A buying signal is something you can observe from outside a company that suggests it may soon need your service: it is hiring for a role you could reduce, a new leader has arrived, it has opened an office, or it has published a tender. Signals do not prove a need, but they tell you which companies to contact first and what to say. The best signals are tied to a problem you solve, recent enough to matter, and available from sources you can legally use. This guide covers eight signal types, free places to find them, a simple way to score them, how to turn one into a message, and the limits. Where evidence is quoted, the source and its limits are stated, and the honest picture is that independent data on how well each signal converts is scarce, so you will need to test.
Why timing matters
Gartner reported in 2018 that, in a survey of 750 B2B buyers involved in complex purchases, buyers spent only 17 percent of their purchase time meeting with suppliers, and that with three suppliers under consideration, each gets about 5 percent of the buyer's time. It was a survey of complex purchases, not of small service engagements, so the exact figures will not transfer. The idea does: much of the thinking happens before anyone talks to a supplier, so the supplier who reaches the company early, with something relevant, has an advantage over one who arrives late with a generic pitch.
Speed matters after a signal too, especially when the company contacts you. A 2011 Harvard Business Review article, The Short Life of Online Sales Leads, concluded that most companies are not responding nearly fast enough to online sales inquiries. The details of that research are behind the article, so treat it as support for a simple rule: reply to inbound interest quickly.
Eight signals worth knowing
These are typical interpretations, not proofs. Each one needs a link to a problem you actually solve.
| Signal | What it may suggest | Where to find it | Strength | Caution |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inbound interest (quote request, pricing page visit, reply to content) | Active interest in your service | Your CRM, analytics, inbox | Strongest | Needs fast follow-up |
| Hiring for a relevant role | Workload or a gap in the team | Company career pages, job boards | Medium to strong | The role must relate to your service |
| New leader in a relevant function | New priorities and a window for change | Company news, professional networks, registers | Medium | Leaders often wait a while before acting |
| Funding, growth or expansion | New money, new offices, more complexity | News, announcements, filings | Medium | Growth does not always mean a need |
| Public tender or contract award | A defined project with a budget | Public procurement portals | Strong for suppliers who fit the notice | Formal rules and deadlines apply |
| Regulatory or corporate event | Pressure to change a process or system | Filings, regulator announcements | Medium | Often relevant only to larger companies |
| Technology change | A new system that creates integration work | Job ads, vendor news, the company website | Medium | Hard to confirm from outside |
| Public frustration | A visible problem with service or operations | Reviews, public posts, forums | Weak to medium | Be careful about tone and privacy |
Where to look, mostly for free
Several official sources are free and public, and worth knowing about.
- Public procurement notices. TED, Tenders Electronic Daily, is the online version of the EU's Supplement to the Official Journal for European public procurement. It says it publishes more than 3,000 notices each weekday in all 24 official EU languages, and offers free access. Registering adds saved search profiles, email alerts and RSS feeds.
- Company registers. The European e-Justice portal's Find a company service lets you search business registers in the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. It returns basic company information, and what documents are free depends on each national register. In the UK, Companies House makes public company information available through its website and a REST API, for which you register an account.
- Filings by listed companies. In the US, the SEC's EDGAR database provides free public access to corporate filings. An 8-K is a current report that discloses material events, such as a merger agreement or changes to certain executive officers' compensation.
- Your own data. Your website analytics, CRM and inbox hold the strongest signals, because they come from people who already know you.
For smaller private firms, the most practical sources are usually company websites, job ads, news and the registers above.
Turn a signal into a message
A signal is only useful if it leads to a relevant opening line. The pattern is: what you noticed, why it matters, and a small question.
| Signal | Example opening line |
|---|---|
| Three open roles for client coordinators | "I noticed you are hiring three client coordinators, which often means onboarding is taking more manual work than expected." |
| New head of operations | "Congratulations on the new role. People starting in operations often review how client work is handed over in the first few months." |
| New second office | "I saw that you recently opened a second office, which usually means more coordination between sites." |
Then continue with the structure in the guide to writing a cold email that gets replies: a short message, a low-effort ask and a clear way to opt out. Mention only public business facts. A message that reveals knowledge of someone's private life, however it was found, will cost you the reply.
Score signals so you act on the best ones first
A simple scoring grid keeps you from chasing every alert. This is a rule of thumb, not a validated model. Score each company from 0 to 3 on three questions and add them up for a total out of 9.
| Question | 0 points | 3 points |
|---|---|---|
| Fit: does the company match your target client? | Not at all | Clearly |
| Strength: how directly does the signal point to your service? | Loosely | Directly |
| Recency: how fresh is the signal? | Months old | Days old |
Here is an invented example. Company A fits clearly (3), the signal is fairly direct (2) and it is days old (3), so it scores 8. Company B is a decent fit (2) with a very direct signal (3) but the signal is a few months old (1), so it scores 6. Company C is a weak fit (1) with a vague signal (1) that is days old (3), so it scores 5. If you set the threshold at 6, you contact A and B, A first, and leave C alone. Change the threshold to suit how many conversations you can handle.
Make it a routine, with automation where it helps
A weekly 30-minute review beats an occasional deep dive. Set up the alerts your sources offer, such as saved searches on a procurement portal, and log every signal in your CRM with its type, source and date so that you can later see which signals lead to replies and meetings. Automation is useful for collecting and logging, and a person should decide who to contact and what to say. Do not collect data in ways that break a site's terms of use. For the broader principle of automating the repetitive part and keeping judgment human, see the business process automation guide.
Know the rules
Information about companies, such as a tender notice or a filing, is generally easier to use than information about named individuals. A person's name, work email and role can be personal data, and registers can include details of directors and officers. Marketing rules differ by country and by whether you contact a company or an individual. In the UK, the ICO's business-to-business marketing guidance is a useful reference for email. Check the rules where you and your recipients are based, identify yourself honestly and offer an easy opt-out. This is general information, not legal advice.
Common mistakes
- Collecting signals and not acting. An unread alert is just noise.
- Using stale signals. A job ad that has been up for six months says little about today.
- Weak link to your service. If you cannot say why the signal matters to you both, skip it.
- Over-personalising. Stick to public business facts.
- Confusing a signal with a need. Ask a question and let the reply tell you.
- Ignoring fit. A strong signal from a company you cannot help is still a poor lead.
- Not tracking which signals work. Record the type on each lead and review it every month or two.
Next step
Pick two signals tied to problems you solve, set up one alert for each, and block 30 minutes a week to act on them. If you would like an outside view of how signal-based outreach could fit your lead generation, you can book a free audit. To see how this fits alongside the other channels, read eight lead generation channels compared, or browse the rest of the blog.
Sources
- Gartner, Smarter with Gartner: How B2B sales reps can maximize customer interactions (August 2018)
- Oldroyd, McElheran and Elkington, The Short Life of Online Sales Leads, Harvard Business Review (2011), abstract at BYU ScholarsArchive
- TED, About TED (Tenders Electronic Daily)
- European e-Justice Portal, General information on Find a company
- Companies House, Get started with the Companies House API
- SEC, Using EDGAR to Research Investments
- ICO, Business-to-business marketing