In our industry, becoming the commercial marketer – someone who thinks about business and revenue goals over marketing goals – is crucial to success. And at B2B Marketing, we believe that there are six skills to becoming the commercial marketer. And one of the most important? Agile-decision making. And in this blog, Stefano Iacono, 6sense discusses the competitive reality of intent detection and account-based engagement in 2025 — and why standing still means falling behind.
Three deals. Lost in a row.
When I asked a marketing leader in London what had happened, their answer was blunt: “It’s like they’ve got a crystal ball. We were late into each deal, and the competition had already influenced it.”
They weren’t being dramatic. Their competitor did seem to know exactly when accounts were researching solutions, what messaging to use, and how to get in early — long before the opportunity was even visible.
The truth? It wasn’t a crystal ball. It was intent data. It was account-based qualification. It was a revenue team operating on signal — not instinct.
And if your competitors are doing this and you’re not, they have a real advantage.
The Uncomfortable Truth About Table Stakes
Let me be direct about where we are in 2025: Understanding buying behaviour at the account level, detecting it, and acting on it — these aren’t future trends. They’re already table stakes.
Many organisations are doing this now.
If you’re not, I’d put money on the fact that some of your closest competitors are.
And the thing is — they won’t take you out in one big move.
They’ll chip away. Win a deal here. A renewal there.
Bit by bit, your edge erodes — until one day, you wake up wondering what happened to your market position.
The Efficiency Moat
I was reviewing data recently from a global connectivity provider. By shifting from individual leads to buying-group signal, their 6sense Qualified Accounts were 14 times more likely to convert into opportunities within 90 days. That one change transformed how they prioritised revenue effort.
Let that sink in: While their competitors were still chasing cold leads with a 95 percent failure rate, they were activating real buying groups already in market. And here’s the kicker — in my business across EMEA, we consistently see accounts showing verified intent in the Consideration or Purchase stage convert to meetings 8–10 times more often, and those meetings turn into revenue 2–3 times more frequently.
That’s not just operational efficiency.
That’s a competitive moat.
Their sales team isn’t wasting time on dead-end leads.
Their marketing budget is building actual pipeline — not vanity metrics.
And critically, they’re getting to buyers before the competition even knows there’s a deal in play.
Global Shifts, Local Consequences
Across Europe, APAC, and North America, I see the same pattern:
Companies using account-based qualification aren’t just improving results — they’re fundamentally shifting how markets operate.
In Europe, for example, buying groups now average 13 people (ranging from 8 to 20+). If your strategy still hinges on one lead, one form fill, one follow-up — you’re not even playing the same game as your competitors. They’re orchestrating around entire committees. You’re chasing ghosts.
It’s like bringing a knife to a gunfight.
What About AI?
Many leaders ask me: “Andy, people are using tools like ChatGPT for research now — doesn’t that undermine intent detection?”
It’s a fair question — but here’s what I see: Buyers aren’t replacing traditional research with AI. They’re adding it. It’s not either/or. It’s both/and.
The traditional signals — content consumption, topic interest, buying group engagement — still matter.
AI complements those behaviours; it doesn’t cancel them out.
Of course, AI will evolve. We’ll see new behaviours and new intent signals. But this is exactly why we’ve built 6sense to adapt — and why we’re already working with customers to future-proof how they track and act on buying intent.
Your Role as a Revenue Leader
Here’s something we don’t talk about enough: the career implications of standing still.
If you’re a CMO or CRO being asked to drive growth, bridge pipeline gaps, and help sales hit targets — you can’t do that without insight into buying behaviour.
And if you don’t build that capability, someone else will.
That might be your competitor. Or it might be your replacement.
That’s not a threat. It’s just the reality of where we are.
You Still Have a Runway – But It’s Closing
If you start building this capability now, you’ll give yourself a 2-3 year competitive runway.
By the time AI-powered research and agentic workflows hit full scale, you’ll already have the data, systems, and orchestration in place. You’ll be ready — not playing catch-up.
But that edge only exists if you start now.
Every quarter you delay is a quarter your competitors are getting better at:
- Identifying in-market accounts
- Engaging the full buying group
- Turning signal into scalable revenue
The Bottom Line
Go look at your numbers. Be honest. Are they still working?
Are you chasing buyers — or seeing them before your competitors do?
Just because something worked in the past doesn’t mean it will work in the future.
It may not even be working now.
Account-based qualification is no longer optional. It’s the new minimum.
The companies that understand this are already winning.
The only question is whether you’ll join them — or be overtaken by them.
If you’re looking to upskill yourself to think more commercially to take on 2026 successfully, check out our strategy pack here.
