If you’re a B2B demand gen marketer, chances are you’ve felt the sting of misalignment. You launch campaigns, drive engagement, and fill the funnel with leads only to hear sales say, “These aren’t qualified.” Meanwhile, leadership questions marketing’s contribution to revenue. The disconnect is real, and it’s rooted in the metrics we’ve been trained to chase.
It’s time to rethink what we measure, why we measure it, and how those metrics shape the relationship between marketing and sales.
Why traditional lead gen metrics break trust between sales and marketing
For years, marketing has been judged by how many leads it generates: MQLs, form fills, webinar attendees, ebook downloads. Problem is, sales doesn’t trust those leads.
- MQLs are often late-stage, low-quality, or arbitrarily scored.
- Sales teams know they don’t convert, so they ignore them.
- Marketing sees this as lack of follow-up.
- Sales sees it as wasted time.
This cycle breeds distrust, misalignment, and finger-pointing. And it’s not just frustrating — it’s financially damaging. According to 6sense’s research of aggragated historical customer data, only 2.7% of MQLs convert into closed-won deals.
Even worse, sales and marketing often work from different datasets, platforms, and priorities. Half of leaders can’t agree on which accounts to target. That makes it nearly impossible to forecast pipeline or prove marketing’s impact.
The real cost of misalignment
When sales and marketing aren’t aligned:
- Pipeline becomes unpredictable
- Forecasts are off
- Campaigns miss the mark
- Resources are wasted
- Morale suffers
And the boardroom sees marketing as a cost center, not a growth engine.
The shift from leads to accounts: what B2B marketers need to know
Today’s buyers don’t follow a linear journey. They research anonymously, involve multiple stakeholders, and make decisions as a team. The old lead-based model can’t keep up.
Instead of chasing individual leads, modern marketers must engage entire accounts. That means:
- Prioritizing accounts based on fit, intent, and buying stage
- Engaging multiple personas early and often
- Using AI to surface signals from the Dark Funnel™
- Aligning with sales on which accounts to pursue and when
This shift isn’t just tactical — it’s philosophical. It requires new metrics, new processes, and a new mindset.
What is a 6QA and why it matters more than MQLs
6sense replaces the MQL with the 6QA — 6sense Qualified Account. It’s a statistically validated signal that combines:
- Fit: How closely the account matches your ideal customer profile
- Intent: Whether the account is actively researching relevant topics
- Buying stage: Where the account is in its journey (target, awareness, consideration, decision, purchase)
6QAs help marketing and sales align on which accounts to prioritize. They’re objective, predictive, and actionable.
Instead of handing off leads, marketing delivers insights. Instead of guessing, sales engages with confidence.
The new metrics that drive pipeline and revenue
Here’s what modern demand gen teams should be tracking:
Account profile fit score
- Measures how closely an account matches your ICP
- Uses firmographic and technographic data
- Scored 1–100 and classified as strong, moderate, or weak fit
Account buying stage
- Tracks where an account is in the journey
- Helps time outreach and tailor messaging
Account engagement score
- Evaluates how deeply and broadly an account is engaging
- Includes website visits, email opens, ad clicks, and more
Account reach score
- Measures the quality, quantity, and diversity of outreach
- Helps you understand how well you’re engaging the buying teams within target accounts
Pipeline metrics that matter
- Pipeline created from in-market accounts
- Conversion rates from 6QAs to opportunities (6.1% across 6sense predictive customers for the full year 2024 — so more than twice as likely to close as a regular MQL)
- Win rates (competitive and non-competitive)
- Account velocity through buying stages
- Average selling price (ASP) and cycle time
These metrics reflect reality. They show how marketing contributes to revenue, not just activity. When you stop chasing vanity metrics and start tracking what actually drives revenue, you:
- Align sales and marketing around shared goals
- Eliminate wasted effort on accounts that will never buy
- Improve forecasting accuracy
- Create better buying experiences
Seeing what MQLs miss: Lighting up the Dark Funnel
Most B2B buyers stay anonymous through 70% of their journey. They research quietly, compare vendors, and form preferences long before they ever fill out a form or talk to sales. That means your best-fit accounts might be actively shopping for a solution like yours and never show up in your CRM.
This is where intent data and deanonymization change the game. Platforms like 6sense capture billions of signals daily — from keyword research and review site visits to anonymous website activity — and match them to real accounts. This lets you see who’s in-market, even if they’ve never filled out a form or clicked on an ad.
Suddenly, the funnel isn’t just brighter — it’s wider. You’re not limited to the 3% of visitors who fill out a form. You can see the activity of the engaging the full buying team, across the full journey, with insights that actually reflect their readiness to buy.
And, perhaps most importantly, you stop throwing in-market accounts on the floor just because they didn’t fill out a form.
Fewer leads, better results
One of the most powerful insights from 6sense’s research is that fewer leads can mean better outcomes. In EMEA, a team narrowed its focus to fewer accounts and worked them with greater intensity. The result? Higher conversion rates, faster cycle times, and stronger pipeline.
The goal isn’t lead volume — it’s revenue volume.
Inspect what you expect: Operational rigor matters
Dashboards should track:
- Whether 6QAs are being worked
- How well they’re being engaged
- The quality of outreach (personalization, channel mix, persona coverage)
AI can serve as a safety net, ensuring no qualified account goes untouched.
The Next-Gen Marketer mindset
To succeed in this new model, marketers must embrace change. That means:
- Letting go of outdated metrics
- Committing to new habits
- Focusing on what drives revenue
6sense’s Certification Corner helps practitioners understand and apply these principles. The Next-Gen Marketer certification is one of four certifications designed to help B2B teams master AI-powered revenue generation.
Final rallying cry: You gotta wanna
Success in this new model requires willpower, curiosity, and a commitment to doing things differently. The tools are available now. The competitive advantage is real. But it takes effort and belief to seize it.
So if you’re tired of the MQL blame game, tired of being misunderstood, and ready to prove marketing’s impact, start by changing what you measure.
Then share this with your team. Start the conversation. Build the future.
Ready to see 6sense in action?
