Most GTM teams are still flying blind. They’re waiting for inbound leads to trickle in, or hoping an MQL eventually turns into a meeting. But by the time a buyer fills in a form, downloads a whitepaper, or responds to an email nurture, it’s often too late.
Today’s B2B buying journey is longer, more complex, and harder to predict than ever before:
- 95% of B2B buyers research online before speaking to sales (DemandGen).
- Buyers typically consume 13+ pieces of content during their journey (FocusVision).
- The average buying group now involves 6–10 decision-makers (Gartner).
That means by the time an MQL lands in your CRM, your competitors may already be shaping the conversation.
This blog will show you:
- Why traditional lead generation playbooks no longer cut it.
- How Intent Search helps you spot in-market buyers earlier.
- The 3-step playbook to search, reveal, and activate real prospects.
- Practical examples of how sales and marketing teams are using Intent Search to fill their pipeline with buyers who are ready to engage.
The Problem: Blind Spots in the Funnel
Here’s the truth no one likes to admit: most marketing and sales teams are still guessing.
They’re buying static lists, running generic outbound, or focusing all their energy on inbound leads. But with only 3% of your total addressable market actively buying at any given time (Forrester), the odds of those leads being in-market are slim.
And even when you do capture interest, it’s often too late. By the time an inbound form lands:
- 70% of the buying journey is already complete (SiriusDecisions).
- The shortlist is formed, and your competitors are in the mix.
- Your team is left competing on price rather than value.
The Fix: Real-Time Intent Search
Lead Onion’s new Intent Search flips the script.
Instead of waiting for inbound leads or buying cold data, Intent Search pinpoints the 10% of your market that’s actively researching right now — and gives you their company, contacts, and context in seconds.
Think of it as a search engine for in-market buyers:
- Want to know which accounts are researching your competitors? Intent Search shows you.
- Need to uncover decision-makers evaluating your category? It’s one click away.
- Looking to prioritize accounts by readiness to buy? Intent Search scores them by fit + intent intensity.
The Intent Search Playbook (3 Steps)
1. Search
Surface accounts and contacts from 20+ intent sources — including publisher data, review sites, trigger events, web behavior, CRM signals, and social activity.
📌 Example: A cybersecurity vendor used Intent Search to identify 150 companies actively researching “cloud endpoint protection.” Instead of cold calling, they built a list of verified prospects showing live buying signals.
2. Reveal
Go beyond company names. Reveal decision-maker contacts plus the specific topics and competitors they’re engaging with. This context fuels relevant, personalized outreach.
📌 Example: A SaaS marketing team saw that a target account’s CMO was reading reviews of “account-based marketing software.” Their SDR reached out with tailored messaging around ABM best practices — securing a meeting in two days.
3. Activate
Push these Intent Qualified Leads (IQLs) straight into sales cadences, LinkedIn campaigns, or CRM workflows with one click. No static lists. No manual uploads. Just live buyers routed directly into your funnel.
📌 Example: An SDR team used Intent Search to feed daily in-market contacts into Outreach. Within 3 weeks, reply rates doubled and average prospecting time dropped by 40%.
Why It’s Different
Many intent providers rely on single-source signals — like website visits, or one publisher’s data. But single-source intent is like trying to close deals with one eye shut.
Lead Onion combines and validates signals across 20+ sources to give you a complete, trustworthy picture of who’s actually in-market. That means:
- Richer insights → no more chasing false positives.
- Better prioritization → accounts scored by fit and intensity.
- Confidence → focus only on the buyers most likely to convert.
Proof: The Impact of Intent-Led Outreach
When sales and marketing teams adopt intent data, the results are dramatic:
- 2x higher conversion rates compared to cold prospecting (Gartner).
- 40% reduction in sales cycles when engaging buyers early (Forrester).
- 74% of teams using intent data say it helps them engage the right decision-makers (Inbox Insight).
- One Lead Onion client uncovered 200 high-intent companies, cut prospecting time by 10–15 hours per month, and saved 74% on data costs.
Practical Ways to Use Intent Search Today
- Sales Development: Build daily call lists of buyers showing live intent, improving connect rates.
- Demand Generation: Retarget accounts engaging with competitor content, ensuring your brand stays top of mind.
- Account-Based Marketing: Prioritize Tier 1 accounts by intent intensity, focusing campaigns where they’ll convert fastest.
- Customer Success & Expansion: Spot existing customers researching additional solutions and trigger upsell campaigns.
Ready to See It for Yourself?
The best way to understand Intent Search is to try it yourself. In just a few clicks, you can start uncovering in-market buyers and turning live signals into pipeline.
🎁 Launch Offer: Start your free trial today and claim 1,000 free Intent Qualified Leads as part of our “First 100” promotion.
👉 Start Your Free Trial + Claim 1,000 IQLs
