings with the right accounts at the right time. Yet technology alone isn't the answer.
—using advanced targeting to identify opportunities, then engaging with relevance and purpose when it matters most.
As you read through this report, you'll discover how leading sales organisations are partnering with marketing to navigate this new landscape. Their experiences, combined with clear data-driven insights, provide a roadmap for success in 2025 and beyond.
The message is clear: timely, strategic engagement—powered by AI but driven by human insight—will define the future of B2B sales success.
The organisations that master this approach will find themselves not just participating in sales conversations, but considered, valued and if executed well enough, ultimately chosen.
About 6sense
6sense is on a mission to revolutionise the way B2B organisations create revenue by predicting customers most likely to buy and recommending the best course of action to engage anonymous buying teams. 6sense Revenue AI is the only sales and marketing platform to unlock the ability to create, manage and convert high-quality pipeline to revenue. Customers report 2X increases in average contract value, 4X increases in win rate and 20-40% reduction in time to close deals. Know everything, do anything, with 6sense.