One of the main foundations of account-based work is ABM alignment. Alignment between marketing and sales, and also with operations. That’s the whole point: break the silos. Everyone looks at the same accounts, understands the same priorities, and moves in sync.
The problem is that the very platforms that claim to enable this alignment are often exacerbating the issue. The clearest example is 6sense.
6sense and the 6QA confusion
In ABM, the concept of a Marketing Qualified Account (MQA) is already hard enough for teams to agree on. Sales doesn’t always understand the definition, marketing leaders bend it to their funnel goals, and operations teams struggle to enforce consistency.
Instead of helping, 6sense decided to rebrand the concept. What most platforms call an MQA, they call a 6QA.
Now imagine the fallout:
- Marketing leaders are still talking about MQAs because that’s the language we’ve always used.
- Marketing operations, who live inside 6sense every day, start calling them 6QAs — because that’s literally what the platform outputs.
- Sales sees both terms pop up in Salesforce dashboards, and none of it makes sense.
So instead of breaking silos, the platform has created a new one. The company isn’t even disagreeing about the data — they’re disagreeing about the name.
And it’s not an accident. Vendors rebrand concepts deliberately. It puts its stamp on the terminology, so you can’t escape its ecosystem.
The ABM jargon problem
The 6QA name is just a good example. The bigger issue is that the ABM space is already drowning in jargon:
- “orchestrations”
- “buying signals”
- “exegraphics”
- “firmographics”
- “engagement minutes”
The list goes on. Each platform wants to coin its own vocabulary, and each agency wants to trademark its own spin on it. For someone who lives with these tools every day, it makes sense. However, for sales or CS professionals who want to know which accounts to target, it’s another barrier.
The result? Instead of unifying sales, marketing, and ops, everyone speaks a slightly different dialect of ABM. The whole point of the methodology, alignment, gets lost in translation.
Why language matters for ABM alignment
It’s easy to dismiss jargon as just semantics. But in ABM, words shape the process. If a sales leader doesn’t know what a “6QA” is, they’re not going to trust the report in front of them. If ops and marketing don’t agree on what a “signal” actually means, you can’t score accounts consistently.
That’s why this is a structural issue. Platforms are supposed to reduce friction, but by pushing branded terminology, they create new misunderstandings that slow everyone down.
How to Avoid Getting Trapped in Vendor Jargon
- Pick one common language, and stick to it. Decide as a company whether you’ll call it an MQA, a Qualified Account, or whatever else — but don’t let the platform dictate. If Sales is calling them MQAs, Marketing should too. Ops can translate vendor terms in the backend, but the reports everyone sees should use the shared label.
- Translate the platform’s language into your own. Treat vendor jargon like a foreign language. Build a simple glossary (one page, no buzzwords) that explains: “In 6sense, this is called a 6QA, in Salesforce, we call it an MQA. They mean the same thing.” That avoids endless debates in meetings.
- Anchor terms to actions, not branding. Instead of arguing whether it’s an MQA or 6QA, define what happens when an account hits that stage. Example: “When an account is qualified, SDRs must pick it up within 48 hours.” The action matters more than the label.
- Educate outside the marketing bubble. Sales and CS professionals don’t spend their entire day in ABM tools. Don’t dump dashboards on them filled with “intent surges” and “orchestrations.” Translate signals into plain talk: “This account just hired five data engineers — likely expanding their stack.”
- Push vendors back toward clarity. Remember: you’re the customer. If your CSM or vendor team insists on using proprietary terms, ask them to map those terms directly to the standard definitions your organization already uses. Otherwise, the platform becomes a silo in itself.
Takeaways
ABM alignment ensures sales, marketing, and operations focus on the same accounts, use consistent metrics, and drive revenue together.
Jargon creates silos. When sales, marketing, and ops use different terms like “MQA” vs. “6QA,” they lose trust in the data and waste time reconciling language.
Standardize terms across teams, focus on shared definitions of key metrics, and avoid over-relying on vendor-branded language.