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Signal Playbooks

Signal-based outreach achieves 18% response rates vs 3.4% for generic cold email (Autobound). The first seller to contact after a trigger event is 5x more likely to win the deal. These playbooks detect buying signals, enrich the right contacts, and route them to campaigns — all driven by your agent.

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1. Job Change — Champion Tracking

Signal: A former buyer/champion moves to a new company. Past champions win at 37% vs 19% for cold outbound — nearly 2x the win rate (Champify, 230K champions, 7K opportunities, $256M pipeline). They convert at 3x the rate of cold prospects (UserGems). 30% of B2B contacts switch jobs annually (Cognism). Priority: P0-P1 | 90-day decay | 48h SLA | Route to original AE Tell Claude Code:
“Find contacts in my HubSpot who changed jobs, get their new work emails, update HubSpot, and add job changers to my re-engagement campaign”
Uses the job-change-detector skill. Four sub-plays:
  • 1A: Champion → new logo — They’re not a customer, they fit ICP. Personal congratulations within 48h.
  • 1B: Champion → existing customer — Tell CSM/AE. Champion pushes expansion from inside.
  • 1C: Champion → active deal — Tell that AE today. Champion validates internally, shortens eval.
  • 1D: Key contact leaves active deal — Risk signal. Map remaining buying committee immediately.
Subject: The move to [New Company] [First Name], Saw you joined [New Company] as [Title]. Good move. I keep thinking about what your team built at [Previous Company] — the [specific result]. I’d imagine the first 90 days at [New Company] are about [rebuilding/scaling/standing up]. If [product] makes sense there, I’m around. Either way, congrats.
Upgrade triggers:
  • Job change + new company raised funding = P0
  • Job change + new company hiring relevant roles = P0
  • Job change + previous deal was Lost = P2

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2. Hiring Signals — New Roles

Signal: Company posts jobs for roles that directly use or evaluate your product category. Hiring = budget approved + problem acknowledged. New hires convert at 2.5x higher rates in their first 3 months (UserGems). Priority: P2-P3 | 90-day decay | 1-week SLA Tell Claude Code:
“Pull my target accounts from HubSpot, find which ones are hiring GTM Engineers or RevOps roles, score the signal strength, find the decision maker’s email, and add high-scorers to my Instantly campaign”
Uses the deepline-gtm skills.
Subject: Scaling [function] ops — what tripped up [Peer Company] [First Name], Noticed [Company] is building out the [function] team. I’ve watched a dozen companies go through the same buildout. The pattern: hire the team, then buy the tools. The team spends 3-6 months doing manual [task] while evaluating vendors. [Peer Company] did it differently. They deployed [product] before the new hires started. New hires focused on [high-value work] from day one. Might be worth a 15-minute conversation about sequencing.

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3. Fundraising Events

Signal: Funding = budget. Skip week 1 (everyone sends congrats). Hit them weeks 2-8 when budget conversations start. The first seller to contact after a trigger event is 5x more likely to win (Autobound). Priority: P1-P2 | 6-month decay | 48h SLA for B+, 1 week for Seed/A Tell Claude Code:
“Pull my target accounts from HubSpot, find which ones raised funding recently, extract the round details, find the CRO or VP Sales contact with email, and add Series B+ companies to my outbound sequence”
Timing window:
  • Week 1: Too noisy, everyone congratulating them.
  • Week 2-3: Budget conversations starting. This is the window.
  • Week 4-8: Still good, implementation planning.
  • After week 8: Decisions may already be made.
Subject: Post-Series B [function] stack — what [peer] got wrong [First Name], Congrats on the round. [Investor] knows the space. One thing I keep seeing with post-B companies: the [function] stack that worked at 10K users breaks at 100K. Manual [process] spikes, [problem] shows up, the team ends up firefighting. We handle [function] for [impressive customer list]. The math at your stage: less [problem A], less [problem B], less manual work. If the [function] stack is on the post-funding roadmap, worth 15 minutes.

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4. Company News — M&A, Execs, Regulatory

Signal: When something happens at a target company, connect the news to a specific problem your product solves. Priority: P2-P3 | 45-day decay | 48h for M&A/exec hires, 1-2 weeks for rest Tell Claude Code:
“Pull my target accounts from HubSpot, find recent M&A, executive hires, or regulatory news for each, classify the trigger type, find the right contact, and get their email”
Fast triggers (48 hours):
  • M&A: Two customer bases, two systems, two compliance frameworks.
  • New C-level/VP: New leaders re-evaluate vendor stacks in their first 90 days.
  • Regulatory event or fine: Urgent remediation.
Subject: Post-merger [function] — what I’ve seen work [First Name], Saw the [Company] + [Acquired Company] news. The hardest part of integrating two companies’ [function] stacks isn’t the tech. It’s the [specific challenge]. Two systems, two [processes], two sets of [requirements], one board that wants them unified by next year. We’ve walked several companies through this. The approach: centralize on one [function] layer first, migrate sequentially. If this is on the integration roadmap, happy to share the playbook.

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5. Social Engagement

Signal: When someone at an ICP account engages with your content or posts about problems you solve. Respond within 24-48 hours. Priority: P3-P4 | 45-day decay | 24h for direct engagement Tell Claude Code:
“Find people on LinkedIn who posted about data enrichment or Clay alternatives this week, enrich their profiles, find their work emails, and add high-intent ones to my Instantly campaign”
The rule: Reference the topic, never the behavior.
  • Good: “Your take on [topic] was interesting.”
  • Bad: “I noticed you liked our post at 2:47pm on Tuesday.”

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6. Competitive Intelligence

Signal: Monthly brief on who you’re winning and losing against. Plus displacement plays when competitors stumble. Priority: P1-P2 | Quarterly review What to analyze monthly:
  1. Competitor frequency: who’s showing up more or less on deals?
  2. Win rate by competitor: getting better or worse against each one?
  3. Loss stage: where do you lose? Discovery = positioning. Proposal = pricing.
  4. Rep performance: who’s strong/weak against which competitor?
  5. New competitors: anyone appearing for the first time?
Displacement plays:
  • Competitor layoffs → any customer showing a signal is a displacement target
  • Competitor outage/breach → act within 48h
  • Competitor pricing increase → customers talking about it are signaling
  • Customer hiring while using a competitor → switching or building in-house?

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7. Signal Combination Plays

Key insight: Single signals are fine. Combine multiple signals into ONE rich message (never separate touches).
PlayComboApproach
The Re-EntryChampion + FundingFormer buyer at company that just raised. Best combination.
The BuildFunding + HiringRaised B+ and hiring relevant roles. Deploy product before hires start.
The RescueDeal Risk + Contact DeparturePrimary contact left active deal. Map remaining committee.
The DisplacementCompetitor News + Any SignalProspect uses competitor that just had bad news.
The Regulatory PushAny Signal + DeadlineAny ICP account showing a signal near a regulatory deadline.
Don’t burn accounts:
  1. Max 1 signal outreach per account per 14 days
  2. Combine signals into ONE message — never separate touches
  3. 30-day cool-off after a reply or meeting booked
  4. 3+ signals/month on same account = manual AE review

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8. Deal Risk Signals

Signal: Six signals from your own CRM data that catch pipeline rot before it shows up in forecast calls. Priority: P0-P1 | 30-day decay | 24h SLA
SignalTriggerAction
Gone coldNo meeting in 14+ days after active cadenceRe-engage with value touchpoint. Never “just checking in.”
Single-threadedOnly one contact on callsMulti-thread. Single-threaded deals win at ~5%; 5+ stakeholders reaches ~30% (Gong, 1.8M opportunities).
Competitor enteredNew competitor on dealDeploy battlecard. Lead with your specific advantage.
Stage stallDeal in same stage 2x longer than averageRe-qualify.
Close date pushed againSecond or more pushRepeated pushes = qualification problem. Re-qualify or close it.
Big deal, no activity$200K+ ACV, no stage change in 30+ daysBiggest forecast risk. Weekly check-in required.
Stacking risk:
  • 1 signal: AE handles
  • 2 signals: AE + manager weekly check
  • 3+ signals: VP Sales gets involved today

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Sources

All metrics verified against original sources: View all skills on GitHub