Most B2B companies think they have buyer intent. What they actually have is a tool that simply shows a signal against a set of companies. This is not a Buyer Intent Engine and it’s why many marketers and business leaders are sceptical of buyer intent. In this episode, we break down what a real Buyer Intent Engine looks like and why most set-ups only do a fraction of the job. We’ll go through how to leverage AI to find the right contacts, how to enrich data, how to take action in real time and how to automate the process. In short, we’ll show you how to leverage signals to develop a tightly focused list of potential buyers and target them with precision outreach.
What you’ll learn:

• Why most “buyer intent” is just a tool showing a signal, not an engine
• The 3 types of intent signal — engagement, research and triggers — and what each one is actually telling you
• Why intent is not an SQL, and how sending it straight to sales erodes trust in your data
• Why the buying group is the unit, not the individual lead (and the Forrester stat that proves it)
• How to use AI to find the right contacts and validate ICP fit beyond raw data
• How to enrich intent signals with the contact data you need to take action
• How to act in real time and automate outreach across multiple channels

Why orchestration is the piece most teams are missing — and how to do it without paying for Clay
The single most important insight from this episode: “It’s not that intent doesn’t work. It’s that if you treat it like an SQL, you’ll send it to sales too prematurely and erode trust.” Build the engine properly and the numbers follow — typically up to twice the effectiveness of a demand gen programme running without intent.
If your intent data is sitting in a tool doing nothing, this episode is the build plan you need.
Truth, Lies & B2B Growth is the podcast for founders, CEOs and Marketing leaders wrestling with the new realities of growth and demand generation in complex B2B sales.
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00:00 — Why most buyer intent setups only do a fraction of the job
00:56 — The common problems: false positives and single signals
01:34 — Why intent is not an SQL (and what happens when you treat it like one)
02:36 — The buying group is the unit, not the lead
04:07 — The 3 types of intent signal: engagement, research, triggers
08:00 — Component 1: multiple signal sources
10:00 — Component 2: ICP filtering done properly
11:34 — Component 3: enrichment, finding the contacts AI can act on
12:30 — Component 4: activation in real time and where the SDR team fits
15:11 — Component 5: tracking and proving ROI 16:40 — The tools you actually need (and the orchestration layer nobody has)
20:30 — Where to start without boiling the ocean