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Signals are indicators of account activity or change that suggest a company may be receptive to outreach. They represent external triggers—like new hires, funding rounds, or job postings—that create engagement opportunities, even if the account hasn’t interacted with your brand yet.

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What Are Signals?

Signals are one of four scoring dimensions Seam uses to prioritize accounts:
DimensionWhat It Measures
FitDoes the account match your ICP?
IntentAre they interacting with your brand?
SignalsAre there external opportunities happening?
ReachCan you engage with them?
While intent shows what accounts are doing with your brand, signals show when to engage based on external events and changes at the company.
Key Distinction: Intent = engagement with your content. Signals = external events creating opportunities.

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Types of Signals

Organizational changes that create opportunities:
  • New Hires - Hiring in specific roles relevant to your solution
  • Job Openings - Open positions indicating investment in certain areas
  • Promotions - Internal promotions within the buying committee
  • Champion Tracking - Previous customers moving to new companies
  • Funding Rounds - New funding indicating budget availability
  • Acquisitions - Company acquisitions or mergers
Intent signals (website visits, email engagement) are technically a subset of signals but are tracked separately in Seam’s Intent system.

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Common Signal Use Cases

Signal: Target account hires a VP of Sales or Head of Revenue OperationsOpportunity: New leaders often evaluate tech stacks in first 90 daysAction: Automatically add new hire to welcome sequence with role-specific messagingExample: When a company hires a “Director of Clinical Documentation,” trigger outreach with relevant use cases for that role
Signal: Previous customer or champion moves to a new companyOpportunity: Warm relationship can accelerate deal at new organizationAction: Alert sales team, trigger personalized “congrats on the new role” sequenceBenefit: Convert one customer into multiple by following champions
Signal: Series B company raises $20M funding roundOpportunity: Fresh budget and growth initiatives create buying windowsAction: Engage with growth-focused messaging about scaling infrastructureSegmentation: Track funding signals for companies under 500 employees, hiring signals for 500+ employees
Signal: Company posts 5+ engineering rolesOpportunity: Rapid hiring indicates growth and potential tech stack expansionAction: Target with messaging about developer productivity or infrastructure toolsExample: “We see you’re scaling your eng team—here’s how we help companies grow efficiently”
Signal: LinkedIn post mentions “frustrated with [competitor name]”Opportunity: Active dissatisfaction with current solutionAction: Automatically route to competitive sales team with comparison contentKeywords to monitor: Competitor names, pricing complaints, migration mentions
Signal: Key contact posts about attending your industry conferenceOpportunity: In-person networking opportunity or increased awarenessAction: Book meeting at event or trigger post-event follow-up sequenceBenefit: Convert event awareness into pipeline conversations

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How Signals Trigger Automation

Signals power Seam’s automated plays by triggering actions when specific events occur: Example Play: New VP of Sales Outreach 
Signal Detected: Company hires VP of Sales
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Filter: Fit Score = A or B
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Actions:
  1. Research new VP's background (previous companies, challenges)
  2. Find 2-3 additional buying committee members
  3. Enrich all contact data (emails, phones, LinkedIn)
  4. Add VP to "new executive" personalized sequence
  5. Route to appropriate account executive
  6. Notify SDR with talking points about tech stack evaluation

Build Signal-Based Plays

Learn how to automate outreach triggered by signals

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Automated Air Cover

Signals enable “air cover” for mid-tier accounts that don’t justify manual SDR time:
1

Signal Fires

B-fit account posts job opening for “Data Engineer”
2

Automatic Prospecting

Seam finds 3 relevant contacts (Engineering Lead, VP Engineering, CTO)
3

Enrichment

Validates emails and phone numbers from 20+ data providers
4

Deployment

Adds contacts to automated nurture sequence without SDR involvement
5

Escalation

If contacts engage, escalate to human rep for personalized follow-up
This ensures no opportunities slip through while reps focus on A-tier accounts.

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Signal-Based Segmentation

Different signals matter for different account segments:
Account SegmentPrimary SignalsWhy
Enterprise (1000+ employees)New hires, promotionsLeadership changes drive evaluation cycles
Mid-Market (100-1000)Funding, rapid hiringGrowth and budget availability
SMB (under 100)Founding team changesNew decision-makers with different preferences
High-GrowthSeries B+ funding, 50+ job openingsScaling pain points emerge
InternationalNew market expansion postsEntering regions you serve
Configure plays with segment-specific signal triggers for maximum relevance.

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Social Listening

Seam monitors LinkedIn and Twitter/X for relevant signals:

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Keywords to Track

  • “Looking for recommendations for [your category]”
  • “Evaluating [solution type]”
  • “Need help with [pain point you solve]”
  • “Anyone use [your product] or [competitor]?”
Start with 10-15 high-signal keywords. Monitor results for 30 days, then refine based on which keywords correlate with opportunities.

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Data Sources

Seam aggregates signals from multiple sources:
CategorySources
First-PartyWebsite tracking, CRM, marketing automation, sales engagement
Job DataLinkedIn, job boards, company career pages
SocialLinkedIn, Twitter/X (posts, likes, comments, shares)
EnrichmentZoomInfo, Apollo, Lucia, 20+ other providers
FundingCrunchbase, PitchBook, press releases
IntentBombora (offsite keyword surges)
The multi-provider waterfall approach ensures comprehensive signal coverage across geographies and company sizes.

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Integration with Scoring

Signals contribute to account prioritization alongside Fit and Intent: High-Priority Account Example:
  • Fit Score: A (perfect ICP match)
  • Intent Score: High (visited pricing page 5 times)
  • Signal Score: High (just raised Series B, hiring VP Sales)
  • Reach Score: Low (not currently engaged)
→ Action: Top priority for immediate outreach with personalized, timely messaging This account has the right profile, is showing interest, has a trigger event, and isn’t being worked yet—perfect timing.

Fit Scoring

Combine signals with ICP scoring

Intent Tracking

Layer signals with engagement data

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Best Practices

Don’t track every possible signal. Focus on 3-5 signal types that historically correlate with closed deals.
“Saw you just hired a VP of Sales” is much more relevant than generic messaging. Reference the signal in your outreach.
A funding signal only matters if the account is a good fit. Filter all signals through fit score to avoid wasted effort.
Some signals are time-sensitive (new hire has 90-day window), others are durable (funding lasts longer). Adjust urgency accordingly.
A-tier accounts get manual, personalized outreach on signals. B/C-tier accounts get automated plays. Don’t treat all signals the same.
Funding-based outreach should sound different from new-hire outreach. A/B test messaging for each signal category.
Track which signals actually lead to pipeline. Double down on high-converting signals, eliminate noise.

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Viewing Signal Data

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In Seam

  • Account Timeline - Chronological view of all signals per account
  • Signal Dashboard - Trending signals across your TAM
  • Play Triggers - Configure which signals trigger automation
  • Audience Filters - Segment by specific signal types

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In Your CRM

Signals sync to Salesforce/HubSpot:
  • Recent signals displayed on Account records
  • Custom fields for signal types (new hire, funding, etc.)
  • Activity timeline showing signal history
  • Alerts when high-priority signals fire
Sales reps see signals in context with other account data.

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Common Questions

Signals = External events at the company (new hires, funding, job posts)Intent = Engagement with your brand (website, email, ads)Signals indicate timing and opportunity. Intent indicates interest. Both together = high-priority account.
Depends on source:
  • Social signals: Real-time to hourly
  • Job postings: Daily
  • Funding: Within 24-48 hours of announcement
  • New hires: 1-7 days (based on LinkedIn updates)
Yes. You can configure custom signal definitions based on keywords, role titles, or company attributes specific to your business.
Monitoring signals does not consume credits. Acting on signals (prospecting contacts, enrichment) consumes credits based on the actions taken.
Run a back-test: analyze your last 20 closed-won deals and identify common signals that were present before or during the sales cycle. Focus on those.
Yes. Set up Slack notifications, email alerts, or CRM task creation when high-priority signals occur on A-tier accounts.