Competitor signals
Competitor signals track your competitors’ customers, audiences, prices, and bad weeks. A competitor raising prices, losing staff, or sunsetting a product gives their customers a reason to look around, and you a reason to be in the shortlist.
8 competitor signals
All B2B signalsLeft a bad review of a competitor
Someone from an ICP company leaves a negative review of a competitor on G2, Capterra, or Reddit.
Strong · Within 2 weeks of the review · Email, Ad audience
Competitor named on your sales calls
The competitors and frustrations prospects name on your own recorded sales calls, used to build lists and copy.
Good · Refreshed as new calls are recorded · Email, Ad audience
Competitor has a bad week
A competitor raises prices, has an outage, is acquired, or sunsets a product.
Good · The month after the news · Email, Ad audience
Researching your category on review sites
An account researches your category, your competitors, or comparison pages on review sites like G2.
Good · Within a week · Ad audience, Email
Competitor raised prices
A competitor announces a price increase, removes a plan, or moves a feature to a higher tier.
Strong · From the announcement until the new prices take effect, and the next renewal · Email, Ad audience
Competitor acquired or sunsetting a product
A competitor is acquired, merges, or announces the end of a product its customers rely on.
Strong · From the announcement until 6 months after · Email, Ad audience
Logos on a competitor’s website
Companies named as customers on a competitor’s homepage, case studies, or review pages.
Good · Ongoing, timed to the likely renewal · Ad audience, Email
Competitor’s team leaving
Several people leave a competitor in a short period, especially from customer success, support, or account management.
Good · The 6 months after the departures · Ad audience, CRM
FAQs about competitor signals
Competitor signals track your competitors’ customers, audiences, prices, and bad weeks. A competitor raising prices, losing staff, or sunsetting a product gives their customers a reason to look around, and you a reason to be in the shortlist.
“Left a bad review of a competitor”, “Competitor raised prices”, and “Competitor acquired or sunsetting a product” are rated Strong, which means worth acting on this week on its own. The rest are worth a play when stacked with a second signal on the same account.
Each signal routes to the channels that fit it. Across the 8 competitor signals, the most common plays run through ad audience, email, and crm. Each signal page lists the play it triggers on every channel, with an example opening line.
Understory Agency tracks them in Clay, most often with Clay, Apify, Claude Code, BuiltWith, Fireflies, and G2 Buyer Intent. Each signal page lists the steps to detect it, the tools, and the play it triggers when it fires.
Other kinds of signals
People signals
Who just arrived, moved up or left, at the accounts you sell to.
Hiring signals
What a company is hiring for, which tells you what it is about to build.
Company event signals
Funding, launches, expansion and the other moments that reset budgets.
Tech stack signals
What a company installs, removes or outgrows.
Website visitor signals
Who is reading your pages, and which pages they read.
Product usage signals
Sign-ups, usage and limits inside your own product.
Social and content signals
What buyers post, like, comment on and ask in public.
Ad engagement signals
Which accounts see, watch and click your ads.
Event signals
Who is going where, speaking where and showing up to what.
Public record signals
Filings, permits, contracts and other records anyone can read.
Custom scrape signals
Signals nobody sells, built for one market with Claude Code and Apify.
CRM and network signals
The relationships and history you already own.
Tell us who you sell to
Bring your best customers, and we'll show you the competitor signals we would start with and the plays they would trigger. Signals run through our outbound and GTM engineering practice.