The Amigos Network | When’s a high-intent lead not a high intent lead?

Tuesday, August 08, 2023 by Max Sherwood

For startups, expanding into new markets can be a pivotal step towards growth and success. However, the process of entering unfamiliar territories poses unique challenges, particularly when resources, including human capital, are limited.

Here’s why.

A high-intent sales lead can be defined as a potential customer or prospect who demonstrates a strong inclination and readiness to make a purchasing decision and are engaging with your brand.

Unlike general leads, high intent leads exhibit specific behaviours and characteristics that indicate a higher likelihood of converting into a paying customer.

Identifying and prioritising high intent leads is crucial for sales teams as it enables them to focus their efforts on the most promising opportunities, improving efficiency and increasing the chances of successful conversions.

To define a high intent sales lead, several key factors need to be considered:

Engagement: High intent leads actively engage with a company's marketing and sales initiatives. They show interest by visiting the website, subscribing to newsletters, attending webinars, downloading whitepapers, or requesting product demos. Their level of interaction indicates a genuine curiosity and a desire to learn more about the products or services being offered.
Qualification: High intent leads typically meet specific criteria that make them a good fit for the business. This could include factors such as industry relevance, company size, budget availability, or specific pain points that align with the solutions provided by the company. Qualifying leads based on these criteria helps identify those who are most likely to benefit from the product or service, increasing the chances of conversion.
Timing: High intent leads exhibit a sense of urgency and are actively seeking solutions. They may have expressed a need for a product or service in the near term, or they might have specific time constraints or deadlines that require prompt action. Identifying leads who require a solution within a certain timeframe allows sales teams to prioritise and allocate resources accordingly.
Decision-making authority: High intent leads often have decision-making authority or influence within their organisation. They possess the power to evaluate and make purchasing decisions, enabling sales teams to engage with individuals who can drive the buying process forward. Understanding the decision-making hierarchy and identifying key decision-makers within high intent leads helps streamline the sales process and increases the chances of closing deals.
Behaviour analysis: High intent leads can be identified through behavioural analysis. This involves tracking and analysing user activities, such as website browsing patterns, content consumption, and engagement with marketing materials. By monitoring these behaviours, businesses can identify signals that indicate a strong intent to purchase, such as repeated visits to pricing pages, comparison shopping, or submitting inquiries.

Conclusion

We think a high-intent sales lead is a prospect who actively engages with a company's marketing efforts, meets predefined qualification criteria, demonstrates a sense of urgency, possesses decision-making authority, and exhibits behaviours that indicate a strong intent to make a purchasing decision. This takes time and buyers will go at their own pace in line with their budget structure.

But you absolutely need to be part of that conversation early doors if you believe industry figures about sellers being too late to the party.

By defining and prioritising high intent leads, sales teams can focus their efforts on the most promising opportunities, improve conversion rates, and achieve greater sales success, but to do this they must have all the information relating to the long-term engagement and triggers that sent them there, to be most effective.

Author: Max Sherwood, The Amigos Network

Email: max.sherwood@theamigosnetwork.com

Frequently Asked Questions

How does Market Activation differ from Demand Generation?

Demand Gen builds broad awareness and interest over time (e.g., whitepapers, webinars).
Market Activation identifies in-market buyers (via intent data, behavioural signals) and immediately engages them with tailored outreach (nurture tracks, one-to-one advisor sessions, community invites).

Market Activation talks about “Demand-as-a-Service”? What’s included in this?

Engagement Engine: Continuous, multi-channel publishing (articles, webinars, newsletters) to sustain interest
Demand Engine: Targeted outreach (email, ads, sponsorships) that scores clicks → qualified leads → sales-ready appointments.
Performance Dashboard: Real-time visibility into open rates, CTOR, CPL and lead progression via our online sales portal.

What role does The Amigos Network play in Market Activation?

Early Detection: Community discussions surface real-world challenges and project signals before formal RFPs.
Content Amplification: Thought leadership shared in The Amigos Network drives deeper engagement and social proof.
Peer Validation: Prospects get candid feedback from peers on your solutions, shortening the evaluation cycle.
Pipeline Catalysis: Warm introductions and referral paths within the community fuel high- intent conversations.

How do B2B communities like The Amigos Network fit into the sales process?

Top-of-Funnel: Build credibility through community content and events.
Mid-Funnel: Leverage peer case studies, expert Q&As, and live demos to answer deep technical questions.
Bottom-of-Funnel: Invite high-intent members to advisory councils or private 1:1 sessions, often the final nudge before purchase.

How does The Amigos Network create Intent Data?

Interesting content: We originate, curate, and syndicate different types of content we know our audiences want to engage with and tell them it’s there.
Sponsored content: We use sponsored content to drive engagement with individual brands.
Promotion: We promote that content via multiple channels such as email, social media, YouTube, and so on.
Identification: We ingest company-level engagement signals and combine it with known contacts that may be researching key topics.
Segmentation: Members are bucketed by level of intent (high, medium, low) plus ICP fit and company size.
Activation: High-intent members receive prioritised community invitations (events, focus groups, product deep-dives) to accelerate deals.

Is buying intent data worth it when you’re part of The Amigos Network?

Yes, if you blend purchased intent data with community signals and nurture streams, it makes a powerful mix, but it is not necessary for this programme.

Purchased data highlights who’s in-market.
Community engagement reveals what questions they’re asking, so your nurture can be hyper-relevant.
Result: A 2–3× lift in meeting acceptance and pipeline velocity vs. cold outreach alone.

Is buying intent data worth it?

It turns out that intent data is one of the best ways to find and target in-market buyers who match your ideal customer profile (ICP). Intent data shows at a company level who's actively interested in a product or service area. Depending on your investment, it will determine whether you can get named individuals.

Why would I buy intent data?

As a starting point to onward prospect engagement and pipeline building for the future. The best use of it comes from entering it into marketing nurture until such point it becomes a sales-ready opportunity.

Is intent data good for sales teams?

It depends. If it’s seen as a fast-track to dropping it into a sales queue, then ROI will be poor. It is valuable if given to marketing to nurture first and pass it through when it becomes high-intent, rather than “just showing an interest.”

Is it better to buy or create intent data?

Buying it is one approach, but it’s what you do next with it that counts. Dropping it into a sales queue and expecting a potential buyer to be asking “where do I sign” is unlikely to happen, especially for strategic or big-ticket purchases. Buying basic intent information should be the first step in a long-term nurture process designed to build an ongoing pipeline in a joined-up marketing and sales approach.

Is purchased intent data alone enough to fast track to sales?

No.

How should Sales and Marketing collaborate on intent in The Amigos Network?

Marketing owns the nurture tracks, community invites, educational content, and event promos.
Sales intervenes only at “high-intent + active community engagement” thresholds, with account-specific demos and peer introductions.
Outcome: Fewer wasted calls and a higher win rate on truly qualified opportunities.

How do we measure success for Market Activation in The Amigos Network?

Engagement Metrics: Community log-ins, event attendance, content downloads.
Intent Conversion: % of intent-scored members who join private roundtables or request demos.
Pipeline Velocity: Time from first community touch to opportunity creation.
Revenue Impact: Contribution of community-sourced deals to overall bookings.