How to Transform Prospect's Anonymous Research into Opportunities
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In this episode Karen welcomes Stefano Iacono, Marketing Director at 6sense and a seasoned B2B marketing leader with over 17 years of experience. As the first UK hire for 6sense, Stefano has grown a team of 50 people and leads an award-winning ABM operation.
Stefano shares crucial insights from 6sense's research showing that 81% of B2B buyers have already made their decision before speaking to a seller, with the majority of their research conducted anonymously. He explores how marketing and sales teams can identify these signals, understand where prospects are in their buying journey, and engage them at the right moment with the right approach. From building proper target audience strategies to measuring what truly matters beyond traditional MQLs, Stefano offers practical advice on transforming anonymous research into qualified opportunities.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
✔️ Why defining your Total Addressable Market (TAM) and Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) is critical for marketing success
✔️ How to interpret anonymous buyer research signals that occur before prospects contact sales
✔️ Why 84% of B2B buyers purchase from the first vendor they speak with, making timing crucial
✔️ Why traditional MQLs are no longer effective (97% of marketers agree) and what to measure instead
✔️ Techniques for moving to account-based metrics like 6QA (6sense Qualified Accounts)
✔️ The importance of understanding buying stages to deliver the right message at the right time
✔️ How to personalize sales outreach based on prospect research signals
✔️ Strategies for implementing account-centric demand generation at scale
EPISODE OUTLINE AND HIGHLIGHTS
[01:07] Stefano's biggest "aha moment" as a marketing leader - the importance of TAM and ICP
[02:26] Why measurement and attribution can sometimes lead marketers astray
[04:10] Common misconceptions about Account-Based Marketing (ABM)
[06:04] How prospects conduct anonymous research before engaging with vendors
[09:14] Understanding the five buying stages and how to address different buying modes
[10:37] Moving beyond MQLs to account-based metrics
[13:37] When and how SDRs should engage with prospects based on intent signals
[16:44] The evolution of ABM from one-to-one to one-to-many approaches
[21:19] The importance of building seller personal brands in account relationships
[25:05] The "trifle analogy" - why audience strategy is the foundation of marketing success
UNDERSTANDING THE ANONYMOUS BUYER JOURNEY: TRANSFORMING INTENT SIGNALS INTO SALES OPPORTUNITIES
Stefano reveals critical insights from 6sense's research on how B2B buyers conduct their purchase journey largely in anonymity before ever contacting vendors.
"81% of buyers have a decision made before they actually speak to a seller," Stefano explains, highlighting why traditional lead generation approaches often fail. "The majority of people spend most of their time researching a purchase anonymously."
He breaks down what this anonymous research actually looks like: prospects reading blog posts, watching videos, checking review sites, engaging with social profiles, and discussing with peers—all without identifying themselves to potential vendors. These signals indicate buying intent but remain invisible to companies using traditional tracking methods.
"These are all signals that you're intending to make a purchase, but they're not necessarily signals that you will share with the vendors," Stefano notes. "You're not necessarily gonna go straight to Salesforce's website, download an ebook, give them your contact details on day one, because you might not even know what your problem is."
The research also revealed that 84% of buyers purchase from the first vendor they speak with, making it critical to be in front of prospects at precisely the right moment. This requires understanding where accounts are in their buying journey and reacting appropriately—avoiding premature sales pitches to researchers who aren't ready to buy, while being immediately available when they are ready to engage.
MOVING BEYOND MQLs: THE SHIFT TO ACCOUNT-CENTRIC METRICS
Stefano makes a compelling case for abandoning traditional MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead) metrics in favor of account-based approaches that better reflect today's complex B2B buying process.
"97% of people said that they knew that MQLs were not the right metric," Stefano reveals from his interviews with nearly 100 marketing leaders. "But interestingly, 78% of people said that they didn't really have the ability right now to move beyond that."
The fundamental problem with MQLs is that they focus on individual leads rather than buying committees. "There's nearly 11 people on average based on the research that we've done who are in these buying committees, so the MQL isn't necessarily going to do what you need it to because it's actually more likely to be a false signal than anything else."
Stefano recommends shifting to account-based metrics, such as what 6sense calls "6QA" (6sense Qualified Accounts), which assess the collective signals from an entire account:
"You need to capture all the signals that you can from a business and assess them for how likely that business is to become an opportunity for your sales team... But you can add more layers into this as well. What web pages are they going on? Can you understand, even not which individuals, but which accounts are on your website? What topics are people researching? What competitors are they looking at on review sites like G2 and TrustRadius?"
He emphasizes that no single signal should be over-indexed, but rather all signals should be collected and analyzed in context to understand where an account is in their buying journey. This comprehensive approach enables marketing and sales teams to respond with the right content and outreach at the right time.
RESOURCES MENTIONED:
6sense Revenue AI: Platform for understanding buyer intent and creating personalised campaigns at scale
G2 and TrustRadius: Review websites mentioned as sources of buyer intent signals
Market Makers Community: Stefano's upcoming community for B2B marketing directors, with initial sessions focused on AI applications for marketing
TODAY’S GUEST
Stefano Iacono brings a wealth of experience in B2B sales and marketing, with a track record of over 17 years in leading teams to success.
His strategic insight has been instrumental in launching new ventures and driving growth, particularly in building new marketing teams and spearheading market expansion initiatives.
Stefano's approach is rooted in leveraging technology and innovative strategies to meet and exceed business objectives while fostering a positive working environment for teams and individuals.
You can connect with Stefano on LinkedIn
OUR HOST
Karen Lloyd is a passionate marketing head-hunter and recruitment expert specialising in marketing and C-suite in the technology sector. With over 25 years of experience in the recruitment industry, Karen brings a unique depth of expertise that sets her apart from most recruiters.
Over her career, Karen has accumulated a wealth of experience that includes serving as a Board Director and being actively involved in growing a business for 13 years. Karen has been a part of five start-ups, giving her first-hand knowledge of the critical importance of hiring the right people.
Currently, Karen is the founder and Director of Armstrong Lloyd. She leads a very special team that partners with businesses and empowers them to build industry-leading marketing teams for some of the most exciting B2B technology brands - from small agile and disruptive start-ups to global giants providing a wealth of product and service offerings.
