Glossary
What are buying signals?
Buying signals are actions or events that suggest a person or company may be ready to buy: asking for a recommendation, hiring for a role your product supports, raising funding, or engaging with a competitor. They tell you when and why to reach out.
Published by Sellinger AI. Numbers and settings checked on 19 October 2026 against the fact register. Report an error.
What are examples of buying signals?
| Signal | What it suggests | Opener idea |
|---|---|---|
| Asks for tool recommendations | Evaluating options | Answer the question they asked |
| Hiring for a related role | Growing the area | Mention the team they are building |
| Funding announcement | Has new budget | Congratulate, then one relevant question |
| Comments on a competitor | Knows the category | Refer to the topic of the post |
Examples for illustration. Whether a signal fits depends on what you sell.
How should you act on them?
Reach out soon, keep the first message short and about their work, and do not quote their post back to them in a creepy way. Check who actually replies: a signal list can draw replies from recruiters and vendors, not buyers. Also consider a cap on how often one person is contacted because of several signals, so a busy week of posts does not turn into five messages.
How Sellinger handles it
Sellinger ships 26 signal templates in 8 categories on LinkedIn, grouped as my brand, competitors, company activity, sales opportunities, conferences, basic engagement, AI signal and lookalike. They include funding announcements, hiring for a position, new joiners, new offices, asking for recommendations, frustration expressions, competitor engagers and commenters, conference attendees, and a custom AI signal with your own prompt.
In Sellinger's own outbound, intent signal lists replied at 54.6 percent and reached 4.54 percent meetings per person, against 37.2 and 1.16 percent for an untagged list, from the same workspace. People who trigger a signal become leads, and the agent can open with a message that refers to it. See intent data, intent signals and the case study.
Common questions
Are buying signals the same as buyer intent signals?
How fresh should a signal be?
Do signals replace a list?
Sources and method
Sellinger intent signal templates and own case study (production data), checked 19 October 2026.
Related: Intent data, Intent signals, Signal based outreach, Playbook: people thinking about outbound.
