From Intent to Intro: How We Built a High-Signal Prospecting Stack That Actually Converts

There’s a dirty secret in B2B sales: most outbound teams are still playing Pin the Tail on the Prospect.

Despite all the martech out there (intent data platforms, sales engagement tools, enrichment layers) most teams are still guessing who to talk to, when to reach out, and what to say.

And the result is bloated tech stacks, bloated budgets, and bloated pipelines full of “maybe-later” leads that never convert.

We couldn’t afford that. We’re lean by design. So we built a signal-first, low-lift stack that helps our clients go from “someone might be interested” to “we just booked a call”-fast.

Let’s break it down.

Discover: Find High-Intent People, Not Just Accounts

→ Tools: Vector + The Swarm

Most teams are looking for the wrong signals.

Traditional “intent data” vendors focus on company-level indicators like account surges, content consumption, or buyer intent categories.

But here’s the problem: companies don’t buy, people do.

So instead of watching which companies are showing interest, we care about who is showing buying behavior (person-level intent), and who in our network can help us get to them faster.

What we look for:

• Someone attending specific webinars or downloading niche content

• Job changes or department-level budget shifts

• Network overlaps and warm paths from existing connections

Vector gives us fine-grained behavioral signals and The Swarm tells us how we’re connected to the people behind those behaviors.

This gives us something most teams miss: warm, timely, human-centered discovery.

Enrich: Find the Real Story Behind the Lead

→ Tools: Clay + Apollo

Once we have a signal, we build a full picture of the person—fast.

Clay is the brain here. We use it to:

• Pull contact info (email, LinkedIn, etc.)

• Match it against CRM or internal lists

• Run custom logic to uncover hidden context (e.g. “is this person hiring in public sector?” or “did they bid on an RFP?”)

• Score the lead based on stacked signals

  
  

Apollo fills in the gaps with email validation and fallback data. It's not the hero, but it helps complete the picture.

What makes this powerful? We're not just enriching for job title or email—we’re enriching for relevance. We’re asking: does this person have a reason to care right now?

And that’s where most outbound dies. No context, no click.

Engage: Automate Without Losing the Human Touch

→ Tool: HeyReach

Now that we’ve got context, we need to send outreach that feels like it was written for one person—even if it was sent to fifty.

We use HeyReach to run:

• Multi-step sequences across LinkedIn

• AI-assisted personalization that doesn’t sound like it came from ChatGPT

• Natural-sounding follow-ups that reflect the real context

It’s also where we’ve seen results snowball: most clients get real meetings in 3–5 weeks, without needing massive volumes or SDR armies.

Measure: Close the Loop with a Clean Feedback Layer

→ Tools: Zapier + the Howdy App

We measure what matters:

• Which signals lead to booked meetings?

• Which message variants convert?

• Where do warm intros actually work?

  
  

If a tool can integrate directly with our CRM or Airtable, we plug it in. If not, Zapier fills the gap.

But our real pride and joy is the Howdy App - our internal tool that:

• Tracks each lead’s signal trail

• Visualizes where intros came from

• Shows conversion rates across sources and messages

  
  

Think of it as a signal intelligence layer sitting on top of the stack. It helps us stop flying blind.

Why This Works

Most teams start with contact lists. We start with intent trails and network maps.

Most teams write for personas. We write to people with context.

Most teams blast cold outreach blindly. We stack signals, personalize smartly, and move fast on warm paths.

That’s why this works.

You don’t need a $100K RevOps budget or a team of Salesforce admins to make it happen.

You just need the right signals, the right automations, and a system that respects your brain.

Want to steal this stack?

Go for it. Just make sure you:

• Focus on person-level behaviors, not just account-level guesses

• Enrich your leads with context, not fluff

• Build automations that still sound like you

• Measure what actually leads to intros, not opens

Outreach is still a numbers game. But the winners are playing with better math.

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