How to Leverage Buying Signals for Effective B2B Sales Outreach in 2024

Are you still relying on ‘spray and pray’ tactics for your outbound? If your answer was no, that’s great. You’d say personalization and a relevant offer is key for outbound success. But what if we told you that’s not enough either? 

A third aspect - timeliness is crucial for successful outbound campaigns in 2024.

That's where buying signals come in. By using signals like website visits, funding rounds or new hires, sales teams can zero in on the perfect moment to reach out.

Modern sales intelligence tools provide these signals. They have evolved from just providing contact details to buying signals, analyzing events and most importantly, helping sales reps deliver messages that speak directly to their prospects' current needs.

Let’s cover the different types of signals and what they signify before moving on to the tools that provide this data.

What is a Signal?

A buying signal is any behavior or action from a prospect that suggests interest in your product or service. There are different types of buying signals: intent data, opportunity data, and fit data.

In this article, we’ll focus on company signals, which reveal if a prospect is a good fit and when it’s the best time to reach out.

Types of Buying Signals to Look For

Intent Data

These are signals that indicate the likelihood of your prospect buying your product. It tells you where your prospects are in the buyer journey.

Some examples are:

• Visiting your website’s pricing page

• Clicking “Request Demo” or “Learn More”

• Downloading a whitepaper or guide

Opportunity Data

These are company events that might influence a prospect’s decision-making. In other words, things that happen to a company that puts them in a better or worse place for purchase.

Some examples are:

• Funding rounds

• Hiring trends

• Key leadership changes

• New product launches

Fit Data

As the name suggests, this data helps you decide whether a company aligns with your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). Fit data includes data like company revenue, employee count, industry, location, and technology stack.

What Each Signal Means for Outreach

1. Funding Raised:

   When a company has received investment, it indicates that they now possess additional financial resources for expansion and investing in new products or services. 

   Outreach Strategy: Do some research on their offerings and approach decision-makers with how your product can help them grow. But remember, they’ll likely be spammed with messages, so make sure yours stands out.

   
   

2. Hiring Trends:

   Headcount growth or decline and job openings are indicators of a company’s expansion plans. Growth suggests expansion, while reductions could point to financial constraints or a shift in priorities.

   Outreach Strategy: The types of roles and skills a company is hiring for can reveal valuable insights. For instance, if they’re expanding their sales team and you offer an AI SDR tool, it’s the perfect time to reach out.

   
   

3. Key Decision Maker Hires:

   When new leaders join a company, they are likely to bring in their ideas and invest in new products or services that align with their interests. If a previous customer moves into a decision-making role, it’s also an ideal time to reconnect.

   Outreach Strategy: Reach out to new leaders with a message tailored to their experience. They’ll likely be lost in a sea of sales messages, so if possible, leverage a warm introduction to stand a better chance of getting a reply. 

   
   

4. Product Launch:

   A company might launch a new product that could be announced on their LinkedIn page or other social platforms or on websites like TechCrunch.

   Outreach Strategy: Companies are keen to improve their products and pitching your product or service as a way to improve their product might catch their attention.

Top 5 Tools to Track Company Signals

The days of Zoominfo ruling the B2B data market are long gone. Newer, more flexible and a lot more accurate data providers have come up in this space over the last 5 years. Here are our top 5 tools:

1. Coldreach

   Coldreach tracks 70 million accounts, leveraging AI to provide actionable insights for prospecting based on company activity and intent signals.

   Why we love Coldreach:
   Custom Buying Signals: Users can tailor the platform to capture signals unique to their product, such as job postings, business news, or LinkedIn activity and also request for custom signals enabling targeted outreach to companies.

   AI Insights for Account research: Coldreach’s AI integrates data from multiple sources and highlights why each prospect may be interested, giving sales teams evidence-based insights for more precise prospecting.

   Define Buying Signals in Natural Language: Coldreach allows users to define relevant buying signals in natural language, making it easier to capture signals unique to their product and goals.

   White-Glove Onboarding: We love the Coldreach team. They are incredibly helpful throughout the entire onboarding process. 

   
   

2. Crustdata

   (Shameless plug, but we think it's justified). We’re the only platform that provides real-time tracking of opportunity and fit data. Check out how we actually provide live data here.

   Here’s a recap of the signals we cover:

   • Headcount Growth

   • Job Openings

   • Funding Rounds

   • Key Decision-Maker Hires

   • Revenue Changes

   • Website Traffic Changes

   We also add a unique layer by monitoring prospect posts, allowing you to spot updates before they’re reflected on profiles.

   
   

3. Dealfront

   It provides company, contact and intent data specialized for European B2B sales and marketing teams. It also identifies anonymous website visitors giving sales teams an additional lead source.

   
   

4. LinkedIn Sales Navigator

   Built on LinkedIn’s data foundation, Sales Navigator is a powerful tool with extensive filters for prospecting.

   
   

5. Cognism

   It is a sales intelligence platform that provides both company and contact data giving sales teams signals and the contacts to reach out to their prospects.

Conclusion

In today’s crowded sales environment, delivering the right message at the right time is essential. Buying signals offer insights that make outreach timely, relevant, and targeted to prospects’ real needs. Tools like Crustdata, Coldreach and others provide sales teams with intent, opportunity, and fit data to reach the right prospects and craft relevant outreach.