Why do some companies move backwards in buying stage?

sirish

I recently presented a segment report to our execs that showed the 6Sense Buying Stage of accounts in October 2023 that are in 6QA now.

The October view showed 110 accounts in "Purchase" while the current view shows only 70. Is there a way I can tell my execs what caused 40 accounts to go backwards in buying stage? They are concerned with the significant drop.

Brandon McBride

It could be any number of things. A lack of internal support, budget cuts, projects on hold, members of the buying committee on summer vacation. These journeys are non-linear.

I have a screenshot somewhere of a very non-linear stage progression that I like to use to demonstrate this. Over 180 days, it starts in Awareness, jumps to Decision, slowly declines all the way to Target where it sits for a month before jumping right back up and ends with a new opportunity.

Adam Kaiser

@sirish adding to what @Brandon McBride said, as account engagement increases or decreases, their stage can change. If there is web activity, intent, etc and then that activity decreases, the account will more match the engagement of a earlier stage.

This is a good reason to have always on stage-based campaigns. As accounts move in and out of stages, they are exposed to content and offers appropriate for the stage and could‌ re-engage them.

Hope this helps!

Ami Arad

Linear buying journeys that progress from Awareness to Consideration to Decision to Purchase are the exception, not the rule. Has always been such. In addition to this classic graphic, Gartner wrote in the report, "B2B buying does not play out in any kind of predictable, linear order. Instead, customers engage in what one might call “looping” across a typical B2B purchase, revisiting each of those six buying jobs at least once. Buying jobs do not happen sequentially, but more or less simultaneously."

Jarrod Cohen

Adding onto the great things that have already been said here — you could have also opened opportunities with some of those accounts already. For us, at least for our 6QA definition, an account would fall out of 6QA after this happens.

A good thing to look at is the engagement at each account — are you sending consistent marketing emails, banner ads, is the sales team prospecting in consistently with various calls, emails, LinkedIn messages?

Taylor Matysik

I think @Brandon McBride hit the nail on the head with what internal causes could cause an account to move backward in buyer stage. On your side, it can simply be interpreted as the behaviors that indicate their intent suddenly mirrored an account in an earlier buyer stage than was previously indicated. It doesn't mean they are no-longer in market but it could indicate that priorities temporarily shifted, additional stakeholders were added to the buyer committee, shifts in budget, etc. It could be any number of things but the best action item is to ensure that the resources targeted at the account are adjusted for their most current buyer stage, and if possible, personalized for the account firmographics and target personas.