What keeps you up at night? 

Is it that 60% of companies said their CAC has increased? Or that 60% of companies also said it’s harder to get buyers’ attention? Or maybe it’s that only 43% of sales reps hit quota in Q4 of 2023?

Or, if you’re like us, it’s all of the above.

Like every revenue team, UserGems is always searching for the best ways to build pipeline that turns into revenue.

Our philosophy has always been to focus efforts on the highest-impact pipeline strategies.

Today, we’re sharing one of our most successful buying signal strategies – New Hires & Promotions. Operationalizing this one signal drove 8% of our pipeline last year and converted to 14% of total annual revenue.

But first, what's the New Hires & Promotions buying signal?

UserGems’ newest signal automatically identifies any persona matching new-in-role buyer within the accounts you care about. 

These people aren’t familiar with your company, but in their first 100 days, they’re often evaluating new tools and have a budget to spend. You want to get on their radar before they run out of budget!

Why does this signal matter?

👉 It’s timely - New executives spend 70% of their budget within the first 100 days. 

👉 It’s relevant - There’s a reason to reach out. 

👉 It’s high priority - Director and VP titles convert 2.5X in their first 3 months vs. after 1 year.

Make the New Hires & Promotions buying signal work for you with workflows

We talked to hundreds of revenue leaders and noticed some common challenges among sales and marketing teams: They track dozens of valuable signals but lack the processes to consistently act on them.

In practice, that means reps are being flooded with information without clear direction on how to turn signals into meetings or pipeline.

No matter how valuable a signal is, it’s simply noise if reps don’t act on it. 

That’s why every Signal in the UserGems GTM has an end-to-end signal-based workflow attached.

Once the signal defines the 'who,' the workflow defines the ‘how.’ A workflow can add a contact to an email sequence or send an alert to an Account Development Representative (ADR) that includes information like:

1. What happened (a promotion or new hire)
2. Who it is (name, title)
3. What to do next (send a templated email, message on LinkedIn, call)

In UserGems, you can add innumerable customizable actions to this signal-based workflow. When you automate your workflow, you ensure you’re always capturing and engaging the right buyer at the right account at the time they’re most likely to buy.

This means your hottest leads don’t fall through the cracks!

{{new-hire-email-course}}

Getting started with the New Hires & Promotions workflow

There's a little foundation work to do to create a successful New Hires & Promotions workflow. 

First, you need to define your target buyers and accounts.

Ask yourself which titles, levels of seniority, and aspects of your ICP should be included in this signal. Do you care if this person joined in the last year or the last month, for example?

Once you’ve defined your buyer, you can define your target accounts. You can pull this in from Salesforce or use LinkedIn Sales Navigator to determine your target accounts.

This clarity and precision make our 'New Hires & Promotions' play not just a tactic but a cornerstone of UserGems' success. 

How UserGems’ New Hires & Promotions workflow works

These 3 actions take place behind the scenes once your team has defined its target accounts and buyers. 

1. Contacts are created in your CRM

UserGems is always scanning for new hires with appropriate titles within your target accounts. When one is found, it automatically creates a contact in your CRM including information like new title and job start date. This gives sales teams a comprehensive understanding of the new decision-maker.

2. Contacts are added to automated sequencing

Personalized automation is at the center of signal-based workflows. When a new hire or promotion that you care about occurs, that contact is automatically added to the right sequence in Outreach or Salesloft. (Reminder: it’s a good idea to limit the number of people added to your sequences to ensure accounts aren’t overworked!)

We recommend ranking target accounts based on signals like past relationships (Champion Tracking) and New Hires & Promotions. 

This tip is grounded in a key insight: accounts with fresh hires, particularly in decision-making roles, often indicate a higher likelihood to buy. Adopting this signal keeps sales efforts directed toward accounts with the highest potential for conversion.

3. Automated Actions

Next, UserGems initiates a second automation layer. The sequence grouping is automatically integrated into a personalized outbound sales sequence that has been tailored specifically for your BDR/SDR/ADRs or any other team. 

It’s best practice to avoid a generic series of actions for any new hire or promotion. Instead, base the actions on the prospect's current role and how you specifically can help them achieve their new goals.

How to add a personalized, strategic touch to your outbound

Personalized, strategic touches are the secret sauce that keeps UserGems targets on track and our teams happy.

With automation handling the technical aspects, ADRs can focus on what they do best: building relationships. 

When constructing outreach templates for individual sales reps to fill in, include space for personalized congratulations to the new hire, accompanied by a thoughtful gift and curated materials to assist them in their first 100 days.

Try researching the original job posting to see if any 30-60-90 day plans were outlined, and then tie your communication back to it. Using the Wayback Machine can help you find original postings.

Blending personalized engagement and technical precision ensures your message is not just more noise in their inbox. 

💡Remember, new hires are super busy. Your first engagement with them should be to provide a useful asset or simply congratulate them. No need to pitch-slap them when they’re brand new!

What’s next for Signal-based GTM?

We believe that signals are the future of GTM. We’ve already seen Champion Tracking buying signals + New Hire signals bring in 25% of pipeline last year and 37% of closed won revenue, proving that our formula of unique signals + automated play works.

We're not just about adding more  Signals to outbound. We're about integrating them with actions that your best reps are already using to hit quota. Sustainable wins powered by signal-based workflows = smarter outbound.

Now we have the blueprint for kissing pipeline anxiety goodbye. Our next act: helping more teams turn signal-based workflows into revenue.