In short: at any given time, only a small share of your potential customers is looking to buy. A purchase intent signal is an event that suggests a company or a person has just entered that window: a funding round, a wave of hiring, a new manager, a post about a problem you solve. Watch these signals on the accounts that already match your ICP, contact first the ones with the strongest signal, and open your message with the event itself. You contact fewer people, with a better reason to write.
Why does timing matter so much in B2B?
Because most of your market is not buying right now. Professor John Dawes of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute illustrated it for the LinkedIn B2B Institute: if companies change suppliers about once every five years, then only around 20% are in the market over a full year, and something like 5% in a given quarter. He presents the "95-5" figure as a heuristic, not a precise rule (LinkedIn B2B Institute).
Two other findings show how early the decision is made:
- In its 2025 survey of nearly 4,000 B2B buyers, 6sense found that buyers make first contact with vendors about 61% of the way through their buying journey, and that four out of five deals are won by the vendor the buyer already preferred before that contact (6sense, 2025).
- In a Gartner survey published in June 2025, 73% of B2B buyers said they actively avoid suppliers who send irrelevant outreach (Gartner, 2025).
A well-written message sent to someone who has no reason to change anything is irrelevant by definition. A signal is what turns the same message into a timely one.
What is a purchase intent signal?
An observable event that makes a need more likely. There are two families:
| Family | Examples | Where to find them |
|---|---|---|
| First-party signals (your own data) | Visit to your pricing page, newsletter sign-up, demo request, reaction to your posts | Your site analytics, your CRM, your LinkedIn notifications |
| Third-party signals (public data) | Funding round, hiring, new manager, job change, post about a problem, expansion to a new city | LinkedIn profiles and company pages, job boards, press |
First-party signals are rarer but stronger: the person is already interacting with you. Third-party signals let you reach people who do not know you yet.
Which signals should you watch on LinkedIn?
| Signal | What it suggests | Example of a relevant offer | Strength |
|---|---|---|---|
| A new head of a function (sales, finance, IT, marketing) | New managers often review tools and suppliers in their first months | Software, consulting, training | Strong |
| Hiring several people in one team | The team is growing and processes will strain | Recruiting, onboarding, tooling, office space | Strong |
| Funding round | Budget available, growth targets to meet | Services that speed up growth | Medium to strong |
| A post about a precise problem | The person names the pain in public | Anything that solves that exact problem | Strong, but rare |
| Engagement with a competitor's content | Interest in the category | Your alternative | Medium |
| Job change of a former customer | A buyer who already knows your value, in a new company | Your product, at their new company | Strong |
None of these signals proves a need. Each one makes it more likely, and the combination of a signal with a good ICP fit is what matters: a funding round at a company you could never serve is noise.
How do you build a signal-led prospecting routine?
- Start from your ICP. Define the companies and roles you can actually help. Without that filter, signals bring you a lot of irrelevant accounts. Our guide to defining your ICP covers this step.
- Choose two or three signals that match your offer. A recruiting firm watches hiring; an accountant watches funding rounds and new finance managers. The pages for recruitment agencies and accountants give one example each.
- Watch them on your target list, not on the whole of LinkedIn. Check weekly, or let a tool do it.
- Rank the accounts. Strong signal and good fit first, the rest in a nurture list.
- Write the first message around the signal, then follow up with something useful.
- Measure per signal. After a month, compare reply rates by signal and keep the ones that work for you.
A simple ranking grid:
| Priority | Criteria | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Now | Strong signal from the last 30 days and good ICP fit | Personal message this week |
| Soon | Medium signal, or strong signal with partial fit | Campaign with a message adapted to the signal |
| Later | Good ICP fit, no signal yet | Keep watching; publish content they may see |
How do you write a message around a signal?
Name the event, connect it to a problem you know well, and ask one question. Do not pretend you just happened to notice.
Hi [First name], congratulations on the new role at [Company]. Many sales directors I talk to spend their first quarter rebuilding the prospecting process. Is that on your list, or already done?
Hi [First name], I saw you are hiring four sales reps this quarter. How do you plan to give them a first list of prospects in their first week?
Hi [First name], your post on late customer payments struck a chord. Is the issue the reminders themselves, or the time it takes to send them?
What to avoid: listing every piece of information you found ("I saw your funding, your hiring and your post..."), which reads like surveillance, and jumping to a pitch in the first line.
How does Sales Farmer help you act on signals?
- Find prospects builds a first list of LinkedIn profiles from a short description of your activity, which gives you the target to watch.
- The Watchlist, on the Growth plan, watches the profiles you choose, one by one or every lead of a Find prospects campaign in one click. It flags funding rounds, hiring, new posts and job changes (detected when a person's headline or company changes between two checks).
- Campaigns then send the invitation and your messages at the pace you set, and stop the follow-ups when the person replies.
Signals do not write the message for you. They tell you who to contact this week and what to talk about.
FAQ
What is the difference between a purchase intent signal and a lead score?
A signal is a single event (a funding round, a new hire). A lead score combines several criteria, often ICP fit and signals, into one number used to rank prospects. Signals feed the score.
How long does a signal stay valid?
It depends on the signal, but freshness matters. A job change or a post is a good reason to write within days or a few weeks; after several months, the moment has usually passed. A funding round tends to stay relevant longer, while the money is being spent.
Do I need an intent data provider?
Not to start. LinkedIn already shows most third-party signals for free: hiring, job changes, posts, company news. Paid intent data becomes useful when you watch thousands of accounts.
Is it intrusive to mention a signal in a message?
Not if the signal is public and professional, such as a new job, a hiring post or a funding announcement. It becomes intrusive when you combine many details or mention personal information. One signal, stated simply, is enough.
Further reading
- How to define your ICP and build a LinkedIn prospect list
- LinkedIn prospecting message templates
- Social selling: turn post reactions and comments into leads
Contact the right people at the right moment
Try Sales Farmer free for 14 days: build your target list with Find prospects, then write campaigns that open on a reason to talk rather than on your offer.