A complete guide to capturing, scoring, and activating intent signals across first-party, second-party, and third-party data to build a real-time, signal-driven GTM system.
Read moreWatch video on youtubeAll signals fall into three universal buckets:
- First-party: Product usage, website activity, CRM interactions
- Second-party: Partner overlaps, referral networks, ad engagement
- Third-party: Public data (funding, hiring, tech changes, social activity)
Capture the highest-quality engagement signals your company owns:
- CRM activity (emails, replies, calls, tasks)
- Product analytics (activation, feature use, usage depth)
- Website events (visits, pricing page, form submissions)
- Marketing & content events (webinars, downloads, campaigns)
Expand visibility using partner ecosystems and shared intent sources:
- Partner overlaps
- Warm intros or mutual connections
- Review-site behaviour
- Ad and LinkedIn engagement
Track buying readiness cues happening outside your ecosystem:
- Tech-stack changes, funding rounds, hiring spikes
- Market news and category activity
- Social engagement & keyword/search trends
- Firmographic + technographic enrichment updates
Bring everything together into one system of record:
- Ingest all signals into CRM or your warehouse
- Use ETL/integrations to eliminate data silos
- Tag each signal with source, timestamp, account ID, and contact ID
Clean and structure all signals into measurable scoring inputs:
- Standardize data formats across sources
- Weight signals by type, recency, intensity, and impact
- Convert raw signals into Awareness Stages:
Combine fit + intent to maintain a real-time GTM profile:
- Merge firmographic & technographic fit with live signal data
- Maintain updated tiers, personas, and ownership inside CRM
- Track account health, readiness, and post-sale risk in one view
Activate the entire GTM engine when meaningful signals fire:
- Launch outbound sequences when awareness increases
- Trigger ads, retargeting, or ABM plays for high-intent accounts
- Create tasks for AEs/SDRs directly from CRM events
- Push top-priority alerts to Slack for instant follow-up
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