Sales signals library
A reusable catalog of outbound sales signals you can build on TheirStack across jobs, technographics, and buying intent, with the filters, interpretation, and plays for each signal.
A sales signal is a public, account-level fact that helps you decide whether a company is a good fit, likely to have budget, or entering a buying window. TheirStack derives these signals from what companies hire for (jobs), what they run (technographics), and what pains, initiatives, regulations, or products they mention (buying intent).
Use this page as a reusable library: pick the signals that match your product, combine two or three of them with AND, then turn the resulting search into a saved list, webhook, CRM enrichment workflow, or API-powered scoring rule.
How to read a sales signal
The best signal is rarely one fact in isolation. A company using a competitor may be a good fit, but not urgent. A company hiring a role you sell to may be active, but not necessarily in pain. A company mentioning the exact problem you solve across several fresh job posts is much stronger.
Evaluate each signal across five dimensions:
| Dimension | Question it answers | Strong example |
|---|---|---|
| Fit | Is this the kind of account you can sell to? | Right industry, size, country, and business model |
| Relevance | Does the signal connect directly to your product? | Uses a tool you replace, integrate with, or complement |
| Timing | Is something happening now? | New posting, first-time keyword mention, recent tech adoption |
| Intensity | Is this a repeated pattern or a one-off mention? | Same pain or technology appears across several active postings |
| Actionability | Can a rep write a specific message from it? | "You are hiring RevOps roles and mentioning territory planning" |
Start broad enough to get market coverage, then add intensity and timing filters to prioritize outreach. The goal is not to collect every possible signal; it is to find the three to five signal stacks that predict pipeline for your ICP.
Signal sources
| Source | What it tells you | Best used for |
|---|---|---|
| Technographics | What the company already runs | Integration fit, competitive displacement, category adoption, stack gaps |
| Jobs and hiring | What the company is building, staffing, or struggling to deliver | Role-based targeting, department growth, budget shifts, competitor intelligence |
| Buying intent topics | What pains, initiatives, regulations, or products appear in job descriptions | Pain-led outbound, vertical targeting, services demand, non-technology sales |
These three are the only signal sources in TheirStack — every signal in this library (sections A, B, C) comes from one of them. Firmographics and temporal filters are not signal sources; they are overlays you apply on top of a signal to make the list addressable (firmographics) or timely (temporal), and they live in their own section below, not among A–C. In particular, TheirStack is not a firmographics provider — don't pick it to "listen" for industry or company size; use size/industry/geo only to narrow a list built on a real signal, and bring authoritative firmographics from your CRM or enrichment tool. Temporal filters, by contrast, are a TheirStack strength: they read when a technology or hiring signal first appeared, was last seen, or accelerated.
TheirStack is strongest when you combine public external signals from jobs and company stacks. If you also have first-party signals such as website visits, product usage, demo requests, email engagement, or CRM stages, add them downstream in your CRM or scoring system.
The line between jobs and hiring and buying intent topics is intentionally thin because both come from job postings. Treat jobs and hiring as the structural signal: who the company is hiring, how many roles are open, which team is growing, whether a role closed, and how recent the posting is. Treat buying intent as the semantic signal inside those postings: the pains, workflows, regulations, tools, equipment, metrics, or initiatives the company describes. The same job can create both signals: a "Customer Support Operations Manager" posting is a hiring signal; if the description mentions "ticket deflection", "customer satisfaction", and "Zendesk migration", those are buying intent and technographic signals.
A — Technographics: what they already run
Technographics show stack fit. They are useful when your product replaces, integrates with, complements, or depends on another technology. See technographic use cases.
| Signal | What it captures | TheirStack filter | Best action |
|---|---|---|---|
| Competitor displacement | Companies already using a competing product, which means the category is validated and budget may already exist. | company_technology_slug_or = competitor slugs | Run a replacement play with migration, cost, capability, or support positioning. |
| Integration fit | Companies using a tool your product integrates with. | company_technology_slug_or = integration slugs | Lead with "works with your stack" and route to the relevant integration proof point. |
| Prerequisite technology | Companies using an underlying technology that often creates demand for your product. | company_technology_slug_or = prerequisite slugs | Position your product as the natural next layer in the stack. |
| Category adoption | Companies using tools in the broader category you serve. | tech_filters.keyword_category_slug_or or company_technology_slug_or | Build a category-aware account list before narrowing to named vendors. |
| Tech plus use case | Companies running a technology and hiring for the workflow it supports. | search_jobs: company_technology_slug_or plus job title, job description, or keyword filters | Prioritize accounts where the installed tech is tied to an active initiative, not just historical usage. |
| Stack gap | ICP companies with no detected tool in your category. | Include ICP filters, then exclude category/vendor slugs with company_technology_slug_not or company_keyword_slug_not | Run a greenfield education play instead of a replacement play. |
B — Jobs and hiring: what they are doing right now
Fresh job posts reveal where a company is investing, which teams are under pressure, and which problems have become operational enough to hire for. See job data use cases.
| Signal | What it captures | TheirStack filter | Best action |
|---|---|---|---|
| Role-based hiring | Hiring the role that owns, uses, or feels the pain your product solves. | search_jobs by job title, seniority, function, and posted_at_gte | Reach the hiring manager or future owner with role-specific messaging. |
| Hiring urgency | Recent postings for relevant roles. | search_jobs with posted_at_gte or posted_at_max_age_days | Prioritize accounts while the hiring need is still active. |
| Department scaling | Many open roles in one function, team, or location. | Count jobs by company, function, title, or location | Sell tooling, services, or infrastructure that helps the growing team operate. |
| Hard-to-fill role | Reposted, long-running, or repeatedly refreshed jobs. | Job monitoring and repost tracking | Sell recruiting, outsourcing, automation, or enablement around the bottleneck. |
| New decision-maker hired | A role has closed, suggesting a new owner may be in seat soon. | Closed jobs | Reach out early, before the new owner standardizes tools or vendors. |
| Past-customer reactivation | Current or past customers are hiring again for relevant roles. | search_jobs over your account list | Trigger win-back, upsell, customer success, or expansion outreach. |
| Competitor expansion | Competitors are hiring for new products, teams, locations, or functions. | search_jobs over competitor domains | Feed market intelligence, positioning, and territory planning. |
| Hiring slowdown or pivot | A company stops posting roles in a function or shifts hiring to another team. | Compare job counts across time windows | Use for competitive intelligence, churn risk, investor research, or account planning. |
C — Buying intent topics: pains, initiatives, and demand in job descriptions
Buying intent topics capture non-technology concepts in job descriptions: tasks, regulations, equipment, verticals, initiatives, risks, metrics, commodities, and product categories. They are especially useful when the buyer need is not expressed as a software tool. See buying intent use cases.
| Signal | What it captures | TheirStack filter | Best action |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pain-keyword intent | The job describes a manual task, operational burden, or workflow your product removes. | company_keyword_slug_or | Open with the specific pain and the team hiring around it. |
| Category keyword | The company mentions a product category such as ERP, CRM, HRIS, or POS without naming a vendor. | company_keyword_slug_or | Run an education or displacement play before vendor preference is clear. |
| Compliance or regulatory need | The company mentions regulations, audits, safety, privacy, employment rules, or governance. | company_keyword_slug_or or keyword category filters | Sell risk reduction, reporting, audit readiness, or process control. |
| Strategic initiative | The company mentions initiatives such as sustainability, M&A, digital transformation, trade shows, or expansion. | company_keyword_slug_or | Sell the services, software, data, equipment, or execution support behind the initiative. |
| Vertical or industry fit | Job descriptions reveal the vertical the company serves or operates in. | company_keyword_slug_or for industry vertical topics | Build vertical SaaS, agency, consulting, or equipment prospect lists. |
| Equipment or physical demand | The company mentions equipment, materials, safety gear, logistics, or facilities needs. | company_keyword_slug_or for physical equipment, commodity, or operational topics | Sell non-software products and services with the same signal-based workflow. |
| Metric or outcome focus | The company mentions metrics such as customer satisfaction, sales goals, performance indicators, or retention. | company_keyword_slug_or for metric or concept topics | Tie outreach to the outcome they are measuring, not only the task. |
Overlays & qualifiers: filters you apply, not signals you listen for
The two groups below are not signal sources — you never prospect with them alone. You layer them on top of a signal from A–C: firmographics decide whether an account is worth selling to, temporal filters decide whether the signal is fresh, new, repeated, or accelerating.
Firmographic overlay — qualify the account (bring it from your CRM)
Firmographics keep a signal list commercially realistic, but TheirStack is not a firmographics provider and you should not pick it to "listen" for industry or company size — those are not signals we are strong at. Use size, industry, geo, and funding only to narrow a list already built on a real signal (A–C), and bring authoritative firmographics from your CRM or enrichment tool. On their own they rarely create urgency.
| Overlay | What it captures | TheirStack filter | Best action |
|---|---|---|---|
| Size | Whether the company is large enough, small enough, or at the right maturity stage for your motion. | min_employee_count, max_employee_count | Match account tier, pricing, routing, and sales motion. |
| Industry | Whether the company belongs to an ICP or excluded segment. | industry_id_or, industry_id_not, or keyword verticals | Split generic signals into vertical-specific plays. |
| Geography | Whether you can sell, support, or legally operate in the account's market. | company_country_code_or | Route by territory and localize the message. |
| Funding and budget | Whether the company recently raised, is expanding, or likely has budget. | min_funding_usd, funding_stage_or, last_funding_round_date_gte | Increase priority for tools or services tied to growth. |
| Account list membership | Whether the company is a customer, open opportunity, target account, partner, or competitor. | Domain, LinkedIn URL, or company-name list filters | Use different plays for acquisition, expansion, win-back, or competitive intelligence. |
Temporal overlay — when the signal moved (a TheirStack strength)
Most signals describe a state: "uses Snowflake", "mentions SOC 2", "is hiring account executives". The strongest buying moments are changes in that state: the first appearance, a recent appearance, a repeated mention, or an acceleration versus a prior period. Because TheirStack timestamps every technology and keyword detection, these overlays are a genuine strength — apply them over any A–C signal.
| Overlay | What it captures | TheirStack filter | Best action |
|---|---|---|---|
| First-time adoption or mention | A technology or buying intent topic appears for the first time in a window. | tech_filters.first_date_found_gte | Reach before the initiative becomes mature or vendors are shortlisted. |
| Still active or recently seen | A technology or topic was detected recently. | tech_filters.last_date_found_gte | Filter out stale historical mentions. |
| Repeated mention | The same technology or topic appears across several jobs. | tech_filters.min_jobs = N | Treat as stronger evidence than a one-off posting. |
| Strength of usage | The technology or topic is prominent relative to alternatives or appears with high confidence. | tech_filters.min_relative_occurrence, max_rank, confidence_or | Prioritize accounts where the detected signal is likely central, not incidental. |
| Hiring surge | Relevant roles are increasing versus a prior period. | Compare two posted_at windows in free count mode | Route accounts into urgent capacity, enablement, or tooling plays. |
| Cooling signal | Relevant roles, topics, or technologies disappear or decline. | Compare current and previous windows | Use for churn risk, competitive intelligence, or timing-sensitive follow-up. |
First-time, recency, intensity, rank, and confidence are native overlays for technologies and buying intent keywords because they live in tech_filters. Job titles do not live in tech_filters, so "first time hiring a RevOps role" or "surge in data engineering jobs" requires comparing job-search counts across time windows or excluding accounts already known to post those roles.
Trigger plays: how to combine signals
Combine signals with AND to trade reach for precision. A good signal stack should answer three questions at once: why this account, why now, and what should we say.
| Play | Signal stack | What to say |
|---|---|---|
| Competitor replacement | Competitor technology plus recent funding, hiring surge, or first-time category expansion | "You already run this category; teams like yours switch when cost, coverage, or workflow gaps appear." |
| Integration-led outbound | Integration technology plus target role hiring | "Your team already uses X; we help the team you are hiring connect it to Y." |
| Pain-led outbound | Target role plus pain keyword plus recent posting window | "You are hiring for this workflow and mentioning this pain; here is how similar teams remove it." |
| Greenfield category creation | ICP filters plus prerequisite technology plus no detected category vendor | "Your stack suggests the need exists, but we do not see a dedicated system for it yet." |
| Initiative timing | Strategic initiative keyword plus first-time mention or repeated mentions | "This initiative just appeared in your hiring plan; here is what companies usually need next." |
| Reactivation | Past customer list plus fresh relevant hiring or keyword mentions | "It looks like this need is active again; here is what changed since we last spoke." |
| Expansion intelligence | Competitor account list plus hiring by team, location, or product keyword | "Competitor X appears to be investing in this area; adjust territory, messaging, or content." |
How to operationalize the library
- Pick one product motion and define the ICP constraints first: segment, geography, company size, industry, and exclusions.
- Choose one primary signal from technographics, jobs, or buying intent. This is the reason the account belongs on the list.
- Add one temporal overlay so the list prioritizes active accounts, not old facts.
- Add one firmographic overlay so the result is commercially usable.
- Save the search, export it, enrich your CRM, or attach a webhook so new matching companies surface automatically.
- Track which signal stack produced meetings, opportunities, pipeline, and closed-won revenue. Keep the stacks that predict pipeline and remove the noisy ones.
For example, a strong outbound list for a customer support automation product might combine: companies hiring customer support managers, job descriptions mentioning customer satisfaction or support ticket volume, fresh postings in the last 30 days, and ICP-size companies in supported geographies. A weaker list would use only "customer support" as a keyword with no timing, intensity, or ICP filter.
Common mistakes
| Mistake | Why it creates noise | Better approach |
|---|---|---|
| Treating every signal as equal | A single old mention is not the same as a repeated fresh pattern. | Add recency, first-seen, or min_jobs filters. |
| Using firmographics alone | ICP fit does not mean the account is in motion. | Combine firmographics with hiring, technographic, or buying intent signals. |
| Using only one very narrow keyword | You may miss how companies actually describe the pain. | Build keyword groups from synonyms, roles, adjacent workflows, and category terms. |
| Ignoring the outreach angle | Reps cannot act on a signal if it does not suggest a clear message. | Keep only signals that can generate a specific opener or play. |
| Optimizing for list size | Large lists often hide weak timing and weak fit. | Score accounts by fit, relevance, timing, intensity, and actionability. |
Related
- Find TheirStack sales signals — a skill that fills this catalog in for any product from its website.
- Find look-alike companies — a skill that reads these signals off your won customers and finds new companies that match the pattern.
- Monitor buying intent on a target account list — a guide for turning signals into alerts.
- Job data use cases · Technographic use cases · Buying intent use cases
- Qonto uses TheirStack to detect companies with high intents — the playbook in action.
How is this guide?
Last updated on
Use cases
Discover how teams use buying intent data from job postings to identify companies actively investing in specific areas, sell to high-intent prospects, and build targeted account lists.
App
Effortlessly explore, search, and analyze job posting and technographic data with TheirStack's intuitive, user-friendly interface — no coding required.