BES26 ForgeX.pdf
How AI Is and Isn’t Disrupting B2B Buying Seeing & Winning The Selection Phase
Kerry Cunningham
• 30+ years B2B marketing & sales • Ran B2B teleservices outsourcer
for 15 years (SF, Montreal, Austin, Manila)
• 4 years academic research lab experience
• Former SiriusDecisions/ Forrester analyst
B2B Buying Reality • Winning the Selection Phase • What’s Really Going On with AI
and B2B Buyers
For two decades we’ve been told we need to align marketing & sales.
That was not quite right.
Internal alignment gave us…
marketing as MQL vending machine,
endless cycles of “process improvement”,
cynical sellers,
and skeptical, defensive buyers...
…we see as just cardboard caricatures.
How do we get off this ride?
To…
Align to our buyers and their journeys
The First Job of B2B Revenue Teams Understanding B2B Buyers & Their Journeys
The typical B2B buying group member has
experienced
evaluation cycles in whatever category they are evaluating now.
That goes for all buying group roles.
Buyers Are Not Blank Slates
Source: 6sense Buyer Experience Report, 2025
Our buyers – in all buying roles – are experienced, savvy, opinionated, and may have known our brands longer than we have.
Phil from finance – also savvy Primary Decision-maker
And that makes all the difference
Buyers Are Groups, Not Individuals
Buying groups are the reason “intent” data exists and is
meaningful.
6sense Confident ial
,
Their collective activity produces a reliable signal.
6sense Confident ial
His activity alone does not…
6sense Confident ial
,
Their collective preference becomes the winner.
6sense Confident ial
His personal preference? Maybe, maybe not…
Buying groups leave behind more than 1,000 digital footprints.
Source: 6sense Buyer Experience Report, 2025
The most important use of AI in B2B is making sense of those signals.
Understanding B2B Buying Journeys
In B2B buying journeys, experienced professionals with deep personal and professional preferences and biases compete to influence the buying group toward their favored vendor.
What distribution do you see if you take a random sample of our customer accounts at any point in time?
Not in Market
Awareness Establish shortlist,
explore options, update knowledge
Consideration Debate requirements and options, engage
experts
Purchase Consensus validation
Decision Fix requirements/
solidify consensus
So urce: 6sense Research, Nu ancing the 95/5 Ru le, Apri l 2025
Buying Cycle (10 months)
Understanding B2B Buying
Not in Market
Awareness Establish shortlist,
explore options, update knowledge
Consideration Debate requirements and options, engage
experts
Purchase Consensus validation
Decision Fix requirements/
solidify consensus
So urce: 6sense Research, Nu ancing the 95/5 Ru le, Apri l 2025
When revenue teams start their years, campaigns, etc., they assume the accounts start here and simply need the right nudge.
Understanding B2B Buying
Awareness Consideration PurchaseDecision
60% 17% 2%17%
Target
So urce: 6sense Research, Nu ancing the 95/5 Ru le, Apri l 2025
4%
What percent of accounts are in each stage in any given moment?
Buying Cycle (10 months)
Understanding B2B Buying
Consideration DecisionTarget Awareness Purchase
Most of ICP accounts are not in market.60%
Source: 6sense Buyer Experience Report, 2025
Buying Cycle (10 months)
If not in market now, they are nearly a year away from buying.
Understanding B2B Buying
Consideration DecisionTarget Awareness Purchase
Source: 6sense Buyer Experience Report, 2025
60% make the Day 1 short list.4 of 5 The winner will come from this list
95% of the time.
So urce: 6sense Buyer Experience Repo rt, 2025
Buying Cycle (10 months)
Understanding B2B Buying
Consideration DecisionTarget Awareness Purchase
Buying Cycle Sales Cycle
The Two-phase Buying Journey First Contact
~10 months
The Point of First Contact When buyers first engage directly
with vendor representatives.
So urce: 6sense Buyer Experience Repo rt, 2025
69%
Consideration DecisionTarget Awareness Purchase
Buying Cycle Sales Cycle
The Two-phase Buying Journey First Contact
61%
~10 months
The Point of First Contact When buyers first engage directly
with vendor representatives.
So urce: 6sense Buyer Experience Repo rt, 2025
69%
Consideration DecisionTarget Awareness Purchase
Buying Cycle Sales Cycle
The Two-phase Buying Journey First Contact
61%
~10 months
The Point of First Contact When buyers first engage directly
with vendor representatives.
So urce: 6sense Buyer Experience Repo rt, 2025
2%
Consideration DecisionTarget Awareness Purchase
Buying Cycle Sales Cycle
The Two-phase Buying Journey First Contact
~10 months
Set shortlist: 4 of 5
Buying group = 10 people, 4 opinions
61%
2%
Consideration DecisionTarget Awareness Purchase
Buying Cycle Sales Cycle
The Two-phase Buying Journey First Contact
~10 months
Order Shortlist:
94%
Establish requirements:
85%
Set shortlist: 4 of 5 > >
Did you put your shortlist in order of preference before engaging with sellers?
Achieving this is what takes 6 months.
61%
Consideration DecisionTarget Awareness Purchase
Buying Cycle Sales Cycle
So urce: 6sense Buyer Experience Repo rt, 2025
The Two-phase Buying Journey First Contact
~10 months
Order Shortlist:
94%
Establish requirements:
85%
Set shortlist: 4 of 5 > >
“More than 40% of B2B deals are abandoned before completion… because the Buyer Group fails to reach a consensus.” LinkedIn B2B Institute, “The Hidden Buyer Gap”
Did you put your shortlist in order of preference before engaging with sellers?
61%
Consideration DecisionTarget Awareness Purchase
Buying Cycle Sales Cycle
The Two-phase Buying Journey First Contact
~10 months
Initiate contact:
79%> > >
Three-quarters of buyers say they are receiving calls and emails prior. They ignore until ready.
So urce: 6sense Buyer Experience Repo rt, 2025
61%
Order Shortlist:
94%
Establish requirements:
85%
Set shortlist: 4 of 5
Consideration DecisionTarget Awareness Purchase
Buying Cycle Sales Cycle
The Two-phase Buying Journey First Contact
~10 months
Preliminary choice wins:
77%> > > > > > > > >>
Selection Phase Validation Phase
So urce: 6sense Buyer Experience Repo rt, 2025
61%
Initiate contact:
79%
Order Shortlist:
94%
Establish requirements:
85%
Set shortlist: 4 of 5
The Two-phase Buying Journey First Contact
~10 months
Consideration DecisionTarget Awareness Purchase
Order Shortlist:
94%
Initiate contact:
79%
Establish requirements:
85%
Preliminary choice wins:
77%
Set shortlist: 4 of 5
> > > > > > > > >>
So urce: 6sense Buyer Exp erience Repo rt, 2025
You must win the Selection Phase.
Buying Cycle Sales CycleSelection Phase Validation Phase61%
Intent data is about seeing and influencing all those evaluation cycles start to finish.
It is not “for” getting immediate meetings.
Consideration Decision Target Awareness
Purchase
The Two-phase Buying Journey
Selection Phase Validation Phase61%
Order Shortlist:
94%
Initiate contact:
79%
Establish requirements:
85%
Preliminary choice wins:
77%
Set shortlist:
80% > > > > > > > > >>
Change preference 42%
23% Change decision
Buying Cycle Sales Cycle
So urce: 6sense Buyer Experience Repo rt, 2025
The Two-phase Buying Journey First Contact
~10 months
6 months What are buying groups doing?
Why does it take so long?
61%
The Standard Mental Model of B2B
Implications
Consideration DecisionTarget Awareness Purchase
Selection Phase Validation Phase61%
Not in Market Not in
Market
The Two-Phase Buying Journey
So urce: 6sense Buyer Experience Repo rt, 2025
Buyers are establishing requirements and preferences.
Consideration DecisionTarget Awareness Purchase
Selection Phase Validation Phase61%
Not in Market Not in
Market
The Two-Phase Buying Journey
So urce: 6sense Buyer Experience Repo rt, 2025
Buyers here are unlikely to respond to seller emails and calls.
Consideration DecisionTarget Awareness Purchase
Selection Phase Validation Phase61%
Not in Market Not in
Market
The Two-Phase Buying Journey
So urce: 6sense Buyer Experience Repo rt, 2025
You must aggressively enable without expectation of immediate
response.
Consideration DecisionTarget Awareness Purchase
Selection Phase Validation Phase61%
Not in Market Not in
Market
The Two-Phase Buying Journey
So urce: 6sense Buyer Experience Repo rt, 2025
• Identify and acquire contact info for key buying roles
• Deliver role-specific messaging
• Less competitive, more business justification
We need everyone to think differently about the role of BDRs. • No meeting expectation • Enable, enable, enable • Best if automated (AI Email)
Consideration Decision Target
Awareness Purchase
Selection Phase Validation Cycle
Not in Market
So urce: 6sense Buyer Experience Repo rt, 2025
The Two-Phase Buying Journey
When buyers engage here, it is NOT because the current campaign or BDR was so clever.
61%
Consideration Decision Target
Awareness Purchase
Selection Phase Validation Cycle
Not in Market
The Two-Phase Buying Journey
So urce: 6sense Buyer Experience Repo rt, 2025
It is because your months of work (and lasting relationships) have put you on the
shortlist.
61%
If your marketing org does first- or last-touch attribution, it is lying to them.
Consideration Decision Target
Awareness Purchase
Selection Phase Validation Cycle
Not in Market
The Two-Phase Buying Journey
So urce: 6sense Buyer Experience Repo rt, 2025
If you focus all efforts on this moment, you will not win the
Selection Phase.
61%
Selection Phase Validation Phase Not in Market
61%
The Two-Phase Buying Journey
of ICP
So urce: 6sense Buyer Experience Repo rt, 2025
%
Brand: Prioritize budget to continually shape the memories of the 60% of buyers
who are not yet in market.
Demand/ABM: Concentrate resources on the 34% that can
be persuaded – win the Selection Phase.
Sales/BDR: Were we the first vendor you
contacted?
Yes, but it’s not what you think
Are LLMs Really Eating Your Web Traffic?
Yes: 94% Of buyers use AI in their buying process
Buyers Are Using LLMs
So urce: 6sense Buyer Experience Repo rt, 2025
LLMs Did Not Cause Earlier Engagement Where using LLMs was more important, buyers engaged later not earlier.
0% 20% 40% 60% 80%
Used LLMs
Did not use LLMs
Point of First Contact With Sales
55%
61%
45%
58%
15%
6%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Early Middle Late before vendor selection
Late after vender selection
Pe rc
en t u
si ng
in p
er io
d
When was LLM used?
Buyers Use LLMs More Mid- Journey
How Are Buyers Using LLMs?
Most LLM usage is to sort and summarize both vendor content and stakeholder input
Buyers Have Not Changed Their Behavior
16 17
16
0 2 4 6 8
10 12 14 16 18 20
2023 2024 2025
Interactions per Person/Vendor
71% 76%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%
Earlier 2025
% Using External Resources
? Why are buyers engaging earlier?
Two Hypotheses: Global Business Factors
Economic Uncertainty AI Inside
Economic Uncertainty
Did economic uncertainty impact your buying cycle?
So urce: 6sense Buyer Experience Repo rt, 2025
A net of 17% of buyers said their buying cycle was compressed.
Shorter 48%
Longer 31%
None 21%
Did economic uncertainty change the timing of your interaction with sales?
A net of 40% of buyers engaged earlier due to economic uncertainty. Earlier
None
Later
So urce: 6sense Buyer Experience Repo rt, 2025
AI Inside
89%5%83% 62%
So urce: 6sense Buyer Experience Repo rt, 2025
AI Features Wanted
AI Features Expected
AI Features Not Wanted
Purchase Included AI Features
Did you want/expect “AI Inside”?
Did the need to evaluate “AI Inside” change the timing of your interaction with sales?
A net of 44% of buyers engaged earlier in order to assess vendor’s use of AI.
Earlier None
Later
But buyers still pick a winner before talking to sellers.
Economic uncertainty creates urgency, which compresses buying cycles, and the need to evaluate “AI Inside” is driving earlier
engagement .
Key Take-aways The research shows that all is not as it seems in our imaginations.
Buyers are experienced and sophisticated. Their journeys are not about education so much as competition within the buying group.
Our job is to use the signals and technology available to understand buyers and enable their journeys.
Selection/ Validation
Buyers select preliminary winners before talking to sellers. Even when their preferred vendor changes during Validation, selections often do not.
AI Inside/ Economy
The need to evaluate how AI is impacting solutions is causing earlier engagement. However, preliminary choices still win most of the time.
LLMs Not Eating Dark Funnel
Buyers are using LLMs to collect and synthesize information but still rely on vendor & 3rd party content.
Know Our Buyers
We must be students of our buyers – their psychologies and group behavior. Our job is to win their preference, not trick them into converting.
Methods
Two surveys • Main study, n=3,744 • Supplemental study, n=766
Who Responded • 46% North America, • 20% Continental Europe, • 14% APAC, • 20% UKI
What They Purchased • Services (41%), • Software (33%), • Physical goods (26%)
Buyer Seniority • 49% VP or above • 21% Directors • 25% Managers
Median purchase cost = $200,000 to $300,000 USD
Thank you
6sense Corporate 2025 Slide 1
Default Section Slide 2 Slide 3 Slide 4 Slide 5 Slide 6 Slide 7 Slide 8 Slide 9 Slide 10 Slide 11 Slide 12 Slide 13
Knowing Your Buyers Slide 14 Slide 15 Slide 16
Buyers are groups/committees Slide 17 Slide 18 Slide 19 Slide 20 Slide 21 Slide 22 Slide 23 Slide 24
Understanding Buying journeys Slide 25 Slide 26 Slide 27 Slide 28 Slide 29 Slide 30 Slide 31 Slide 32 Slide 33 Slide 34 Slide 35 Slide 36 Slide 37 Slide 38 Slide 39 Slide 40 Slide 41 Slide 42 Slide 44 Slide 45 Slide 46 Slide 47 Slide 48 Slide 49 Slide 50 Slide 51 Slide 52 Slide 53
Impact of AI Slide 54 Slide 55 Slide 56 Slide 57 Slide 58 Slide 59 Slide 60 Slide 61 Slide 62 Slide 63 Slide 64 Slide 65 Slide 66 Slide 67 Slide 68 Slide 69
appendix Slide 70 Slide 71