Shape B2B Deals Early: Using Buyer Intent to Drive Business Growth

Have you ever felt late to the party? You show up only to realize that you missed out on some important action. That’s what it’s like for many B2B companies. Often, they are late in influencing an opportunity and start taking critical action when an RFP drops. The problem: The shortlist is already written. Internal conversations, stakeholder consensus, and vendor preference rankings have been drafted long before a sales rep is looped in.

Research shows B2B buyers are increasingly self-directed. In fact, 70 percent conduct research before ever engaging a vendor, according to Demand Gen Report, 2023. Being late to the process means playing catch-up. To increase your winning average, companies need to show up earlier. That’s where understanding intent to buy becomes essential.

The Challenge: Most Teams Engage Too Late

The problem stems from more than just timing. Often, teams react to an RFP rather than influencing the conversation before it begins. This leaves little to no attention on building strong future pipeline. “85% of buyers establish purchase requirements before contacting sales”, as stated by 6Sense in 2024. By the time sales are involved, buyers may have already reached internal consensus and defined evaluation criteria. At that point, the process isn’t about discovering or possibly shaping needs. It’s about validating preexisting requirements that may be in favor of the competitor.

That’s why intent signals matter. They are the modern version of reading the buyer’s non-verbal communication. Before a word is exchanged, buyers and those using consultants, are dropping hints through online behavior. Spotting and interpreting those signals is the first step to shifting from reactive to proactive engagement.

Influence Starts Before Buyer Outreach

Imagine being on the buyer’s “Day One List”, the shortlist of vendors a buyer considers before ever initiating contact. Research shows that 92 percent of B2B buyers will purchase off of their day-one list, as noted by Bain and Google in 2022.

In today’s climate of tighter budgets, long, and complex sales cycles, precision matters. Intent insights allow teams to focus resources on the right accounts, deliver more personalized experiences, and build influence early in the buying process.

Best Practices for Using Buyer Intent

• Establish a behavioral baseline. Use your proprietary data and leverage intent data partners to understand normal activity patterns from your existing client base. Identify what regular client engagement looks like by offerings and thought leadership. This gives you a benchmark for comparison.
• Define what a “surge” looks like. A spike in website visits, a jump in engagement with specific product content, or even a 20 percent lift in activity outside typical cycles could indicate new demand. The key is spotting anomalies early and triangulating them with other behaviors.
• Tighten your sales-marketing feedback loop. Work off the same data and invest in data hygiene. Share surge patterns with your sales partners in near real time. Collaborate on playbooks for warm sales/marketing outreach and value-based messaging that speak to the buyer’s emerging needs. The goal isn’t just to detect intent, but to act on it with agility and insight.

Real-World Example: Detecting Intent to Win Before the RFP

As a marketing leader working in global major globally recognized brands, one of the most effective uses of buyer intent data I have used is detecting when a client has quietly begun a discovery process.

Sales and operations teams often have a good read on accounts that are at risk, but intent data adds another dimension. If a known client suddenly increases activity on your digital properties and is simultaneously possibly showing interest in competitors, it may be a signal that they’re evaluating alternatives.

That’s the moment to act. When marketing observes this shift, they can collaborate with sales to shape an engagement plan. This combines account insights, known pain points, and messaging frameworks that resonate. That might include leveraging natural check-ins, personalized value communications, or a timely thought leadership piece that raises intrigue and repositions the brand before formal buying steps are triggered. It’s about anticipating the buying motions, not reacting to it.

Conclusion: Shift from Reaction to Anticipation

Intent data is more than just a signal, it’s an invitation. An invitation to engage earlier, understand deeper, and act smarter. In a buying environment where decisions are often made long before the first outreach to a salesperson, the companies that succeed will be those who recognize the early signs and respond with relevance.

The challenge isn’t collecting data. It’s using it to shape meaningful engagement before your competitors even know there’s a race.

To learn more, download Using Data to Supercharge B2B Marketing: An ANA B2B Data and Analytics Playbook.

For a deeper dive, join us at the ANA Masters of Data Conference and attend the in-person B2B Data Excellence Lab focused on applying segmentation insights to real marketing strategies.

Posted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership self-publishing platform.

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The opinions expressed here are the author's views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillage.org/MyersBizNet.