People signals
People and role change signals track who just arrived, moved up, or left at the accounts you sell to. A new leader usually reviews the stack and the agencies in their first 90 days, and a champion who changes jobs brings what they bought before.
10 people signals
All B2B signalsNew executive at a target account
A new VP or C-level leader starts at an account you sell to, in the function that buys from you.
Strong · The first 90 days in the role · Email, LinkedIn outreach, Ad audience, Rep alert
Champion changed jobs
Someone who bought, used, or championed your product moves to a new company that fits your ICP.
Strong · Months 2 to 6 in the new role · Email, LinkedIn outreach, Rep alert, CRM
Promotion into the buying seat
Someone at a target account is promoted into the role that owns the budget for what you sell.
Good · The first 60 days after the promotion · LinkedIn outreach, Email
Decision maker left
The person who owned a tool or vendor at an account leaves, and the seat is empty or newly filled.
Good · From the departure until the replacement settles in · Email, Ad audience
Work anniversary
A buyer at a target account reaches their fifth or tenth work anniversary at the company.
Early · The week of the anniversary · LinkedIn outreach
Accelerator alumni
Founders and companies that came out of a top accelerator, used as a fit layer on top of a timing signal like hiring.
Early · Ongoing, triggered by a timing signal · Email, Ad audience
Fractional or interim executive appointed
A company brings in a fractional or interim CMO, CRO, CFO, or COO, usually for a set term.
Strong · The first 60 days of the engagement · Email, LinkedIn outreach, CRM
New C-suite role created
A company names its first Chief AI Officer, Chief Revenue Officer, Chief Customer Officer, or another C-level role it never had.
Strong · The first 90 days in the role · Email, Ad audience, Rep alert
Past user of your product joined a target account
Someone who used your product at a previous company starts at an account you want to sell to.
Strong · The first 120 days at the new company · Email, LinkedIn outreach, CRM
New board member or advisor
A company adds a board member or advisor whose background is in your category or your buyer’s function.
Good · The 6 months after the announcement · Content, Email
FAQs about people signals
People and role change signals track who just arrived, moved up, or left at the accounts you sell to. A new leader usually reviews the stack and the agencies in their first 90 days, and a champion who changes jobs brings what they bought before.
“New executive at a target account”, “Champion changed jobs”, “Fractional or interim executive appointed”, “New C-suite role created”, and “Past user of your product joined a target account” 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 10 people signals, the most common plays run through email, linkedin outreach, and ad audience. 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, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Apify, HubSpot or Salesforce, your product database, and Crunchbase. Each signal page lists the steps to detect it, the tools, and the play it triggers when it fires.
Other kinds of signals
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.
Competitor signals
Your competitors’ customers, audiences and bad weeks.
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 people signals we would start with and the plays they would trigger. Signals run through our outbound and GTM engineering practice.