Is your ABM programme arriving too late? Why Account-Based Evidence™ wins the B2B shortlist before first contact

Most account-based marketing (ABM) programmes are built to catch the moment an account starts looking: an intent surge, a pricing-page visit, a predictive score crossing a threshold. For accounts you've never sold to, that moment usually comes too late.

6sense found that the winning vendor was already on the buyer's Day One shortlist 95% of the time, and that buyers chose their pre-contact favourite in roughly four out of five deals¹. By the time the intent signal lights up, the buying group has largely decided who it's taking seriously.

That's the starting point for our new whitepaper, Chosen Before Contact, and for the model it introduces: Account-Based Evidence™.

B2B buyers build their shortlist before intent data shows it

Gartner's 2026 survey of 646 B2B buyers found that 67% prefer a rep-free experience, and 45% used AI during a recent purchase². 6sense found that 94% of buyers ranked their shortlist before contacting any vendor¹.

Buyers are still active, they're just active somewhere you can't see. They're talking to peers, reading reviews and asking AI tools who to trust. If your ABM programme only switches on when an account emits a signal, it's built around the last stretch of the buying decision.

Why better ABM targeting won't close the gap

The whitepaper focuses on acquisition ABM: winning accounts where you have no relationship, no usage data and no customer proof to lean on. It names three habits that keep those programmes arriving late, starting with treating intent as opportunity.

One of them catches out even mature teams. Gartner found that content built around individual relevance had a 59% negative impact on buying-group consensus³. Personalising to the individual can make agreement across the buying group harder to reach.

What is Account-Based Evidence™?

Account-Based Evidence™ is the deliberate design of the proof, memory and trust signals that shape how a target account evaluates a vendor before first contact. Campaigns carry the message, and evidence is what makes a buying group believe it.

The whitepaper breaks the model into five evidence loops and sets out six moves for B2B marketing leaders, from building an evidence map by buying group to measuring preference before first contact.

Start your ABM evidence audit

Try this test. If one of your target accounts asked an AI tool, a peer or a review site to recommend vendors in your category, would you appear? And would the evidence they found survive internal scrutiny?

If you're not sure, read the Chosen Before Contact whitepaper. It shows where to start the audit, and what to measure once you have.

Sources: 1. 6Sense, 2025 B2B Buyer Experience Report, November 2025. 2. Gartner Sales Survey Finds 67% of B2B Buyers Prefer a Rep-Free Experience, March 2026. 3. Gartner Sales Survey Finds 74% of B2B Buyer Teams Demonstrate "Unhealthy Conflict" During the Decision Process, May 2025.