Stop Wasting Time on the Wrong Leads: How to Focus Your Team on In-Market Buyers

Your sales team isn’t short on activity—but is it focused on the right opportunities?

In B2B sales, time is everything. The harsh truth? Most of it is wasted chasing leads that were never going to convert. Reps burn hours manually prospecting, emailing the wrong contacts, or following up with cold accounts that looked good on paper but had zero intent to buy.

This inefficiency isn’t just frustrating—it’s expensive. According to Gartner, sales reps spend only 35% of their time actually selling, with the majority spent on non-selling tasks, like research and admin. Add in low-quality leads and that percentage drops even further.

The solution isn’t more leads. It’s better prioritisation. And that starts by shifting your focus from everyone to the right ones: the accounts already in-market and actively researching what you offer.

Traditional Prospecting Is Broken

Most outbound sales still rely on static lead lists, generic filters, or outdated intent indicators. But markets move quickly. Roles change. Budgets shift. Buyer priorities evolve. The data you pulled three weeks ago might already be obsolete.

Without live buyer insights, reps are left guessing. They spend time chasing leads that are a poor fit or have no buying intent, while hot prospects get ignored simply because they haven’t filled out a form.

And it’s not just about activity. It’s about impact. Forrester reports that only 8% of B2B companies say their lead generation efforts are highly effective.

What “In-Market” Really Means

Being “in-market” doesn’t mean someone downloaded a whitepaper last quarter. It means they’re actively researching your solution, pain point, or category right now. This intent could take the form of:

• Visiting relevant web pages or pricing tools
• Comparing vendors on review sites
• Reading articles related to your niche
• Consuming competitor content

Lead Onion consolidates buyer intent signals from 20+ premium sources, giving you a real-time view of which companies are heating up—and why. This includes:

• Website visits
• G2 and review site behaviour
• Topic-level content engagement
• CRM activity and email interactions

When this data is surfaced and scored, your reps gain a clear line of sight to the accounts most likely to buy.

How to Find In-Market Buyers with Lead Onion

Here’s how you shift from reactive selling to intent-driven precision with Lead Onion:

Step 1: Define Your ICP
Filter by job title, seniority, industry, company size, tech stack, and more. Lead Onion helps you layer these filters alongside intent signals to ensure you’re focused on high-fit leads.

Step 2: Track Buyer Intent Topics
Identify the pain points and themes your audience is researching. With Lead Onion, you can choose from thousands of keywords, topics, or competitor names to watch.

Step 3: Monitor Real-Time Spikes
Lead Onion alerts you when companies increase their engagement on specific topics—helping you strike when the interest is high.

Step 4: Reveal Decision-Makers
Once a spike is detected, Lead Onion shows you verified contacts within the account—no guessing who to call or email.

Step 5: Sync to Sales Tools
Push those contacts directly into your CRM, outreach tools, or marketing automation systems for immediate follow-up.

What a Daily Intent-Driven Workflow Looks Like

Start each day by:

1. Reviewing new account spikes
2. Prioritising accounts with both high fit and high intent
3. Adding the right contacts from those accounts
4. Triggering sequences or cadences tailored to the researched topic

Instead of manually digging through lists or chasing stale leads, your reps focus only on the prospects that are:

• Actively researching your product category
• In your ICP
• Showing signal intensity strong enough to act on

What Success Looks Like

Companies using Lead Onion to drive intent-led prospecting see:

• 3x faster lead qualification (Lead Onion customer data)
• 40% reduction in time-to-first-meeting
• 50%+ increase in pipeline conversion rates
• 30% more efficient rep time usage, leading to higher productivity and morale

This isn’t about working harder. It’s about working smarter—with the data to back every move.

Final Thoughts: Don’t Sell to Everyone. Sell to the Right Ones.

B2B teams that win in today’s market aren’t the ones sending more emails. They’re the ones sending smarter ones—based on real buying signals.

If your sales team is wasting time on accounts with no intent to buy, it’s time to rewire your outbound strategy.

👉 Try Lead Onion for free and focus your team on the 3% of the market that’s actually ready to buy.