At B2B Marketing, we believe that the key to influencing your C-suite and proving marketing ROI is to become the commercial marketer. Rather than thinking about isolated marketing metrics and campaigns, commercial marketers think about the wider business objectives first. And as we know, the market had drastically changed – from AI technology to the shift to online buying behaviours. And in this blog, Andy Champion, SVP of International, 6sense discusses why 95% of MQLs fail to convert, and how organisations are moving beyond individual lead scoring and what actually works instead.
I talk to marketing and sales leaders every day across Europe, APAC, and beyond. The conversations vary widely — but there’s one common thread: MQLs aren’t working the way they used to. And in some cases, they are simply not working, full-stop.
Some organisations figured this out years ago. Others are still executing what looks to be a sound marketing strategy, not realising their MQLs are failing them. Most fall somewhere in between — aware there might be a better way, but unsure what to do about it.
When Optimisation Becomes the Problem
Here’s what I mean by the “MQL Industrial Complex.” (a term originally coined by 6sense’s own Head of Research, Kerry Cunningham). When your entire organisation is built around optimising MQL production — generation, handover, follow-up — you get really good at producing MQLs. The objective becomes: let’s produce more MQLs, better MQLs.
That’s great — until MQLs no longer align with how your customers actually buy. You’re so focused on optimisation that you don’t realise MQLs are no longer serving your customers — or your business.
You’re measuring the wrong thing, and getting more and more of stuff you don’t need i.e. leads that do not convert, whilst still draining your people and budgets.
You’re putting all your money on red when everyone else is betting on black.
Why 95% Fail
Our research shows MQLs have a 95–99% failure rate. Why?
We’ve spent over 20 years focused on an MQL model from a time when sellers-controlled information. The internet changed that balance of power, and now generative AI is changing it once again, at pace. Today, buyers get what they need without ever speaking to you.
In that world, MQLs don’t work. And here’s why…
An MQL is: one person doing one discrete action. Someone fills out a form (and remember, only 3% actually do), downloads a white paper, and educates themselves on something that may have nothing to do with buying your product.
Today, buying decisions aren’t made by one person. They are made by many. In fact, we typically see buying groups of 8–12+ people. In Europe, the average is 13. So when one person takes one action — and you treat that as a lead — you’re probably missing the bigger picture.
The Classic Sales-Marketing Fight
This creates the misalignment we see everywhere.
Marketing says: “We’re generating leads and sales isn’t following up.”
Sales replies: “That’s because they’re all rubbish.”
The issue? Buyers don’t buy in isolation — and haven’t for a long time. When sales follow up on an MQL, they’re talking to one person about one action that probably isn’t a buying signal.
Marketing invests time and money with the best intentions. But they’re not delivering anything that reliably converts to pipeline. Sales gets sceptical: “None of this converts anyway.” And if no one works the leads, of course they don’t convert — creating a vicious cycle.
What Actually Works: Account-Based Qualification
If buyers make decisions in groups, how do you adjust your systems to reflect that reality?
80% of the buying decision is typically made before a buyer ever contacts your company. If you’re not on the shortlist — which forms around 80–82% of the way through a purchasing decision — you’ll never even know the deal ever existed.
This is where account-based qualification changes the game. Instead of tracking individual actions, we must build the capability to detect buying signals across multiple people in a buying group. At 6sense, we process more than three trillion signals every day, using AI to tell our customers exactly which organisations are showing buying intent — down to location, and in a privacy-compliant way. We call this a 6QA.
A 6sense Qualified Account (6QA) is an account that is showing meaningful signal across stakeholders that predicts real buying behaviour. I looked at a security customer earlier today — their 6QAs converted to opportunities 16.7x more often than everything else. Even our typical 8–10x improvement means those opportunities convert 2–3x more frequently to revenue.
The Competitive Reality
Understanding buying behaviour at the account level — and activating on those insights — is no longer a future vision. It’s already table stakes.
If you’re not doing this, your competitors almost certainly are.
They’ll move faster. Spend smarter. Win more. Even if you’re the market leader today. They’ll chip away, bit by bit — and one day, you’ll wake up wondering what happened.
The Bottom Line
History often informs us, but it does not always serve us. Just because something worked in the past doesn’t mean it still works today.
The MQL Industrial Complex served us for 20+ years. But buyers now have access to more information, make decisions as groups, and do most of their research before they ever talk to you.
The question isn’t whether to evolve — it’s whether you’ll lead the change or be left behind by it.
Go look at your numbers. The conversion metrics will guide you to the truth. Andy Champion is SVP International at 6sense, where he helps organisations across global markets build competitive advantages through account-based qualification and intent detection.
