Reaching out at the right time: the signals that are worth something
The right prospect contacted six months too early is a lost deal. What separates the two is not the profile, it is an event, and it is visible.
Two people have exactly the same profile. One replies within the hour, the other never will. It is not the message that separates them, it is that one of them just changed something and the other did not.
This is the dimension targeting almost always forgets. We work hard on the who, a little on the what to say, and never on the when, even though it decides half the replies.
A good prospect contacted six months too early is not a good prospect, it is a deal you just burned.
What a signal is, and what is not one
A signal is a dated event that changes the person's situation and has a consequence for what you sell. Three conditions, and you need all three.
Sales director at a mid-size company is not one: it is a state, it lasts years, it says nothing about now. Just took over sales at a mid-size company is one, because it is dated, because it changes everything for that person, and because the first months in a role are exactly when tools get replaced.
| What is not a signal | The matching signal |
|---|---|
| A fifty-person company | Hired fifteen people in six months |
| Has a sales team | Is hiring its first salesperson |
| Uses a CRM | Is switching, or just installed one |
| Does outbound | Posted an SDR job opening |
| Founder for ten years | Just raised, or just opened a second office |
The left column describes people. The right column describes moments. You prospect moments.
Where to see them without paying for monitoring
Most useful signals are public, and nobody looks at them because they are scattered. None of them requires a subscription.
- A profile's career history. The start date is displayed. Between month one and month six, someone has both the mandate and the appetite to change things.
- Job postings. A company hiring for a role is stating what it cannot do itself. It is the most honest signal there is.
- What the person publishes or comments on. Someone writing about a subject has been thinking about it for weeks.
- Team changes around them. A departure, an arrival, a reorganisation redistribute priorities.
- What they already tried. A tool listed on a profile, a recent certification, an announced partner.
The second deserves to be taken seriously. A job posting is a public, detailed declaration of a gap, written by the company itself, with budget attached. Few signals are that explicit.
Finding your own
The signals above are generic. Yours are elsewhere, and they are in your calls: at some point, every one of your customers said why they started looking now rather than last year.
It is the highest-return question in a discovery call and one of the least asked: what made you deal with this now? The answer is your trigger, and if it recurs across several customers, you hold a targeting criterion worth more than any filter.
Prospecting on the profile
- The list does not change from month to month
- No urgency to write today
- The message has to create the need
- A refusal closes the door for a long time
Prospecting on the signal
- The list renews itself
- A reason to write this specific week
- The message starts from an already acknowledged fact
- A refusal mostly says the signal was misread
The signal is also your opening line
There is a secondary benefit people notice late. The signal that made you keep a profile is exactly what makes your first message legitimate.
Without it you open by introducing yourself, and nothing justifies writing today. With it the first sentence already exists, and it only works for that one person, which is the best guarantee it does not read as a mass send.
One caution, because it is crossed easily: mention the fact, never the interpretation. You started this role in March is a fact. You must be struggling to structure the team is a guess, and it turns against you the moment it is wrong.
Where Meidly helps
We surface from your calls what triggered the search for the people who bought, and those triggers become criteria. The extension then reads the profiles in your network, brings up the ones where the signal is present, and gives you for each the fact that kept it.
See how prospect search works→In short
Stop looking for people, look for moments. A signal is dated, it changes the situation, and it has a consequence for what you sell. Yours are in your calls, in the answer to a single question: what made it now.
Frequently asked questions
What is a B2B buying signal?
A dated event that changes a person's situation and has a consequence for what you sell. All three conditions matter: a permanent state such as a job title is not a signal, a recent move into a role is.
Where do you find buying signals without a paid tool?
In what is already public: the start date on a profile, the company's job postings, what the person publishes or comments on, team movements around them. The job posting is the most explicit, since a company states there what it cannot do itself.
How do you know which signals matter for your offer?
By asking your customers what made them deal with it then rather than a year earlier. If the same answer recurs across several, you hold your trigger, and it is worth more than any filter.
Should you mention the signal in your message?
Yes, but the fact, not your interpretation. You started this role in March can be verified. You must be struggling to structure your team is a guess, and it turns against you as soon as it is wrong.