How to find high-intent prospects: signals that are worth acting on
Fit tells you who could buy. Intent tells you who might buy soon. The second is what makes a stranger's first message land.
Revio AI4 min read
The short version
- Fit is about who a business is. Intent is about what is happening to it right now.
- The strongest signals are ones a business created itself: job posts, published prices, new locations, public questions.
- No single signal proves intent. Two or three pointing the same way is much more reliable.
- Always mention the signal in the message. It is the reason you are writing.
Fit and intent are different questions
A business can fit your customer profile perfectly and have no interest at all this year. Another can be a looser fit and be actively looking for a solution. Prospecting that only checks fit reaches the right kind of business at a random moment.
| Fit | Intent | |
|---|---|---|
| Question | Could they buy? | Might they buy soon? |
| Based on | Industry, size, location | Recent changes and behaviour |
| How long it lasts | Years | Weeks to months |
| Where you find it | Listings and directories | Their own site, posts, hiring, reviews |
You need both. Fit narrows the field. Intent tells you who to talk to first and what to say.
Signals, from strongest to weakest
Strong: the business spent money or made a public decision
- Hiring for the problem you solve. A job post for a sales rep, a receptionist or an operations lead is a budget decision made in public. It says they know about the problem and are trying to fix it.
- Asking publicly for a solution. A post in a public forum or community describing the exact problem you solve, in their own words.
- Expanding. A new location, a new service area or a new product line creates new work to fill.
- Publishing prices for the first time. It usually means they have settled what they are worth, and volume is becoming the constraint.
Moderate: something changed, but it may not be your problem
- Increased advertising. They are paying to create demand. Whether they handle it well is a separate question.
- A new website or rebrand. Often precedes a push for growth.
- Leadership changes. A new owner or manager tends to review suppliers and processes.
Weak on their own
- Matching your industry and size
- Having a website that looks dated
- Having few reviews
Weak signals are useful for fit. On their own they are not a reason to write to someone, and a message built on them tends to read as an insult.
Look for signals that agree
One signal can be a coincidence. Several pointing at the same problem are much more convincing. Consider a roofing company where you notice:
- Their service area expanded to two new towns this quarter
- They have posted a sales representative role three times
- Several recent reviews mention slow callbacks on quotes
Each alone is ambiguous. Together they tell a clear story: demand is growing faster than the business can respond to it, and they know. That is a prospect with a reason to talk to someone who solves slow response.
Where to look
| Source | What it tells you | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| The company website | Services, pricing, team, locations, recent news | Pages that have not been updated in years |
| Careers and job boards | What they are investing in | Evergreen postings that are always open |
| Reviews | Recurring complaints, which are often your opening | One angry review is not a pattern |
| Public posts and forums | Problems described in the owner's own words | Only use what is genuinely public, and never quote a person back at them |
| Business listings | Size, category, hours, status | Duplicates and closed businesses |
Using the signal in the message
The signal is not just a filter. It is the first line. Compare:
Hi, we help roofing companies get more leads. Would you be open to a quick call?
Saw you have posted the sales rep role three times this quarter and just started covering Bixby. Who is calling back the quote requests while that seat is empty?
The second is not cleverer writing. It exists because of something true, and the reader can tell. How to personalize cold outreach goes further into this.
Common mistakes
- Treating fit as intent. Being the right size is not a reason to write.
- Acting on stale signals. A job post from last year says nothing about this month.
- Being creepy. Refer to what a business published about itself. Do not refer to things that feel like surveillance of a person.
- Forcing a connection. If a signal does not connect to what you sell, do not pretend it does.
Doing this by hand for a long list is slow. Revio's prospect intelligence reads each business for these signals and shows the reason it picked each one, so you can check its judgement.
Common questions
What is the single best intent signal?
Hiring for the role or function your product helps with. It shows the business has recognised the problem and put budget toward it.
Do I need paid intent data?
Not necessarily. Much of the most useful evidence is published by the business itself on its own website and job listings. Paid data can add coverage but usually cannot tell you why a specific business might care.
How recent does a signal need to be?
As a rule of thumb, the last few months. Hiring and expansion signals go stale quickly, while a recurring complaint in reviews can stay relevant for longer.