The biggest waste in B2B sales is spending time on prospects who aren't ready to buy. Intent data solves this problem by telling you which companies are actively researching solutions like yours right now — so you can reach them at the exact moment they're in buying mode.
I want to explain what intent data actually is, where it comes from, how to use it, and why it's one of the most underutilized tools in B2B lead generation.
What Is Intent Data?
Intent data is behavioral information that indicates a company or individual is actively researching a specific topic, product category, or solution. It's collected from a variety of sources:
First-party intent data comes from your own website and marketing channels — which pages a prospect visited, how long they spent on your pricing page, whether they downloaded a resource, which emails they opened. This is the highest-quality intent data because it's direct engagement with your brand.
Third-party intent data comes from data aggregators who track browsing behavior across thousands of websites. Companies like Bombora, G2, and TechTarget track when companies are reading content about specific topics — "AI sales automation," "SDR outsourcing," "B2B lead generation tools" — and sell that behavioral data to marketers.
Technographic data tells you what software and tools a company is currently using. If a company is using Salesforce and HubSpot but not an outbound automation tool, that's an intent signal that they might be in the market for one.
Why Intent Data Changes the Math
Here's the fundamental problem with traditional B2B outreach: you're reaching out to companies based on firmographic criteria (company size, industry, location) without knowing whether they're actually in the market for your solution right now.
The result is that most cold outreach hits companies at the wrong time. They're not thinking about your problem. They just signed a contract with a competitor six months ago. Their budget cycle doesn't start until Q4. The timing is wrong, and no amount of great messaging overcomes bad timing.
Intent data flips this. Instead of reaching out to 1,000 companies that fit your ICP and hoping some of them are in buying mode, you reach out to the 50–100 companies that are actively researching your solution category right now. The response rates are dramatically higher because the timing is right.
We consistently see 3–5× higher response rates on intent-targeted outreach compared to firmographic-only targeting. When someone is already thinking about your problem, they're much more receptive to a conversation about your solution.
How to Use Intent Data in Practice
Step 1: Define your intent topics. What are the specific topics, keywords, and content categories that indicate a company is in the market for your solution? For an AI SDR service, relevant intent topics include: "AI sales automation," "SDR outsourcing," "B2B lead generation tools," "sales development representative software," "outbound sales automation."
Step 2: Source your intent data. For most B2B companies, a combination of first-party data (your own website analytics) and a third-party intent data provider (Bombora is the most widely used) gives you the best coverage. G2 Buyer Intent is particularly valuable if your category is well-represented on G2.
Step 3: Layer intent data onto your ICP. Don't just reach out to every company showing intent signals — filter for companies that also match your ICP criteria. A company showing intent for "AI sales automation" is only valuable to you if they're also the right size, in the right industry, and in your target geography.
Step 4: Prioritize and sequence. Companies showing strong intent signals (multiple topic views, recent activity, high engagement) should be prioritized for immediate outreach. Companies showing moderate intent can go into a nurture sequence. This prioritization ensures your best outreach effort goes to the highest-probability prospects.
Step 5: Personalize your messaging around the intent signal. If you know a company has been researching "SDR outsourcing" for the past two weeks, your outreach message can reference that context: "I noticed [Company] has been evaluating options for scaling your outbound sales — we've helped several [industry] companies in California solve exactly that challenge."
The California Intent Data Opportunity
California's B2B market has some specific characteristics that make intent data particularly valuable:
The technology sector in the Bay Area and Los Angeles is extremely active in evaluating new tools. Companies in these markets are constantly researching solutions, which means intent signals are abundant and fresh.
The concentration of specific industries in specific cities means that intent signals from a particular geography often indicate a cluster of similar companies evaluating the same solutions. When we see multiple Orange County financial services companies showing intent for "AI SDR service" in the same week, that's a market signal worth acting on immediately.
What Intent Data Can't Do
Intent data tells you *who* is in buying mode, but it doesn't tell you *why* they're researching or what their specific situation is. A company researching "AI SDR service" might be:
- Ready to buy immediately - Just doing preliminary research for a project 6 months away - Evaluating options to present to their board - A competitor doing competitive research
This is why intent data is a starting point for outreach, not a replacement for qualification. The intent signal gets you in the door; the conversation tells you whether there's a real opportunity.
Getting Started with Intent Data
If you're not currently using intent data in your B2B lead generation, the easiest starting point is your own first-party data. Set up proper tracking on your website so you can identify which companies are visiting your pricing page, your case studies, and your service pages. This is free, requires no additional tools, and gives you an immediate list of warm prospects to prioritize.
From there, a third-party intent data subscription (Bombora starts at around $2,000/month for small teams) can significantly expand your intent data coverage.
If you want to see how we integrate intent data into a complete AI SDR system for B2B companies in California, book a free strategy call and we'll walk through a live example with your specific ICP.
