The B2B buying process has fundamentally changed. Research from Gartner shows that buyers spend only 17% of their purchasing journey talking to potential suppliers, making it increasingly difficult for sales teams to influence decisions through traditional methods alone.
This shift creates both challenges and opportunities for revenue teams. With prospects conducting most of their research independently, organizations need sophisticated tools to gain visibility into the entire buying journey — especially the early, anonymous research stages that traditional systems miss. Revenue intelligence platforms address this critical need by providing the tools that enable teams to:
- Spot accounts at the very beginning of their buying journey
- Start influencing accounts before they have established their selection criteria and list of contenders
- Understand what’s driving decision-making so you can nail your messaging
- Know when buyers are nearing a decision, so you can ramp up direct outreach
What is revenue intelligence?
Revenue intelligence is an approach for optimizing revenue generation by collecting and analyzing customer lifecycle data and using it to activate marketing and sales activities.
Unlike traditional sales analytics that focus primarily on historical data, revenue intelligence delivers real-time, actionable insights that help teams identify opportunities, understand buyer behavior, and make informed decisions.
Core components of revenue intelligence
A comprehensive revenue intelligence approach integrates several key elements:
- Data integration: Collects and unifies data from various sources including CRM, marketing automation, website interactions, email exchanges, call recordings, customer success platforms, and third-party intent data.
- Advanced analytics: Applies AI and machine learning to identify patterns, trends, and signals within the data that human analysis might miss.
- Predictive insights: Forecasts buying propensity, identifies accounts showing purchase intent, and predicts which deals are likely to close.
- Prescriptive guidance: Recommends specific actions for engaging prospects and customers based on their behavior and preferences.
- Real-time monitoring: Tracks buying signals as they happen, allowing sales teams to respond immediately to opportunities.
- Unified platform: Provides a single source of truth that aligns marketing, sales, and customer success teams around consistent data and insights.
Understanding revenue intelligence platforms
Revenue intelligence platforms serve as the technological foundation for modern revenue teams. These platforms unify data across systems, apply advanced analytics, and deliver actionable insights that drive pipeline and revenue growth.
A truly effective revenue intelligence platform must provide:
- Complete visibility: Insight into every stage of the buying journey, including anonymous research
- Predictive intelligence: AI-powered forecasting and opportunity identification
- Actionable guidance: Specific recommendations for engaging accounts
- Cross-functional alignment: A single source of truth for marketing, sales, and customer success
Revenue intelligence vs. CRM analytics
While CRM analytics provides valuable historical reporting, revenue intelligence represents a significant evolution in how businesses use data to drive growth. Understanding these differences is crucial for organizations looking to stay competitive in today’s complex buying environment.
| Aspect | CRM Analytics | Revenue Intelligence |
| Data sources | Primary internal CRM data | Integrates CRM, marketing automation, anonymous web visits, third-party intent data, conversation intelligence, and more |
| Timeline focus | Historical reporting and analytics | Real-time and predictive insights |
| Scope | Transaction focused | Covers entire buyer journey, including anonymous research |
| Intelligence layer | Basic reporting and dashboards | AI-powered predictions and recommendations, as well as reporting and dashboards |
| Primary users | Sales operations and management | Entire revenue team (marketing, sales, customer success) |
| Action orientation | Retrospective analysis | Prescriptive guidance for immediate action |
| Buyer visibility | Limited to known interactions | Complete visibility, including anonymous activity at the account-level |
Revenue intelligence platforms like 6sense complement and enhance CRM systems by adding the predictive and prescriptive capabilities that modern revenue teams need. While CRM remains an essential system of record, revenue intelligence provides the forward-looking intelligence required to identify opportunities earlier, engage more effectively, and close deals faster.
A quick look at 6sense Revenue Intelligence
The 6sense Revenue Intelligence platform uses AI to:
- Capture anonymous intent data: Unlike platforms that only track known interactions, 6sense identifies accounts conducting research anonymously.
- Predict buying stages: 6sense’s patented AI determines exactly where accounts are in their buying journey, from early research to active evaluation.
- Prioritize opportunities: Advanced scoring models identify which accounts are most likely to purchase, allowing teams to focus on high-value prospects.
- Recommend next steps: Prescriptive guidance helps teams know exactly when and how to engage each account for maximum effectiveness.
- Unify revenue teams: A single platform that aligns marketing, sales, and customer success around consistent data and shared goals.
The comprehensive platform includes:
- Account identification: Uncovers buyers conducting anonymous research
- Buyer intent data: Captures signals from across the web
- Predictive analytics: Uses AI to forecast which accounts enter buying cycles
- Account engagement: Enables personalized, multi-channel engagement
- Opportunity management: Provides visibility into pipeline health
- Comprehensive reporting: Delivers insights on performance and revenue impact
- Automated activation: Use Intelligent Workflows to cleanse data, enrich CRM and MAP data, and launch omnichannel campaigns based on real-time buyer activity.
How to implement revenue intelligence
Implementing a revenue intelligence platform like 6sense requires careful planning and execution. Follow these steps to ensure successful adoption and maximize ROI:
1. Assess your current state
Begin by evaluating your existing revenue generation processes:
- Identify data silos and gaps in your current systems
- Document pain points in your sales and marketing alignment
- Establish baseline metrics for key performance indicators
- Define clear objectives for your revenue intelligence initiative
2. Select the right platform
When evaluating revenue intelligence platforms, look for these essential capabilities:
- Comprehensive data integration capabilities
- Advanced AI and machine learning features
- Predictive analytics for account prioritization
- User-friendly interface and reporting
- Seamless integration with your existing tech stack
- Robust implementation and customer success support
6sense stands out with its unique ability to capture anonymous buying signals, predict buying stages, and help teams activate data. That’s thanks to AI that has been trained on B2B marketing and sales data and refined for over a decade.
3. Prepare your data
Data quality is crucial for revenue intelligence success:
- Clean and standardize your CRM and marketing automation data
- Establish consistent naming conventions for accounts
- Map your ideal customer profile attributes
- Ensure proper tracking is implemented across digital properties
4. Define your ideal customer profile (ICP)
Set and refine your ideal customer profile:
- Identify firmographic characteristics of your best customers
- Determine technographic requirements and compatibility
- Define behavioral signals that indicate buying intent
- Create account scoring models that prioritize high-fit, high-intent accounts
5. Align teams and processes
Revenue intelligence requires cross-functional alignment:
- Establish shared definitions for lead and opportunity stages
- Define clear handoff processes between marketing and sales
- Create service level agreements for follow-up on high-intent accounts
- Develop joint metrics and KPIs that span the entire revenue team
6. Train your teams
Ensure all users understand how to use the platform:
- Conduct role-specific training sessions
- Develop playbooks for responding to different buying signals
- Create documentation for common workflows and use cases
- Establish a cadence for reviewing insights and taking action
7. Measure and optimize
Continuously evaluate and improve your revenue intelligence program:
- Track key metrics before and after implementation
- Identify areas where adoption or results are lagging
- Gather feedback from users and make necessary adjustments
- Regularly review and refine your account scoring models
Best practices for revenue intelligence
Maximize the benefits of your revenue intelligence platform with these best practices:
1. Align around a unified revenue strategy
- Establish shared definitions and goals across marketing, sales, and customer success
- Create joint metrics that measure end-to-end revenue generation effectiveness
- Hold regular cross-functional meetings to review insights and coordinate actions
- Develop integrated plays that span the entire buyer journey
2. Focus on account prioritization
- Use AI-powered insights to identify which accounts deserve immediate attention
- Implement tiered engagement strategies based on account score and buying stage
- Train teams to recognize and respond quickly to significant buying signals
- Regularly review and refine your account scoring models
3. Personalize based on buying signals
- Tailor messaging to address the specific topics accounts are researching
- Adjust content and outreach strategies based on buying stage
- Create segment-specific plays for different industries and company sizes
- Develop personalized content that speaks directly to detected pain points
4. Optimize for the complete buying journey
- Design programs for each stage from early awareness to purchase decision
- Create specific plays for accelerating accounts through each buying stage
- Develop re-engagement strategies for accounts that show renewed interest
- Establish clear criteria for when to pursue versus when to nurture
5. Measure what matters
- Focus on leading indicators like engaged account coverage and buying stage progression
- Track conversion rates between stages in the buying journey
- Measure the impact of specific plays and programs on pipeline and revenue
- Analyze win rates by account type, buying stage, and engagement pattern
6. Continuously refine and adapt
- Regularly review the effectiveness of your outreach strategies
- A/B test different approaches for engaging high-value accounts
- Update your ideal customer profile based on new win/loss data
- Adjust scoring models to reflect evolving buyer behavior
Conclusion: Get started with revenue intelligence
Revenue intelligence represents a shift in how successful companies approach revenue generation. By providing complete visibility into buyer behavior, predictive insights into future opportunities, and prescriptive guidance for effective engagement, revenue intelligence platforms like 6sense enable teams to identify and win more deals with greater efficiency.
As buying processes continue to evolve, revenue intelligence will become even more essential for competitive advantage. See how 6sense can help your team exceed targets and drive predictable growth.
