First contacted wins: you were already top of the list
80%
6sense surveyed nearly 4,000 B2B buyers. The vendor a buyer contacts first wins the deal in 80% of cases. Most often, that vendor was already on the shortlist drawn up on day one.
When a prospect contacts you, they're not discovering you: they've already ranked you at the top. The deal is half won. Losing it to a late callback means letting a deal you already had slip away.
Be the one who answers first the prospect who chose you first. The point isn't to convince: it's to keep doubt, then a competitor, from settling in during your silence.
The causality is counter-intuitive: speed doesn't create the preference, the preference drives the buyer to contact you first. But that edge is perishable. Without a fast answer, the prospect moves to the next on their list, and the lead you had turns against you.
The immediate alert and one-gesture pickup send the call out before doubt sets in. The waiting modal tells the prospect they're being taken care of, you stay, concretely, at the top of their list.
6sense, B2B Buyer Experience Report 2025 · 2025 · Global · Level A.
Sample : nearly 4,000 B2B buyers across North America, EMEA and APAC
What the study does not measure : Any effect of response speed. Causality runs the other way: buyers rank vendors before reaching out and contact their favourite first. What this shows is the cost of silence when you are already the favourite.