If you want deals to move faster, you’ll need more than just sales pep talks and dashboards. You need your tools to do some of the heavy lifting, ideally without a ton of babysitting. This guide is for sales and marketing folks who have 6sense and want to make it work harder—automating the boring stuff so your team can actually sell.
Here’s how to build automated workflows in 6sense that actually make a difference, not just look fancy in a product demo. I’ll walk you through what to set up, what to skip, and some honest watch-outs so you don’t waste time.
Why Bother with Automated Workflows in 6sense?
- Speed: Get the right info to the right people faster, so you don’t lose deals to slow follow-up.
- Consistency: Remove the human “oops, I forgot” factor for repetitive tasks.
- Focus: Free up reps and marketers to do work bots can’t (yet) handle.
But here’s the honest bit: automation won’t fix a broken process. If your sales team ignores leads, automating more alerts won’t save you. Use automation to amplify what’s already working, not to patch up what’s broken.
Step 1: Map Out Your Actual Deal Cycle (Not the One in the Slide Deck)
Before you click a single button in 6sense, sketch out your real deal cycle. Not the idealized one in your sales playbook—the one that actually happens.
Ask: - Where do deals get stuck? - What repetitive tasks slow things down? - Who needs a nudge (and when)?
Typical slow spots: - Reps not following up with new intent signals - Hot accounts falling through the cracks after handoff - Lack of timely info for BDRs or AEs
Be brutally honest here. If your problem is reps ignoring Slack, don’t automate more Slack alerts. Fix the root cause.
Step 2: Get Familiar with 6sense Automation (and Its Limits)
6sense has a few automation features, but the main one you’ll use is “Workflow Automation” (sometimes called “Orchestrations” in the UI). This lets you trigger actions based on account or contact behavior.
You can automate: - Assigning leads or tasks - Sending emails or alerts (to reps, not prospects) - Updating fields in your CRM - Triggering campaigns or sequences
But you can’t automate: - Actual human conversations - Magic “close deal” buttons - Anything outside what your connected systems support
Pro tip: 6sense plays nicest with Salesforce, HubSpot, and Outreach/Salesloft. If you’re using something else, expect more manual work or IT headaches.
Step 3: Pick One Bottleneck to Tackle First
Don’t try to automate everything at once. Pick the single biggest slowdown in your cycle.
Examples: - Reps don’t jump on accounts showing high intent signs - Marketing doesn’t know when to push a campaign - Too many accounts assigned to each rep, so none get proper follow-up
Let’s say your biggest pain is slow rep follow-up on hot accounts. That’s the example I’ll use below.
Step 4: Build the Trigger Criteria in 6sense
In 6sense, “triggers” are the conditions that kick off your workflow. Here’s how to set it up for hot accounts:
- Go to Orchestrations (or Workflow Automation) in 6sense.
- Create a new workflow.
- Set your trigger:
- Pick “Account reaches Buying Stage: Decision” or “Intent Score above X.”
- You can combine criteria—like “Company Size = Enterprise” AND “Intent Score > 80.”
Tips: - Don’t get too clever. Start simple. You can layer on complexity later. - Avoid triggers that fire too often (or you’ll cause alert fatigue and everyone will tune it out).
Step 5: Define the Action(s)
Now decide what actually happens when the trigger fires.
Common actions: - Send an email alert to the account owner - Create a task in Salesforce/HubSpot - Add the account to a specific Outreach/Salesloft sequence - Update a field (e.g., “Hot Account” = Yes)
Example Setup: - Trigger: Account enters “Decision” stage - Action: Send email to assigned AE and create a “Follow Up Now” task in Salesforce
Pro tip: If you’re not sure which action to pick, start with just the alert. You can add more later.
Step 6: Test Like a Skeptic
Before you turn anything live, test it. Not “it looks fine to me” testing—real-world, skeptical testing.
How to test: - Use a sandbox or test account in 6sense. - Trigger the workflow manually (if possible). - Make sure the right person gets the right alert or task. - Check if anything else breaks or spams people.
What to watch for: - Duplicate alerts - Alerts going to the wrong person - Actions not syncing to your CRM
If your test fails, fix it now. Don’t assume “it’ll sort itself out.” It won’t.
Step 7: Turn It On (and Warn Your Team)
Once you’re sure it works, publish the workflow. But—and this is important—tell your team what’s coming. Don’t blindside them with new alerts or tasks. Explain:
- What will happen
- Why it matters (“We’re doing this to help you get to hot accounts faster, not just to annoy you”)
- Who to contact if something goes wrong
Give it a week or two before you judge results. Some folks will grumble at first, but if your workflow actually saves them time or helps them close deals, they’ll get over it.
Step 8: Watch for Noise and Tweak Ruthlessly
Most automations work great in theory, but reality is messy. The most common problems:
- Too many alerts → People start ignoring all alerts
- Wrong triggers → You’re sending alerts for accounts that aren’t actually hot
- No follow-through → Alerts go out, but no one acts on them
What to do: - After a week or two, check the data: Are people following up? Are deals moving faster? - Ask your team what’s working and what’s not. Don’t just look at numbers. - If you’re causing alert fatigue, tighten your trigger criteria.
Less is more: It’s better to have one alert that always matters than five that get ignored.
Step 9: Iterate (But Don’t Automate for the Sake of It)
Now that you’ve got one workflow running, you’ll get tempted to automate everything. Don’t. Only automate what’s actually saving time or moving deals.
Good candidates for more automation: - Routing inbound demo requests to the right rep - Nudging reps if an account hasn’t been touched in X days - Adding accounts to nurture campaigns based on intent shifts
Bad candidates: - Spamming reps with every tiny intent signal - Automating stuff just because it looks “cool” in a report
Automation is like seasoning: a little goes a long way.
Honest Takes & Pro Tips
- 6sense is powerful, but not magic. If your data is junk, your workflows will be too.
- Integrations make or break you. The more you can connect your CRM and sales tools, the easier automation gets.
- Documentation is your friend. Keep a simple doc of what workflows exist, what they do, and who owns them. Saves headaches later.
- Don’t automate apologies. If something goes wrong, own it with a real human email—not a bot.
Keep It Simple and Iterate
Automated workflows in 6sense can absolutely help you speed up deal cycles, but only if you keep things focused and ruthlessly practical. Start with your biggest bottleneck, build one automation, and see if it actually helps. Tweak it. Then—and only then—add another.
Don’t chase shiny features. The best automations are the ones your team barely notices because they just work.