If you run sales or marketing at a B2B company, you’ve probably heard the hype about “GTM” (go-to-market) platforms. Everyone’s promising to find you more accounts, reveal buyer intent, and help your reps close deals without all the guesswork. Most of it’s fluff, but some tools actually move the needle. 6sense is one of the bigger names in this space—and if you’re wondering if it’s worth your time (and budget), this is for you.
Here’s what you actually need to know: what 6sense does, how teams use it, what works, what’s overblown, and how to get value fast.
What is 6sense, Really?
Let’s get the basics out of the way. 6sense calls itself a “Revenue AI for Sales and Marketing.” In plain English: it’s a B2B platform that tries to show you which companies are interested in what you sell, even if they haven’t filled out a form or talked to your team yet.
How? By combining:
- Website visitor tracking (even for anonymous traffic)
- Third-party intent data (what companies research elsewhere online)
- Your internal CRM and engagement data
It then scores accounts, sorts them into buying stages, and tells your sales and marketing teams who to focus on. There’s a bunch of automation and AI glitz, but what you really get is a fancier, more data-driven list of target accounts, with some bells and whistles to help sales and marketing actually coordinate.
Who Should Actually Use 6sense?
Here’s where reality kicks in. 6sense isn’t for everyone.
Best fit:
- Mid-market to enterprise B2B companies (think 50+ sales/marketing folks)
- Complex, high-value sales cycles (long buying journeys, multiple decision makers)
- Teams that already use Salesforce, HubSpot, or Marketo and have a decent volume of inbound/outbound activity
Not a fit:
- Early-stage startups (too pricey, not enough data to be useful)
- SMBs with short, transactional sales cycles
- Teams with zero process or no one to actually use the insights
If you’re not ready to get your sales and marketing teams aligned around account-based strategies, you’ll waste your money here.
How B2B Teams Actually Use 6sense
Here’s how the sausage gets made, step by step. No magic. Just a lot of setup, some patience, and a big push to get people to actually use the thing.
Step 1: Connect Your Data (and Clean It Up First)
Before 6sense can do anything, you need to hook up your CRM, marketing automation, and website tracking. If your data’s a mess, clean it first. Garbage in, garbage out.
- Connect Salesforce/HubSpot/Marketo
- Add 6sense’s tracking script to your site
- Check your CRM for duplicates and junk accounts (seriously, this matters)
- Set up data sync rules—be picky about what you sync
Pro tip:
If your CRM is a disaster, fix that before you even talk to 6sense. You’ll thank yourself.
Step 2: Build Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
6sense works best if you know who you’re actually trying to sell to. This isn’t a time for hand-wavy “anyone with a budget” thinking.
- Define your ICP: industry, company size, tech stack, geography
- Load your target account list(s)
- Work with your reps; they know which accounts are real and which are tire-kickers
This is tedious, but it pays off.
Step 3: Let 6sense Do Its “Intent Magic”
Now, 6sense starts matching anonymous website visitors to companies, and pulling in third-party intent signals (basically, who’s researching certain topics out in the wild). It sorts accounts into buying stages: “Target,” “Awareness,” “Consideration,” “Decision,” and so on.
You’ll get lists like: - Accounts showing early interest (but not in-market yet) - Accounts who just spiked in intent (“hot”) - Accounts dropping off the radar
Honest take:
Intent data is not a crystal ball. Sometimes it’s dead-on; sometimes you’ll chase ghosts. It’s a directional signal, not gospel truth.
Step 4: Prioritize and Route Leads/Accounts
Here’s where most teams get tripped up. 6sense can score and route accounts/leads based on intent and fit. But unless you have clear rules—and sales actually follows them—it’s just more noise.
- Build clear playbooks: who works which accounts, and when
- Set up lead/account routing (auto-assign or alert reps)
- Integrate with your outreach tools (Salesloft, Outreach, etc.)
Pro tip:
Don’t just dump “hot” accounts into a Slack channel and hope reps pounce. Make it part of your actual sales process.
Step 5: Activate Marketing (Without Spamming Everyone)
6sense can help you run targeted ad campaigns, personalize website content, and even trigger email sequences based on account stage.
What works: - Ads focused on late-stage accounts (not spray-and-pray) - Personalized website CTAs for known accounts - Triggered nurture emails, if they’re actually relevant
What doesn’t: - Broad display ad campaigns (“look at us!”) — mostly a waste of budget - Overpersonalization that’s just creepy, not helpful
Step 6: Measure What Matters (Ignore Vanity Metrics)
6sense will flood you with dashboards and reports. Most of it’s noise.
Focus on: - Pipeline generated from target/in-market accounts - Deal velocity for those accounts - Account engagement (but only if it leads to real conversations)
Ignore: - Clicks, impressions, “engaged minutes” — unless you see a clear link to revenue - “AI-driven” predictions that no one can explain
Honest take:
If you can’t tie a report to a sales result, it’s probably not worth your time.
What 6sense Does Well (and Where It Struggles)
Let’s keep it real. Here’s what stands out about 6sense, and what’s more sizzle than steak.
Strengths: - Account-level insight: It’s one of the better platforms at matching anonymous visitors, so you can see which companies are sniffing around. - Buying stage models: The “stages” actually help sales and marketing get on the same page if you use them right. - Integrations: Plays nicely with big-name CRMs and marketing platforms. - Ad targeting: If you have budget, their ad platform lets you get precise (but don’t expect miracles).
Weak spots: - Setup is heavy: It takes months to get this humming, especially if your data’s messy. - User adoption: Getting reps to trust “intent” scores is like getting cats to use a leash. - Data accuracy: Plenty of false positives or “just browsing” signals. - Price: It’s expensive. If you’re not using most features, you’ll feel it.
Common Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)
A lot of teams stumble here. Here’s how to dodge the big ones:
- Thinking 6sense will “fix” bad sales and marketing alignment. It won’t. You still need process and buy-in.
- Relying too much on intent data. It’s a starting point, not the whole playbook.
- Not cleaning data first. Your CRM is the foundation—if it’s cracked, everything else wobbles.
- Ignoring change management. People won’t use what they don’t understand. Train, repeat, reinforce.
- Trying to use every feature out of the box. Start simple. Expand once you see results.
Bottom Line: Is 6sense Worth It?
If you’ve got a sizable B2B sales team, clear target accounts, and some operational discipline, 6sense can help you focus your time and budget where it matters. Expect some heavy lifting up front, and don’t buy into the hype that it’ll run itself. The insights are only as good as your team’s willingness to act on them.
If you’re an early-stage team, or you’re hoping for a “set it and forget it” magic box, you’ll be disappointed (and out a chunk of change).
Keep it simple: Clean up your data, get buy-in, start with just a few workflows, and measure what actually helps close deals. Iterate from there. Don’t expect perfection, but you’ll see a clearer path to revenue if you stick with it.