Buying signals

A fit signal is evidence that a company matches your profile: the right SIC code, a headcount in your band, a technology on their website, a certification, a customer type named on their case studies page. Fit signals are mostly static. They tell you who to put on the list.

A timing signal is a change: a new hire in the role you sell to, a funding round, a new depot, a planning application, a leadership change, a new retail listing, a run of job adverts, a regulatory deadline. Timing signals tell you who to contact this week and, just as usefully, what to say when you do.

1. 01Proposes signals specific to your profile, each with why it matters and where it shows up in public UK data.
2. 02Marks each as fit or timing and rates how strong and how observable it is. A strong signal nobody can see is not worth watching.
3. 03Lets you keep, drop or add signals as cards. Most plans end with six to ten.
4. 04Carries the chosen signals forward, so stage three can pick the tools that surface them and stage five can write an opener for each timing signal.

• Companies House: new incorporations, officer appointments and resignations, changes of registered office, charges registered against a company (often a sign of new borrowing), confirmation statements with changed SIC codes.
• The Gazette: insolvency and administration notices, which are a timing signal for some businesses and a disqualifier for most.
• Job boards and LinkedIn: hiring in the role you sell to, or a hiring spree that signals growth.
• Local authority planning portals: extensions, new units, change of use, which matter to anyone selling into premises.
• Trade press and retailer announcements: new listings, contract wins, awards, expansion into new regions.
• Funding announcements from Beauhurst, Crunchbase and the regional business press.
• Public sector: Contracts Finder and Find a Tender for organisations that have just won or lost work.

A static list decays from the day you build it. A signal watch refreshes itself, and every company it surfaces arrives with a reason to talk. That is the difference between a cold email and a relevant one, and it is why the studio treats signals as the spine of the plan rather than a nice-to-have.