How to finally make buyer intent signals work for your outbound

If you’ve ever tried using buyer intent data but ended up scratching your head, wondering why the leads still aren’t interested, you’re not alone. 

Most sales teams, especially SDRs, BDRs, and Growth Marketers at B2B companies, know that buying intent and signals should be the next big thing. 

Yet the results aren’t always there. 

Why?

Chances are you’re chasing the wrong buying signals — or setting them up all wrong. You skip the fundamentals, enrich random companies, and only later realize you’ve been barking up the wrong tree. 

That’s when you (unfairly) blame outbound for not working.

Intent data won’t save your outbound, especially if you skipped the foundational steps. If you don’t understand what signals actually matter for your ideal customer profile (ICP), you’re just winging it with the wrong leads and blaming outbound when results go sideways.

In this guide, you’ll learn:

• Why most teams get intent data wrong (hint: they’re skipping crucial pre-qualifications).
  
• How to layer specific, high-impact signals onto your ICP without overcomplicating your process.
  
• A brief walkthrough of how SmartReach AI and HeyReach work together to create hyper‑personalized, automated outreach, all while keeping your messaging relevant and timely
  

All set? Let’s roll.

The challenge — Why everyone gets buyer intent signals wrong

1. “Don’t know what they’re looking for.”

Buyer intent signals are basically digital breadcrumbs that map out the buying journey. They reveal which potential customers might be in the market for your specific product or service. 

Examples include:

• Following your competitors on social media (LinkedIn, Twitter)
  
• Recently hiring for roles tied directly to your solution (e.g., an SDR or B2B sales rep for expansion)
  
• Tech stack changes or expansions (like adopting HubSpot or Salesforce)
  
• Website visitors or website visits spiking, new funding, or expansions into new markets
  

These signals matter because they prove two things:

1. Your solution fits. The company is relevant and meets the basic firmographic or demographic criteria for your ICP (e.g., they use specific SaaS platforms and have 50+ employees).
   
2. They’re in the market. Their hiring, online behavior, or competitor engagement indicates that they will soon be making a purchasing decision.
   

Despite the powerful buyer signals, people often hunt for them without a plan. It’s like trying to bake a cake by grabbing random ingredients off the shelf and hoping it turns edible. Spoiler: It usually doesn’t.

2. Skipping the right criteria

Take a typical example. A BDR might see a prospect “hiring for sales roles” and think, “Perfect, they must need my CRM integrations or outbound tool.” 

They reach out, and it fizzles. Why? Maybe the company is at the wrong stage or only fits half the ICP. They never validated if this was truly a high-intent scenario.

That’s the fundamental mistake of LinkedIn prospecting: The difference between a relevant signal and pure noise is whether the underlying lead meets your ideal customer profile. 

If you skip the basics, such as the industry, location, company size, and relevant technology, you’ll keep running into dead ends.

3. Random enrichment + wrong signals = outbound “failure”

Companies often:

1. Get a big generic lead list from questionable data sources and intent data providers.
   
2. Dump everything into a campaign with “cool-sounding” signals.
   
3. Blast out thousands of messages about “pain points” they guess a prospect has.
   
4. Watch open and reply rates tank
   

Then they say, “Outbound sucks.”

But that’s not on outbound. The signals were never aligned with the buyer's journey or the target accounts in the first place.

If your data’s garbage or your approach is misguided, no fancy tool or AI copywriter can salvage it.

The process — A better approach to buyer intent

So how do you fix it? Here’s the exact process we outlined in a recent webinar HeyReach co-hosted with Shira Simmons from SmartReach AI. 

Start with your core ICP criteria

Before you chase signals, do yourself a favor: define your absolute must-haves. This is basically your standard lead qualification process. 

For example:

• Industry (e.g., SaaS, finance, manufacturing)
  
• Location (e.g., North America, EMEA, APAC)
  
• Company size (usually around employees, revenue, or funding stage)
  
• Tech stack (maybe you only integrate well with HubSpot or Salesforce)
  

If a lead fails on any of these criteria, no extra signal or purchase intent metric can magically fix that mismatch.

Pro Tip: Look at your best existing case studies or success stories for a quick reference. Reverse engineer the workflows that landed them, see which signals worked, and use them as your must-haves going forward.

Layer on the right buyer intent signals:

 A great example of a valuable signal is what Morgan J Ingram calls the “Sweet Spot Window.” In simple terms, it’s about timing or finding that moment when prospects are ready to switch things up. 

Here’s the play:

Focus on current roles with less than one year of tenure. Zero in on two key segments:

• 3-6 months: At this stage, prospects have settled in and have a clear picture of what’s working and what isn’t.
  
• 7-10 months: By now, they’ve proven themselves over a few quarters and are eager to make a significant impact before their one-year review.
  

Morgan’s hidden gem is the 7-month mark. 

That’s when prospects know exactly what they need, have their priorities set, and are primed to consider alternatives. This timing means your outreach hits them exactly when they’re most receptive to change.

When you set the basics, you’re ready to add relevant signals like:

• Hiring patterns. Hiring roles in sales or marketing teams = potential expansion mode. If they’re recruiting engineers for AI-driven tech, that might clue you in on synergy with your product.
  
• Website activity. High or growing traffic suggests they’re investing in top-of-funnel marketing, which can boost conversion rates if you offer CRO solutions. Tools like Ahrefs help you see approximate site traffic in real time.
  
• Competitor following. If they follow your competitor on social media, that’s a prime buying intent signal. They might be evaluating solutions similar to yours.
  
• Tech changes. Data from BuiltWith or other sales intelligence platforms can reveal a new technology that has been installed. For instance, if a prospect migrated from one CRM solution to another, it might be the perfect time to offer your solutions.
  
• Funding events. If they raised a fresh round, that usually means new budgets. Some intent data providers (e.g., Bombora, ZoomInfo) can show if they’re actively researching certain keywords or topics.
  
  

Key: Not all signals will matter for your solution. Focus on two or three that align with your account-based approach (ABM) and the specific needs your product solves.

Validate & enrich only the companies that match

Now, it’s time to validate and enrich your lead list. 

If you use SmartReach AI, it becomes your single source of truth. It aggregates, verifies, and updates your lead data with critical information such as industry, company size, and key buyer intent signals (e.g., “Hiring SDR?”, “Funding?”, “Competitor Engagement?”).

SmartReach AI integrates data from various sources, such as CSV files, Sales Navigator’s lead lists, or first‑party data from your CRM or marketing automation system, eliminating the need to rely on multiple separate providers.

If a lead is missing a crucial data point—such as location or another key in‑market signal- SmartReach AI will flag it, allowing you to exclude that lead and focus only on high‑intent prospects.

Enrichment is all about focusing on
1) baseline criteria and
2) the 2–3 signals that have true synergy with your marketing campaigns and B2B marketing. 

If they’re not in-market or matching your target accounts, it’s not worth the chase.

Turn data into personalized conversations

Once you have the properly enriched list, build your outreach strategy. Each contact or account deserves a short, specific mention that references those signals. For instance:

“Hi Jane. I noticed you’re expanding your marketing ops team. Congrats on the new hires! Usually, when companies hit that stage, they look for a more scalable way to manage the pipeline. Curious if that’s on your roadmap?”

Hint: This message is short, points to a recognized event (new hires), and doesn’t just say, “Hey, buy my solution.” You’re connecting buyer reality with your solution’s relevance.

In our recent webinar, Shira, the creator of SmartReach AI, highlighted how critical it is to combine first-party data and third-party intent data with hyper-personalized messaging.

“I was on a call,” Shira said, “where the prospect said, 'I get so many emails, but yours really spoke to me because you actually referenced my background in gymnastics!’ That one personal detail made me stand out and got me the meeting. It’s not about volume; it’s about real relevance.”

Shira’s key takeaway? Good data plus personal relevance = serious results. When you see purchase intent (like visits to your pricing page) or a hiring spree for SDRs, it’s the perfect time to reach out with the right message.

Walkthrough — Bringing It All Together with HeyReach + SmartReach AI

Step 0: Define your ICP & desired signals

Before you launch campaigns, create a simple spreadsheet to map out your ideal customer profile (ICP) and the key buyer intent signals. List the must-haves (industry, location, size, tech) and the “intent” signals you want to track (funding, competitor follows, hiring events).

Make it simple — two or three columns for your main signals. For example:

This blueprint helps you optimize your messaging and follow-up strategy.

Step 1: Connect the platforms

HeyReach and SmartReach AI are natively integrated, letting you automatically hyper‑personalize your LinkedIn outreach with a single, streamlined workflow.

1. Log in to your SmartReach AI account and click Settings on the left-hand menu.
   
   
2. In your HeyReach account, navigate to Integrations > HeyReach API to copy your API key and paste it into SmartReach AI.

This connection makes SmartReach AI your single source of truth for lead data enrichment.

Step 2: Build and import your lead list

Use Sales Navigator to create a targeted lead list based on your ICP (using filters like industry, location, and headcount), then export your list as a CSV.

Import this CSV directly into HeyReach via the “Import CSV” option or the native SmartReach AI integration so your enriched leads are automatically synced.

Step 3: Configure your HeyReach campaign with personalized touches

HeyReach is built to help you run safe, automated, and personalized LinkedIn cold messages.

1. Navigate to your HeyReach dashboard and set up a new campaign.
   
2. For the connection request, use a short, punchy LinkedIn message (or leave it blank if that suits your style better)
   
3. For follow-up messages, add dynamic placeholders such as {follow_up_1}  and {follow_up_2}.  If your campaign has more steps, simply add follow_up_3}, {follow_up_4}, etc. These placeholders instruct SmartReach AI to generate hyper‑personalized messages based on your enriched data.
4. Use variables like {{firstName}}, {{companyName}}, or {{fundingRound}} in your message templates. For example, if your CSV shows “HiringSDR=Yes,” craft a conditional note that highlights this fact.
   

Review your sequence to ensure it references key buyer signals, such as recent funding or hiring activity, to tie the prospect’s current situation to your solution’s value.

Step 4: Set up your campaign in SmartReach AI

Create your AI prompts in SmartReach AI to build personalized messaging for your outbound campaign:

1. In SmartReach AI, start a new campaign and input the following:
   
   
   • Description. Your concise elevator pitch.
     
     
   • Pain points. The specific challenges your prospects face.
     
     
   • Social proof: Examples or case studies that validate your solution.
     
     
   • Strategic advantages: What makes your offering unique? 

Tip: Create separate campaigns for different ICPs to boost relevance.

2. Under “Select List Type,” choose Upload from HeyReach, select your enriched lead list, and click Load List.
   
   
3. Adjust your settings. Set the number of follow‑up messages to match your {follow_up_x} placeholders and choose whether to enable tone optimization or auto-upload features.
   

Step 5: Launch & monitor your campaign

If auto-upload is off, review and fine‑tune the personalized messages generated by SmartReach AI.

Then, return to the HeyReach dashboard and launch your campaign.

Monitor key metrics such as connection acceptance rate, reply rate, and other engagement metrics (e.g., downloads or pricing page visits).

If your connection acceptance rate is low but your reply rate is decent, consider tweaking your initial message. Contrarily, if acceptance is high but follow-ups receive few responses, adjust your subsequent messaging.

The best sales teams operate on a continuous improvement cycle, always refining their approach.

Make buyer intent data your “unfair advantage”

Buyer intent data can be rocket fuel for your outbound campaigns, but only if you use it correctly. 

The big secret?

 Don’t start chasing every signal. Start with your baseline ICP. 

Only then do you add the signals that show genuine readiness, combining first-party insights with third-party intent data. 

Finally, leverage the native integration of SmartReach AI and HeyReach to transform raw data into hyper‑personalized, automated outreach.

Key takeaways:

• Define the foundation. Industry, location, and size criteria come first.
  
  
• Select relevant signals, such as funding, hiring, competitor following, or tech changes, that align with your account-based approach.
  
  
• Enrich only the right leads. Filter out incomplete or irrelevant data. Focus on high-intent prospects and decision-makers.
  
  
• Personalize without spamming. Reference the signals in short, relevant messages. Let the conversation evolve naturally.
  
  
• Stay compliant. Use safe import methods (CSV, direct integrations).
  
  

Your goal is to move from random outreach to targeted, timely conversations. This will eliminate spam, improve conversion rates, and drive more revenue.

If you take one thing away from this entire article, it should be this: Intent data isn’t magic dust. It’s a sharper lens to see which prospects are primed for your conversation. 

The rest is about your process, relevant content, and consistency.

Ready to see how this works in your unique sales context? 

Schedule a one-on-one strategic call with our team. 

We’ll help you map out the ICP basics, pick the signals that matter, and set you up inside HeyReach or your existing stack so you can start booking more calls with fewer wasted messages.

Book your 1:1 for some personalized guidance