How Buying Signals Changed in the Age of AI
For years, sales teams have relied on a standard set of buying signals: a pricing page visit, a demo request, a content download. These are still valuable, but in the age of AI, they are no longer sufficient. AI tools have created a new, more subtle layer of digital breadcrumbs that signal purchase intent long before a prospect ever visits your website. Teams that learn to spot these new AI-powered signals can engage buyers earlier, with more context, and gain a significant competitive advantage.
A digital brain processing various buying signals like job postings and tech usage.
The Old Signals vs. The New Signals
The old signals were primarily based on a prospect's interaction with your own digital properties. The new signals are about their activity across the entire web, which can now be monitored and analyzed at scale by AI.
Old Signal: Website Visits
New Signal: Intent Data Surges. AI-powered intent data providers (like Bombora) can track when a company is suddenly consuming a high volume of content about a specific topic across the web. For example, if multiple people at a target account start reading articles about "sales forecasting software," that is a powerful signal that they are in a buying cycle, even if they have never heard of your company.
Old Signal: Job Title
New Signal: Departmental Growth Patterns. Instead of just looking for a "VP of Sales," AI can analyze hiring trends over time. A company that has hired five new SDRs in the last quarter is almost certainly experiencing pain related to lead management and sales onboarding. This is a problem-based signal, which is much stronger than a title-based one.
AI allows you to shift from reacting to a prospect's actions to proactively identifying their needs based on market-wide patterns.
Old Signal: Competitor Mentions in the News
New Signal: Technographic Shifts. AI tools can track the technologies a company uses. If a target account suddenly drops a competitor's tracking script from their website or starts a trial with a complementary technology, this is a strong signal of dissatisfaction or a new strategic initiative. It is a sign that they are open to change.
How to Act on These New Signals
The key to leveraging these new signals is to use them to create context and relevance in your outreach. Your opening line is no longer about them visiting your site; it is about their activity in the market.
- For Intent Data: "I’m reaching out because we’ve seen a lot of discussion from companies in the logistics space around improving route optimization. This is often a sign of rising fuel costs impacting margins. We help with this..."
- For Hiring Data: "Noticed your sales team is growing rapidly. Our clients find that at this stage, onboarding new reps consistently becomes a major challenge. Is that on your radar?"
- For Technographic Data: "I see you’re using Salesforce and Marketo. Many of our customers use that same stack and find that connecting their data for lead scoring is a major pain. We built our tool specifically to solve that."
Conclusion
The buying journey no longer starts on your website. It starts with a series of digital whispers across the internet. AI has given us the tools to finally hear those whispers. By integrating these new categories of buying signals into your GTM motion, you stop waiting for buyers to come to you and start meeting them where they are, often long before your competition even knows a deal is in play.