Podcast Summary:
AI-Driven Marketer: Master AI Marketing To Stand Out In 2026
Episode: AI Can Find Your Buyers. Only You Can Earn Their Trust
Host: Dan Sanchez
Guest: Kerry Cunningham, Head of Research and Thought Leadership, Sixth Sense
Date: November 13, 2025
Episode Overview
In this episode of "AI-Driven Marketer," Dan Sanchez interviews Kerry Cunningham live from the Breakthrough conference by Sixth Sense. The discussion focuses on how AI is transforming B2B (and B2C) buying cycles, what recent research reveals about how buyers make decisions, and how marketers and sales teams can get ahead of the competition—not just by finding buyers, but by earning their trust. Kerry shares key findings from three years of Sixth Sense's "Buyer Experience Study," debunking common myths about readiness to buy, exploring the dynamics of shortlists, and explaining actionable strategies for targeting and nurturing persuadable prospects. Real-world tactics, AI's current and future roles, and the enduring value of relationships surface as memorable themes.
Key Discussion Points and Insights
1. How Buyers Buy, and Why Most Aren't Ready Yet
[02:17] - [05:27]
- Kerry describes the Buyer Experience Study, highlighting that the traditional funnel stages (target, awareness, consideration, decision, purchase) only have a small percentage (2%-4%) of buyers actively purchasing at a given time.
- Stage Distribution (at any moment):
- Target: 60%
- Awareness: 17%
- Consideration: 17%
- Decision: 4%
- Purchase: 2%
- Stage Distribution (at any moment):
- These stages are a snapshot, not a progression over time. Most of the market is not ready to buy right now.
“Out of any given 1,000 accounts, you have 600 that aren't in market now. And the rest you've got to figure out how to deal with.”
—Kerry Cunningham [05:27]
2. Shortlists Are Set Early—and Hard to Change
[06:24] - [10:52]
- By the start of the buying journey, buyers have typically put together a shortlist of five vendors, with the first four added almost immediately.
- 77% of the time, the vendor at the top of the shortlist at the midpoint of the journey wins the deal; only 23% flip.
- Even if a buyer's preference changes during sales conversations, most still stick with their original consensus.
“Day one, they put four of the five vendors ... The fifth has almost zero chance of winning. The first four have it.”
—Kerry Cunningham [07:09]
“Preferred vendor changed 42% of the time. Decision changed only 23% ... even when buyers realize they like the other vendor better, half the time they still don't change their decision.”
—Kerry Cunningham [08:57]
3. The Real Job: Get on the Shortlist, Build the Relationship
- The real game is about getting on the buying group's shortlist—even if you’re the long-shot fifth.
- Focusing on the 30% of accounts in the early stages of the journey (awareness and consideration) gives the best chance to persuade.
- The forgotten majority—60%—won't respond to demand gen and aren't in the market regardless of outreach.
“Sales reps are having a big influence ... But only about half that influence has any impact on changing the deal ... The only way to get to be one of the four next time is to be the fifth now.”
—Kerry Cunningham [09:20]
4. Why B2B Buying Processes Fail
[12:37] - [16:17]
- Roughly 40% of failed buying journeys ended because the group couldn’t reach consensus—not because vendors were lacking.
- Marketers and sales should focus not just on winning deals, but on enabling buyers to advocate internally, particularly to win over IT, finance, or other key stakeholders.
“That whole next six months is about ironing out those disagreements ... and it fails as often as it succeeds.”
—Kerry Cunningham [15:11]
5. AI’s Best Application: Detecting Buying Signals
[18:36] - [21:18]
- AI’s most mature and crucial use: processing a massive volume of buying signals to predict which accounts are in-market.
- Marketers should shift from blanketing all ICPs with demand-gen to targeting the 30% actually preparing to buy.
- Generative AI can now create tailored content addressing the needs of each stakeholder, replacing excuses about content production being too expensive.
“The best, highest use of AI right now is to make sense of all the buying signals ... That’s the single most important thing.”
—Kerry Cunningham [18:49]
“Our excuse for not having [tailored content] has always been it’s too expensive... That excuse is gone.”
—Kerry Cunningham [20:47]
6. Strategic Content and Intent-Based Outreach
[21:18] - [25:02]
- Marketers should provide contextually relevant, advanced content for each stakeholder in the buy group, employing AI signals to identify timing and intent.
- Boosting and personalizing content for accounts entering the journey—through ads, events, or targeted outreach—is now feasible thanks to AI-powered intent data.
“What they need is for it to be in context ... The delivery device is much less important than what’s in the content.”
—Kerry Cunningham [25:23]
7. Content vs. Channel: What Actually Builds Trust
[25:17] - [29:34]
- Content quality trumps the channel—buyers aren’t deterred by ChatGPT or channel overload, but by “uninteresting or unhelpful” material.
- Examples like HubSpot and Marketo stand out for educating the market and building equity, but improved content can water down signal quality for real intent.
“We’re not losing people’s attention to ChatGPT ... We’re losing their attention because you’re not saying anything interesting or useful.”
—Kerry Cunningham [25:32]
8. Building Audiences, Not Just Generating Leads
[29:34] - [33:21]
- Great content builds an audience; not every contact is a lead, so lead quality “should stop being a thing you think about.”
- The long game: nurturing audiences means when they are in-market, you’re top-of-mind for the shortlist.
“Your lead quality should stop being a thing you think about. What you should be thinking about is you’re building a great audience.”
—Kerry Cunningham [31:13]
9. How AI Now Powers Targeted Evangelism
[33:36] - [34:45]
- AI enables scaling tailored content and outreach—helping cheerleaders inside the buying group equip internal stakeholders.
- Automation allows marketers to address finance, IT, and other non-primary decision makers with content on why to choose your solution.
“Now the next thing you need to do is start producing content for that buyer persona ... that supports them in getting those other people on board.”
—Kerry Cunningham [34:00]
10. What Future Marketing Leaders Are Doing Differently
[35:18] - [37:55]
- The smart move: create content for all buy group stakeholders, not just the primary decision maker, and make it accessible and timely.
- Relationships, especially from sales, remain crucial—but their effect is long-term, compounding over buying cycles, not just quarters.
- Companies that incentivize and track relationship building (not just quota) will win in the AI-powered era.
“Relationships are what gets you onto the short list ... Those relationships are still really important, but we have to think differently about when they have their effect.”
—Kerry Cunningham [36:54]
Notable Quotes & Moments
-
On Shortlists:
“If you’re not on that list, you’re done... If you want to be one of the four next time, that’s how you get to be one of the four next time.”
— Kerry Cunningham [07:11] -
On Selling with Content:
“Nobody’s going to say, ‘let’s just spend a bunch more on brand and reputation marketing.’ ... We have to get more efficient at getting the persuadable accounts to buy from us.”
— Kerry Cunningham [17:48] -
On Personalization vs. Context:
“Nobody needs their name on a piece of content ... What they need is for it to be in context.”
— Kerry Cunningham [23:08] -
On Relationship Value:
“We got to figure out how to see that, manage it, incent it ... might be AI that helps us figure that out.”
— Kerry Cunningham [37:55] -
On the Future That Will Look Obvious in Hindsight:
“Those people who see the opportunity to use AI to start building that content and then figure out how to make it as frictionless and easy as possible... I think those are the ones [who’ll dominate in five years].”
— Kerry Cunningham [35:18]
Key Takeaways With Timestamps
-
The buying journey is lopsided: most of your ICP isn’t ready—focus on the third who are persuadable.
[05:27], [12:37], [18:03] -
Shortlists are made early, and trying to “win late” is ineffective.
[07:09], [08:47] -
The delivery channel matters less than timely, context-rich, and stakeholder-specific content.
[25:23], [34:00] -
AI is best used to find in-market buyers and scale tailored content to all buy group members, not just the primary decision maker.
[18:49], [33:36] -
Great content builds relationships and audience equity. Relationships pay off over multiple cycles, not just for this quarter's quota.
[36:54], [37:55]
Timestamps for Important Segments
- Introduction to Buyer Experience Study: [02:17]
- Breakdown of Buying Stages: [03:42]–[04:05]
- How and When Shortlists are Formed: [06:24]–[07:11]
- Vendor Preference & Deal Flipping: [08:47]
- Why Buying Decisions Die: [12:37], [15:11]
- AI’s Role in Making Sense of Signals: [18:49]–[21:18]
- How to Deploy Content & Signals Strategically: [21:18]–[25:02]
- Channel vs. Content, HubSpot Example: [25:17]–[29:34]
- Audience vs. Leads, Form Fills, and Quality: [29:34]–[33:21]
- AI Powers Group-Specific Messaging: [33:36]–[34:45]
- Future-Proofing Marketing Strategies: [35:18]–[37:55]
Final Thoughts
Dan Sanchez and Kerry Cunningham deliver a data-backed, practical masterclass on what effective, AI-driven B2B marketing looks like in 2026: Focus relentlessly on the sliver of persuadable buyers, orient content and outreach not just around the "lead" but the entire buying group, leverage AI for signal detection and context in both timing and message, and anchor everything in real, long-term relationships. The future belongs to marketers who marry data, content, and trust.