Guides and findings · Finding

Buyers see five. They pick one.

In a survey of business buyers, every supplier on the shortlist had been seen. Being seen didn’t decide which one won.

Source 6sense, 2025Evidence One vendor surveyRead 4 minutes

In one sentence. Business buyers weigh about five suppliers, see all of them, and pick one, so being seen isn’t what decides.

The finding

About 4,000 business buyers, making purchases of US$25,000 or more, described how they chose. On average they weighed five suppliers. All five were seen. One was picked, and four lost.

SeenA
SeenB
Seen · pickedC
SeenD
SeenE

Where it comes from

A survey by 6sense, published in 2025. 6sense sells software to business marketers, so it has an interest in the answer. We cite it because it is large and specific, and we say who ran it.

What it means

Visibility gets a supplier onto the shortlist, and then stops helping. The choice between seen suppliers is made at the stages after Found: Answered, Believed, Preferred and Bought.

What it doesn’t show

  • Why the winner won. The survey describes the shortlist, not the reasons.
  • Whether the same holds when the shortlist comes from an AI answer.
  • Anything about smaller purchases, or buying on habit.

The fix

Stop counting being seen as the result. Score the stages after Found at your buyer’s moments, and fix the one where seen suppliers lose to the one that’s picked.

Cite this finding

6sense (2025), survey of about 4,000 business buyers, purchases of US$25,000 or more. Summarised by RocMode, 9 October 2026.