The signal-based GTM glossary
Plain-English definitions for the vocabulary of timing-based go-to-market: the signals, the data behind them, and the motions that put them to work.
Signals & event-driven GTM
The vocabulary of timing: the events, inferences, and motions behind reaching accounts at the right moment.
Account intelligence is the consolidated, continuously updated understanding of a target account (its firmographics, technology, people, and the signals about what's changing) used to decide who to engage, when, and how.
Account tracking is the practice of monitoring target accounts continuously for changes (funding, hiring, leadership moves, technology adoption, news) so you're alerted the moment something happens that creates a reason to engage.
A buying signal is an observable change in a company's or a buyer's behavior, structure, or stated intent that points to a higher likelihood to buy. For example, a funding round closes and a newly hired VP of Sales starts exploring your pricing pages.
Buying signals software is a category of tools that detect and deliver the signals indicating a company is ready to buy (funding, hiring, leadership changes, technology adoption, and research activity) so sales and marketing teams can act on timing.
Event detection identifies changes the moment they happen and pushes them to you; polling re-checks a source on a fixed schedule and reports whatever it finds at that time. The gap between the two is latency, and in GTM, latency is missed moments.
Intent signals are observable buyer behaviors (research activity, hiring, content consumption, public commitments) that indicate a company is moving toward a purchase in a category.
Sales signals are the indicators a sales team uses to identify which accounts and contacts to engage and when, spanning account-level events (funding, hiring, leadership change) and contact-level behaviors that suggest a selling opportunity.
Signal-based GTM (go-to-market) is a strategy that prioritizes outreach, routing, and messaging based on real-time changes at accounts (trigger events) rather than static firmographic fit alone.
A trigger event is a discrete, time-stamped change at an account (a funding round, an acquisition, a leadership hire, a new job posting) that creates a reason to reach out now rather than later.
Data & enrichment
Completing, verifying, and keeping records current so reps act on what is true now.
Account enrichment is the process of completing and updating company-level information (firmographics, technographics, headcount, funding, and structure) on the accounts in your pipeline, as distinct from person-level contact data.
A B2B data API is a programmatic interface for searching and retrieving business data (company firmographics, contacts, technographics, and signals) so teams can pull B2B data directly into their own products, pipelines, and CRMs.
Contact data enrichment is the process of completing and verifying the details that identify and reach a specific person (email, direct phone, job title, seniority, and current employer) across your records.
CRM enrichment is the practice of automatically keeping the records inside your CRM complete, accurate, and current, appending missing fields and updating changed ones directly where reps work, without manual data entry.
A data enrichment API is a programmatic interface that lets you append firmographic, contact, and technographic attributes to your records on demand, sending an identifier and receiving enriched data back in real time, without a manual UI.
Lead enrichment is the process of automatically adding the information a lead is missing (job title, company size, contact details, and intent) so a rep can qualify and act on it without manual research.
Outbound & GTM motions
The plays and processes that turn a list of accounts into booked pipeline.
Cold outreach is contacting a prospect who has no prior relationship with you or your company (via cold email, cold call, or social) to start a sales conversation from scratch.
Lead generation for technology companies is the practice of identifying and engaging potential buyers at software, hardware, and IT firms, accounting for the fast-moving, signal-rich nature of the tech sector, where funding, hiring, and tool-adoption changes constantly reshape who's in-market.
Outbound sales is a go-to-market motion where reps proactively initiate contact with target accounts (through email, calls, or social) instead of waiting for inbound interest to come to them.
Outbound sales automation is the use of software to execute repetitive outbound tasks (sequencing, sending, follow-up scheduling, data entry, and routing) automatically, so reps spend time selling instead of on manual busywork.
A sales cadence is the structured, timed sequence of outreach touches (emails, calls, social, voicemails) a rep follows to engage a prospect over a defined period, with set intervals between each step.
A sales sequence is a predefined, ordered series of outreach steps (emails, calls, social touches, and tasks) that a rep follows to engage a prospect, with each step's content and timing planned in advance.