Signal-based selling: 7 plays you can run this week

Signal-based selling starts outreach from behavior instead of from a list: someone engaged, visited, posted, got funded, or changed jobs, and that action makes them worth a message this week. The mechanics are the same for every play: catch the signal, qualify the person, reach out with the context. Here are seven plays, each runnable in days.

Play 1: competitor engagers

People liking and commenting on a competitor's posts are actively thinking about the category.

Catch everyone engaging with two or three competitor pages weekly, qualify against your ideal customer, and open with the topic (never with "saw you on our competitor's page"). Steady volume, high relevance.

Play 2: keyword posts

People posting or commenting about your problem space are raising their hands in public.

Track two or three phrases buyers actually use. Engage with the post first when you can; the outreach then lands warm.

Play 3: profile viewers

Someone viewed your profile; curiosity is a signal.

Low volume, high warmth. Qualify first: a fit viewer gets a friendly note referencing shared ground, an unfit one gets nothing.

Play 4: website visitors

The hot lane. A pricing page visit is the strongest buying signal on this list.

Qualify the visitor like any lead, then message on relevance, not on the visit itself. Full mechanics in our visitor identification guide.

Play 5: funding announcements

Fresh funding means new budgets and new problems at a known scale.

The window is weeks, not days; everyone messages on day one, so a thoughtful day-ten note often reads better. Reference the stage-specific problem, not the money.

Play 6: job changes

A new leader in your buyer role reviews the stack in the first quarter.

Congratulate honestly, offer something useful for the first 90 days, and don't pitch in message one. This play compounds: track your closed-lost contacts moving to new companies.

Play 7: your own content engagers

People engaging with your posts already chose to hear from you.

The warmest cold outreach that exists. Qualify, then continue the conversation they started in the comments.

Running them together

Pick two plays, not seven. One wide lane (competitor engagers or keyword posts) plus one hot lane (visitors or your engagers) covers most teams' best leads.

Every play feeds the same pipe: signal in, agent qualifies, fits get a drafted message, you approve. When one play's reply rate proves out, add the next.

Obert catches all seven signals, qualifies every lead with agents, and routes fits into outreach in one system. Start a free trial. 7-day free trial, cancel anytime.