Intent data
Intent data is just a lead list until sales trusts it
Intent data doesn't make sales trust marketing. Trust makes intent data worth paying for.
What most teams get wrong
Most teams buy the intent tool first. Marketing turns on the signals, pushes a list of "surging" accounts to sales, and waits.
Sales ignores it. Not because the data is bad, but because nobody asked sales which accounts mattered in the first place. To a rep, a list they didn't help build is just more noise.
Where I learned it
March 2020. I had just joined Automation Anywhere, and the pandemic had cut the company's growth from triple digits to single digits almost overnight.
The demand engine wasn't built for that. Each region ran its own messaging and its own agencies. Digital leads sat without SDR follow-up. And marketing was creating leads sales didn't want, because marketing and sales had never agreed on who we were chasing.
The proof was in the numbers. Our target accounts turned into opportunities at mid single digits.
So we started over, with sales in the room.
What we did
- Built the ICP with sales, not for them. The first workshop was a Zoom call with the CRO and long-time reps and SEs from around the world. We worked through a series of questions to zero in on who we should be chasing. In the second session, we overlaid the data: where we win, which industries, what size companies, whether they renewed, and which job roles were tied to each opportunity. I ran the same work with the CRO's leaders for AMER, EUR, IMEA and APAC, so every region owned the result.
- Fixed the data before adding signals. We reformatted Salesforce and bought the accounts and contacts we were missing from ZoomInfo. Intent on top of bad data is just faster bad data.
- Then added intent. We layered 6sense intent onto the accounts sales had already agreed on.
- Measured accounts, not leads. Both teams were measured on account penetration: engagements, meetings and opportunities.
What happened
Intent-qualified accounts converted to opportunities at 70%+, up from mid single digits.
It was also the first step of a bigger plan. The shared ICP became the base for a quarterly planning interlock across all four regions. That interlock delivered 6 straight quarters of marketing pipeline attainment on 20%+ less demand gen spend.
It took two quarters to see the shift. It was worth the wait.
Not everything landed the first time. Sales didn't fully trust our data, so we adjusted the ICP based on their feedback. That pushback made it their list, not just ours.
What I'd do now
The tools are better than they were in 2020. AI agents can now research and score every account on the list. But the order still matters:
- Start with a workshop, not a tool. In the first 30 days, build the ICP with the CRO and the regional leaders. Leave with one list everyone signed.
- Agree on what a signal triggers. Pick the few signals that mean "act now," and decide together who does what when one fires.
- Review it where sales already meets. Put account progress on the weekly forecast call, not in a marketing report.
- Measure accounts. Engagements, meetings and opportunities on the agreed list. Leads come second.
Get the trust first. Then the signals are worth paying for.
Who picked your target accounts: marketing alone, or marketing and sales together?