Signal Taxonomy — Complete Encyclopedia of Sales Triggers
The 4 Categories of Outreach
INBOUND (1:Many Messaging Only)
- Prospect knows your company
- Hand-raisers taking marketing action asking to evaluate your product
- Trigger: Demo requests, chat box inquiries
POSTBOUND (1:Many + 1:1 Messaging)
- Prospect knows your company
- Marketing leads that are NOT hand-raisers
- Trigger: Content engagement without explicit buying intent
BRIDGEBOUND (1:Many + 1:1 Messaging)
- Prospect sometimes knows your company
- Segmented outbound based on premises that raise meeting/buying likelihood
- Trigger: Prospect or company action NOT related to your marketing
OUTBOUND (1:1 Messaging Only)
- Prospect doesn't know your company
- Coming in cold
- Trigger: Prospect selected by prospecting team
INBOUND Triggers (30)
Content & Events:
- Content Downloads
- Company Webinar Registrants
- Company Webinar Attendees
- Sponsored Webinar Registrants
- Sponsored Webinar Attendees
- Company Event Registrants
- Company Event Attendees
- Sponsored Event Registrants
- Sponsored Event Attendees
Product Interest: 10. Freemium Account Registrants 11. Free-Trial Registrants 12. Blog Subscribers 13. Newsletter Subscribers 14. Members of Company Community 15. Members of Sponsored Community
Social & Intent: 16. Followers of Company Social Page 17. Engaged with Company Social Page 18. "Buyer Intent" Prospects (G2 or TrustRadius) 19. "Dark Funnel" Prospects (6Sense or Bombora) 20. Viewed Company Website 21. Opened Marketing Emails (Aggressively) 22. Clicked-Thru Marketing Emails (Aggressively)
Sponsored Influencers: 23. Postbound Leads from Sponsored Influencer 24. Engaged with Sponsored Influencer's Personal Page 25. Followers of Sponsored Influencer's Personal Page 26. Mutual Connections with Sponsored Influencer 27. Engaged with Sponsored Influencer's Company Page 28. Followers of Sponsored Influencer's Company Page 29. "Groundswell" for Info (all Postbound actions) 30. DM Based on "Groundswell" Postbound
BRIDGEBOUND Triggers (101 total across 5 categories)
Category I: Based on Relationship (39 Triggers)
Share a Common VC:
- Common VC with Your Company
- Common VC with Your Customers
Your Customers: 3. Referral to Network of Happy Customers 4. Inbound Referrals from Key Customers 5. Engaged with Key Customer's Personal Page 6. Engaged with Key Customer's Company Page 7. Followers of Key Customer's Company Page
C-Suite: 8. Inbound Referrals from C-Suite 9. Engaged with C-Suite's Personal Page 10. Mutual Connections with C-Suite
Employees of Your Company: 11. Inbound Referrals from Company Employees 12. Engaged with Company Employee's Personal Page 13. Mutual Connections with Company Employees 14. Previous Employers of Company Employees
VC Partners: 15. Inbound Referrals from VC Partners 16. Engaged with VC Partner's Personal Page 17. Mutual Connections with VC Partners 18. Engaged with VC's Company Page 19. Followers of VC's Company Page
Advisors: 20-22. Referrals, Engagement, Mutual Connections
Board Members: 23-25. Referrals, Engagement, Mutual Connections
Customer Advisors: 26-28. Referrals, Engagement, Mutual Connections
Sponsored Company (Joint Marketing): 29-33. Company Page, Employee Engagement, Referrals, Mutual Connections
Your Network: 34. Currently Employed at Prospective Company (Decision Maker) 35. Currently Employed at Prospective Company ("Groundswell") 36. Past Employees of a Prospective Company 37. Mutual Connections with DM at Prospective Company 38. Prospects Met at a Networking Event 39. Engaged with Your Personal Page
Category II: Based on History (16 Triggers)
Demo Pipeline:
- Requested Demo But Didn't Schedule
- Agreed to Demo & No-Showed
- Prospects Who "Abandoned the Chat"
Closed-Lost: 4. Demoed in the Past (Ghosted/Went Dark) 5. Went with Competitor & Up on Renewal 6. You Messed Up (Budget Objection) 7. Didn't Hit ICC (Size) 8. Didn't Hit ICC (Criteria DQ)
Executive Churn (UserGems): 9. Customers Who Went to Another Company 10. Customers Who Changed Roles Internally 11. New Hires Who Never Used Your Product
Email Engagement: 12. Opened Prospecting Emails 13. Opened Prospecting Emails (Aggressively) 14. Received an OOO to Prospecting Emails
Reciprocity: 15. Companies that Sold You THEIR Product 16. Competitors of Your Current Customers
Category III: Based on Likely "In Market" (20 Triggers)
Adjacent Vendors: 1-7. Recent purchase, current customers, in-cycle, engagement, followers, mutual connections
Competitors: 8-16. Churned customers (negative review, disintegration), current customers (website, integration), in-cycle, engagement, followers, mutual connections
Time-Based: 17. Annual Event (e.g., Taxes) 18. Regular Event (e.g., Olympics) 19. Seasonal Needs (e.g., Summer for HVAC) 20. Act of God (One-Time Event)
Category IV: Based on Symptoms & Signs (11 Triggers)
Has an Overt Negative:
- Output (Business Problem)
- Midput (Tactical Problem)
- Input (Root Cause)
Lacks an Overt Positive: 4. Output (Business Problem) 5. Midput (Tactical Problem) 6. Input (Root Cause)
Industry Influencers (Unsponsored): 7-11. Engagement, Followers, Mutual Connections with Personal/Company Pages
Category V: Based on "Firmographic" (15 Triggers)
Financial Events:
- Companies that Went Public (IPO)
- Companies that Raised Funding
- Companies that Released Financial Reports
M&A Activity: 4. Companies that Acquired Another Company 5. Companies that Were Acquired 6. Companies that Merged
Growth Signals: 7. Companies Growing (Hypergrowth) 8. Companies that Started Hiring 9. Companies that Moved Headquarters 10. Companies that Opened New Locations
Product & Marketing: 11. Released a New Product 12. Released a New Feature 13. Released a New Integration 14. Made an Impactful Marketing Move 15. Competitor Made an Impactful Move
OUTBOUND Triggers (6)
- CXO Passdown
- "Groundswell" for Info
- "Groundswell" for Product-Placement
- DM Based on "Groundswell" Product-Placement
- Multi-Persona (Cross-Departmental)
- Typical "Cold Outbound"