A signal is only useful if it changes what you say. Here are fifteen that do, and how to use each one without sounding like you’ve been watching.

A B2B buying signal is an observable event that makes a company or person more likely to need what you sell right now. A new sales leader, a round of funding, a burst of job postings, a post complaining about the exact problem you solve. None of them guarantee a deal. All of them make a conversation more relevant.

Most lists of buying signals stop at naming them. That’s the easy part. The hard part is knowing which ones are strong, how long they stay fresh, and what to actually say. So for each of the fifteen below, you’ll get what it means, where to spot it, and a first line you could adapt.

Company signals

These tell you an account has a reason to care. They don’t tell you who inside it, so pair them with a person.

1. Hiring for a role related to your product

A company posting three SDR roles is investing in outbound. One posting for a first RevOps hire says reporting is about to get serious. Job listings are one of the most honest signals there is, because companies only pay to hire for priorities. Spot it on job boards and careers pages. We cover this one in depth in how to find companies hiring SDRs.

First line: “Saw you’re building out the SDR team. When we hired our first three, ramp time was the thing nobody warned us about.”

2. A new funding round

New money usually means new hiring targets and new projects within the next few months. It also means everyone else saw the announcement, so you’ll need a better angle than “congrats on the raise.”

First line: “With the Series A behind you, I’m guessing the next board slide is pipeline. Curious how you’re thinking about the first outbound hires.”

3. A new leader in the function you sell to

New leaders tend to review tools, agencies and processes in their first few months. It’s one of the strongest signals for anyone selling to that function.

4. Expansion into a new market or office

A new office in London or a launch in Germany creates projects: hiring, localization, compliance, new pipeline. Look for announcements and location-specific job listings.

5. A change in their tools

Job listings that suddenly mention a new CRM, or a company page that starts showing a new integration, can mean a migration is underway. Migrations open budgets and reopen decisions.

6. Strategy announcements

A move upmarket, a new product line, a shift from self-serve to sales-led. Leaders often write about these in posts or interviews. They tell you what’s about to get harder for the team.

Person signals

These are the most useful for outreach, because they come with a human and something to talk about.

7. A job change or promotion

Someone who just started a role is open to new relationships and new ideas, and often has a mandate. Former customers or contacts who move companies are especially valuable: they already know you.

First line: “Congrats on the move to Northwind. First 90 days as head of growth, I’d imagine the list is long. What’s at the top?”

8. A post about the problem you solve

When someone writes publicly about the exact problem you solve, they’ve done your qualification for you. Respond to the post first, then connect. See how to find people who recently posted about your topic.

9. A comment on someone else’s post

Commenters are often less visible than posters and less overwhelmed by pitches. A thoughtful comment on an industry post about outbound tells you as much as a post would.

10. Engaging with your content

People who like, comment on or share your posts already know who you are. They’re the warmest outreach you’ll ever do, and most founders never follow up with them.

11. Engaging with a competitor or a category leader

Comments on a competitor’s launch post, or questions under a category influencer’s post, show interest in the category. Be careful here. Don’t open with the competitor.

12. Asking for recommendations

“Can anyone recommend a tool for X?” is the most explicit buying signal on LinkedIn. It’s also the most competitive. A helpful, non-salesy answer in the comments often beats a DM.

13. Attending or speaking at an event

People posting about an upcoming event have told you where they’ll be and what they care about. Great for meeting in person, or for a post-event follow-up that references a specific session.

First-party signals

These come from your own channels. They’re strong, and they’re also where it’s easiest to be creepy.

14. Website visits to high-intent pages

Repeat visits to pricing, comparison or docs pages from a target account suggest active evaluation. Use it to prioritize, never to open with. Nobody wants to hear “I noticed you were on our pricing page.”

15. Product sign-ups, replies and referrals

A free sign-up from someone at a target account, a reply to an old message, a customer mentioning a friend at another company. These are the signals teams most often let go cold. Treat them as the top of your list.

The 15 signals at a glance

Strength and freshness are rules of thumb from our own work, not universal benchmarks. Test them against your own reply rates.

How to act on a signal

One signal, one sentence, one easy ask. That’s the whole method.

1. Pick the single strongest signal. Stacking three signals into one message reads like a surveillance report.

2. Write one sentence that shows you understand what it means for them. Not that it happened. What it means.

3. Make a small ask, or none at all. A question they’d enjoy answering works better than a meeting request.

4. Act within the freshness window. A comment on a post from yesterday is thoughtful. A comment on a post from three months ago is odd.

This is the core of how Manet works. It detects signals like hiring, funding, posts, engagement and job changes, checks that they belong to the person’s current company, and suggests an action tied to that moment, which you approve before anything goes out.

Three ways signals go wrong

• The creepy opener. “I saw you visited our website three times” is technically a signal and socially a mistake.

• The stale signal. Congratulating someone on a funding round from last year tells them you’re working off an old list.

• The wrong company. A funding round or job opening only counts if it belongs to the company the person works at today. People change jobs. Data goes stale. Check.

Signals work best on top of a clear ICP. Here’s how to build one, with a free template.

Frequently asked questions

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