GM! Happy Tuesday… Let’s dig in… Why your closed-won deals contain a scoring model worth more than any vendor's black box and how to extract it in 90 minutes.
The Intent Paradox
You've probably bought an intent platform. Or thought about it.
$15K to $50K a year to get "real-time buying signals." The value prop is irresistible: know which accounts are actually in-market before you waste time.
Here’s what happens next:
You get a list of 500 "high-intent" accounts.
You don’t know why they’re flagged.
You spend hours sorting noise.
You book a handful of meetings.
The real problem isn't the data. It's the rubric.
You inherited someone else’s definition of “in-market.”
And the further that definition is from your actual deals, the less useful it becomes.
There’s a better way.
A quick example
One team we worked with bought a $30K intent platform.
They were getting 300+ “high intent” accounts per week.
They built their own rubric from closed deals instead.
Within 30 days:
They cut their list to 40 accounts
Doubled their meeting rate
Same reps. Same market. Different signal.
What Is an Intent Rubric?
An intent rubric answers one question:
What changed at accounts 30 days before they decided to buy from us?
Not generic intent.
Specific, observable signals.
Examples:
Hired a VP of Revenue or Sales in the last 90 days
Opened multiple sales operations roles
Expanded sales headcount meaningfully
Leadership talking about pipeline or forecasting publicly
Each signal:
is observable
preceded real deals
reflects actual buying motion
That’s real intent.
The 90-Minute System
This is a one-time build. You’ll use it for the next 12 to 18 months.
Phase 1: Reverse-Engineer Your Wins (45 minutes)
Step 1: Pull your last 50 closed deals (10 minutes)
Filter:
Closed-won (last 180 days)
Above median deal size
Export basic data.
Step 2: Talk to 3 top closers (20 minutes)
Ask:
"What actually changed at these accounts 30 days before they bought?"
Not what they said. What actually changed.
Look for:
hiring changes
leadership changes
funding or financial events
public content signals
system or tooling changes
Capture everything.
Step 3: Validate 3 signals (15 minutes)
Pick top signals mentioned.
Check across your deals:
Example:
"Hired VP Sales pre-close" → 23 / 50 deals = 46%
You now have real signal.
Phase 2: Tier Your Signals (30 minutes)
Not all signals matter equally.
Some are 5x stronger.
Tier 1 (High Intent)
Seen in more than 30% of deals
Publicly observable
Time-bound
Example:
Sales leadership hire plus headcount expansion
Tier 2 (Moderate Intent)
Seen in 15 to 30%
Partial visibility
Example:
Multiple job postings in sales operations
Tier 3 (Passive Intent)
Seen in less than 15%
Weak on their own
Example:
General content or activity signals
How to Operationalize
Week 1: Manual Setup
LinkedIn alerts (hiring, leadership)
Google Alerts (funding, news)
Simple tracker (sheet)
Week 2 to 4: Capture and Score
Score accounts:
Tier 1 = 5 pts
Tier 2 = 2 pts
Tier 3 = 1 pt
Thresholds:
5+ pts → act immediately
3 to 4 pts → prioritize soon
1 to 2 pts → nurture
Ongoing: Refine
Every closed deal:
Did it match your signals?
What did you miss?
Update the rubric.
Three Ways to Run It
Option 1: Manual
LinkedIn + alerts + sheet
Pros: control, zero cost
Cons: limited scale
Option 2: API Lite
Sales Navigator
simple APIs + automation
Pros: scalable
Cons: setup required
Option 3: Vendor Platform
ZoomInfo, Apollo, 6sense
Pros: full coverage
Cons: expensive, noisy
Speed vs Perfection
Most teams want perfect signal.
They won’t get it.
The goal isn’t perfect signal. It’s faster action.
If three accounts trigger Tier 1 signals:
Day 5 → they’ve spoken to competitors
Day 15 → deals are stalled
Your advantage is speed.
Next Steps
This week:
Pull 50 deals
Talk to 3 closers
Identify top signals
Next week:
Tier signals
Set up monitoring
Track first accounts
The Hidden Leverage
Most teams think:
"Monitor thousands of accounts"
Operators think:
"Monitor 200. Act fast on 5."
Smaller list. Better timing. Higher conversion.
Your rubric doesn’t make you bigger.
It makes you faster and smarter.
Questions? Hit reply. We read every one.
— Pipeline Playbook