Buying signals: what they are and how to use one

A buying signal is something a company does in public that suggests it might be ready to spend money. That is the whole definition. It does not need a dashboard, a score or a webinar.

The useful part is the word "public". Anyone can see a signal. Very few people read them, write down the company, find the right person and send a sensible email the same week. That gap is where your pipeline lives.

Six types of public signal

1. A funding announcement. A company says it has raised money. Money tends to get spent, usually on the things you sell or the things next to them.
2. A product launch. A new product means new problems: support, security, marketing, hiring, all at once.
3. A new market or office. Expansion creates work that nobody planned for last quarter.
4. A partnership announcement. Two companies shaking hands in a press release usually means a to-do list on both sides.
5. A press mention or award. Attention arrives, and the company has to cope with it.
6. A rebrand or a big website change. Somebody has been given a budget and a deadline.

Each of these is a reason to write to a company today instead of next March. None of them is a guarantee. A signal is a reason to start a conversation, not a prediction.

Turning a signal into a first line

The signal is your first sentence. Say what you saw, plainly, and then say why you are writing.

Saw the announcement about the new office. Most teams opening one end up looking for help with [thing you sell]. Is that on your list?

Three rules:

• Name the event, not the company's "journey". If the sentence could be sent to anyone, it is not a first line.
• Keep it to two or three sentences. The person reading is busy and mildly suspicious.
• Ask one question. Not a calendar link, not a deck.

You can do all of this by hand. It takes hours. Reading the news, finding the contacts and checking the details is the boring research, and it is the part most people skip.

Where Outrun fits

Outrun does the boring research. Funding rounds are one of the signals behind the leads in the digest, and every lead links to the source it came from.

Leads come with named contacts and a work email where we can find one, plus job titles and LinkedIn profiles where we have them.

The leads arrive in a digest every weekday at 7am. You read the announcement, decide whether it is relevant to you, and write the email yourself. We do the boring research. You do the human bit.

The same company can appear in other people's digests too, so the email you write is what sets you apart. Make it a good one.

Related reading

• What is a buying signal?, the two-sentence version
• Who to contact at a company
• Buying signals vs static lead lists

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