Explaining Predictive Stages to Sales
We've just recently signed with 6sense and one of my priorities is to achieve a level of 'organization readiness' while our custom model is being built. This includes helping the Sales and Marketing teams understand the 4 In-Market predictive stages.
I'm familiar with the various ways 6sense defines/describes these stages, but I'm looking for advice on how to help internal folks make a meaningful connection with those definitions.
How did you socialize them in a way that was understood internally? What words did you use to explain them? Any advice would be appreciated.
Comments
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I'd love to see a article from 6S explaining each of them in more detail, too.
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We've been a 6sense customer for almost a year now, here's how we describe the in-market buying stages to our Sales team:
-Purchase: Accounts that you should already be in conversations with
-Decision: Accounts you should be trying to get into now
-Consideration: Accounts that aren't ready yet or were but intent is declining (i.e. you may be too late)
-Awareness: Don't bother unless they're a Sales identified priority
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@csantillo check out this article in our Knowledge Base!
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@jkornerup love the way you describe it to Sales! @csantillo I would add that sales should always focus on Decision and Purchase stage accounts over the rest because they have the highest likelihood to convert so it makes the most sense for them to prioritize their time there first! :)
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I like this... thank you!
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@billrose Here's a breakdown of how I look at the various buying stages. Hope it's helpful!
Target (score < 20)
•This stage is for accounts currently showing little to no activity. 6sense does not view these accounts as actively "in-market" as they are not performing significant levels of research / digital activity. This population should be targeted for broad awareness messaging to prepare them for their next journey.
Awareness (score 20-49)
•This stage is for accounts that are showing some level of activity and should be treated as top of funnel / early stage. The likelihood they will convert to an opportunity in the next 90 days is a lower probability than later stages as they are likely just starting their buyers' journey. Accounts in this stage can be targeted for broad-based engagements. Additionally, those above a certain threshold (I.e. 40 or above) could be considered as mid-funnel activity such as targeted content syndication.
Consideration (score 50-69)
•This stage is showing accounts exhibiting more significant activity compared to their baseline, with a longer history of above-average engagement. This is considered the first 'mid-funnel' band and usually shows a marked increase in conversion rates. Accounts can be targeted for banners, content syndication, social, etc. with 'buyers' guide type content.
Decision (score 70-85)
•Accounts in this band are showing significant digital research activity across data sources. These accounts should be treated as mid to low funnel. Most 6sense customers will create 'air-cover' type content by product category and deliver while Sales engages via the outbound prospecting use case.
Purchase (score 86+)
•The purchase stage is for accounts at the bottom of the marketing funnel and those most likely to open an opportunity soon. Customers have seen a significant premium in opportunity open rates at this stage and are targeting for high-value engagements (I.e. sales touches)
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I did a quick video presentation for our team on 'deciphering' 6sense info. Here's what I told them:
There are 3 predictive models:
- Profile fit - how well does this prospect/client fit the ideal customer profile for our organization (Strong/Moderate/Weak)
- Reach - how much are we reaching out to this account? Important note - reach is NOT indicative of engagement, only how much outbound activity we have going to that organization (High/Medium/Low)
- In-Market Stage - how likely is this organization to open an opportunity with us in the next 90 days? (Purchase/Decision - most likely/sales should be talking to these orgs, Consideration - some activity, keep an eye on them but don't focus here, Awareness - they are aware of us, but only a little bit, Target - we want to sell to these orgs but they may yet be unaware of us)
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One thing I would also make clear, since it can be a little confusing to salespeople that aren't aware that Awareness/Consideration/Decision/Purchase have been named Marketing stages for decades, long before 6sense, is that Purchase does not literally mean they are about to buy something. They might be! The level of activity at that point is flashing red, so it may be too late, but it doesn't mean they are looking at a contract from your biggest competitor at that moment. It does mean the model really, really, really believes an opportunity is likely to be opened, and it's definitely possible your competitors are already engaged in a sales cycle there, but it does not mean it's too late as a rule.
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This is what I came up with based on the various responses I received (thanks all!). Here's a download link if you'd like to use it yourself: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/15cm1i_G_UpNuFf-mkdcVLSnXMQY0U6JJiVY9c3TK74k/edit?usp=sharing
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We like to use example intent keyword groups per stage to give them additional context, which often immediately connects the dots for customers using their own language. Once they are researching competitors, for example, they immediately get the difference between awareness.
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