KBX Logistics, a subsidiary of Koch Industries, has grown from a small cost center mentality as a shipper to a top 10 player in the third-party logistics (3PL) industry. As a 3PL, the company connects shippers with carriers and their private fleet drivers to move freight across North America.
Behind KBX’s continuous success is a strong go-to-market strategy supported by tools like 6sense.
Chris Kein, National Business Development at KBX, shares how sellers and marketers use 6sense to target accounts more efficiently and reduce costs, ultimately allowing KBX to expand their services and increase average deal sizes by 504%.
The Challenge
Before implementing 6sense, KBX’s go-to-market strategy lacked cohesion and data-informed outreach.
“Our strategy involved a lot of cold calling, a lot of LinkedIn messaging out of the blue. There was minimal strategic thinking on how we’re reaching out or why. We were just hoping to get lucky,” Chris says.
Chris identified three major growth blockers:
- No customer relationship management (CRM) system
- Relying on word-of-mouth for business
- Challenges in identifying potential leads and bid cycles
“We basically were just sending emails and tracking everything in Excel. We went through a transformation on how we get serious on helping customers outside of our internal business grow,” Chris explains,” We wanted a tool to help us aggressively pursue business rather than just catch what came to us through internal referral.”
The Solution
KBX first implemented Salesforce as their CRM, then added 6sense to support go-to-market processes and an overall ABM strategy.
Chris says they adopted a “crawl-walk-run” approach when first rolling out 6sense. They focused first on building the necessary infrastructure and repeatable processes while testing keyword signals for lead identification. Then, marketers started using 6sense to create relevant content for the top and bottom of the funnel.
Now, KBX leverages the full 6sense platform with Revenue AI for Sales™ and Conversational Email, creating a harmonious revenue strategy across sales and marketing.
6sense Revenue AI for Sales and Conversational Email
“Before 6sense, we had to hunt and fish for contact data,” Chris says, “we used to dig through LinkedIn Sales Navigator to find someone within the C-Suite to talk to. That wasted a lot of time.”
6sense Revenue AI for Sales gives KBX sellers accurate contact data within a matter of minutes, without having to leave the platform. It also helps guide the sales team on which of the 30+ capabilities we offer to highlight in their messaging. Relevant messaging to the right contacts has been a game changer.
“The contact data within 6sense has been crucial in helping us streamline so we can reach out via email and add the contact to our CRM right away,” Chris says.
Then, Conversational Email outreaches contacts and re-engages cold leads, making for a streamlined sales process.
Adding both Revenue AI for Sales and Conversational Email has helped the KBX sales team to get a comprehensive view of their target accounts, understand their buying intent, and find the right contacts within those accounts.
“Having all this information one or two clicks away, rather than having to sift through multiple platforms has been a huge timesaver for our team,” Chris adds. “Seeing the marketing feeding into the bottom of the funnel and getting more accounts into the top of the funnel that are aware of KBX — sellers can see which marketing activities they’ve already engaged with. Sellers then know what to talk about with those accounts in their initial outreach.”
The Results
Before 6sense, KBX’s go-to-market strategy consisted of cold-calling, Excel spreadsheets, and crossing fingers. Now, integrating Salesforce with the full 6sense platform has aligned sales and marketing resources with vital data that allows them to focus efforts on accounts showing real interest.
In just one quarter of using 6sense, KBX has seen the following results:
- 504% increase in average deal size
- 445% more sales velocity
- 318% increase in pipeline
Chris says, “When I’m talking to people who don’t use 6sense, I ask them, ‘Would you rather spray and pray, wasting a lot of resources on marketing capabilities? Or would you prefer to target somebody who’s raising their hand that’s looking for your solution and is sending out intent signals? That’s the 6sense difference.”
