> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.getwhitewhale.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # How to Get Unique Signal Ideas > Move beyond generic signals like funding rounds and leadership changes. Find the non-obvious buying signals that actually surface real purchasing moments for your ICP. ## Use Claude to build your signal list The fastest way to build a great signal list is to use the WhiteWhale Signal Creator — a Claude skill trained specifically on how WhiteWhale signals work, what makes them fire reliably, and how to write the non-obvious signals that actually move deals. Tell it what you sell, who you sell to, and what triggers a purchase. It will generate a prioritized signal set with explanations for each one. A Claude skill that builds a custom signal list for your ICP. Works in Claude.ai and Claude Desktop. **How to use it:** 1. Download the `.skill` file above 2. Open [Claude.ai](https://claude.ai) and upload the file, or install it in Claude Desktop 3. Tell Claude what you sell, who buys it, and what your best customers looked like before they bought 4. Claude will generate a prioritized, ready-to-paste signal set tailored to your business The skill is trained to find the non-obvious signals — the ones in job postings, website language, and company behavior that reveal pain without ever mentioning your product category. These are the signals that drive the most pipeline. *** ## Think in layers, not lists Most people start with the obvious signals — funding rounds, leadership changes, hiring spikes. Those are fine, but every competitor is watching the same things. The accounts that convert fastest come from signals that surface pain before the prospect has started evaluating solutions. Build your signal set across these layers: New leaders re-evaluate their entire tool stack within the first 90 days. This is almost always the highest-converting signal for any product. The key is specificity — identify the exact titles that buy, champion, and budget for your product, then create a signal for each. * **Buyer** (approves the purchase) → usually C-suite: CRO, CMO, CFO, CTO * **Champion** (uses it daily and pushes for it) → usually VP or Director level * **Budget holder** (controls the budget line) → sometimes the same as the buyer, sometimes not *Example for a sales tool:* New CRO or VP of Sales (buyer) + New Head of RevOps (champion) Growth creates operational strain. Companies expanding faster than their systems can handle are the most receptive buyers — they feel the pain acutely and have budget to solve it. * Did {account} raise a funding round recently? * Is {account} expanding into a new geographic market? * Did {account} open a new office or facility recently? * Did {account} acquire another company recently? * Is {account} hiring rapidly across multiple functions? Tailor to your industry. A restaurant chain opening new locations is different from a SaaS company raising a Series B — but both signal growth strain. These are the signals most people never think to write. Instead of asking "does this company need my product," ask: *what would a company be doing or saying publicly if they had the problem my product solves?* Then write a signal that detects that behavior. **Real examples of this thinking:** | What you sell | Observable proxy signal | | ------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Corporate cards | Do they post jobs with heavy travel requirements? (high travel = high expense volume) | | LMS / training software | Do their store manager job postings mention training as a responsibility? (means no training system exists) | | Competitive intelligence | Do their job postings mention building competitive battlecards? (means they're losing deals to competitors) | | Legal AI | Do they post for roles involving document review or due diligence? (high-volume manual work = automation pain) | **Job postings are the best source for these signals.** Companies reveal their pain in plain text when writing job descriptions — they mention broken processes, tools they wish they had, and responsibilities that only exist because no system handles them yet. Every industry has 2-3 moments that create outsized urgency. These are the signals you can only write if you know your vertical deeply. | Industry | High-urgency events | | -------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | SaaS | Competitor launches, platform migrations, new product categories | | Healthcare | New compliance requirements, facility expansions, system consolidations | | Legal | Firm mergers, new litigation, regulatory changes | | Restaurants / Retail | Seasonal hiring spikes, location expansion, health code violations | | Multi-location / Franchise | Acquisition of new locations, new regional leadership, franchise agreements | Ask yourself: *what happened at my best customers 60–90 days before they bought?* That's your industry-specific signal. These tell you the prospect is already aware of the product category. Useful for personalizing outreach, but shouldn't drive account scoring since they don't indicate timing. * Does {account} mention using \[competitor]? * Does {account} mention using \[legacy tool]? * Do their job postings mention \[manual process]? Set these to **Low** priority and consider muting them so they add context without flooding your queue. These tell you *who* fits your ICP but not *when* to reach out. Add them for account context, but mute them so they don't generate daily alerts. * Does {account} have more than 2 office locations? * Does {account} offer \[type of service or product]? * Does {account} operate in \[industry or vertical]? *** ## Mine your own sales history Your best signal ideas aren't in a template — they're in your own closed-won deals. Before writing new signals, ask: * What was happening at your best customers 60–90 days before they bought? * What did they say in the first call that made it clear the timing was right? * Was there a specific event — a hire, a product launch, a reorg — that created the urgency? * What do your customers have in common that your prospects don't? If you have sales call transcripts or CRM notes, feed them to the Claude skill above. It will extract the buying triggers and turn them into signals automatically. On [certain plans](https://www.getwhitewhale.com/pricing), **Closed-Won** backtesting is available. This analyzes your recent deals and finds which signals showed up before you closed them and not in the ones you lost. Giving you a clear picture of where you win deals. *** ## Write signals that will actually fire A signal that never fires is worse than no signal at all — it dilutes your scoring and trains you to ignore the queue. Before adding any signal, ask: *would this information ever appear in a news article, press release, job posting, earnings call, or company website?* * Leadership hires and departures (press releases, LinkedIn) * Funding announcements (press releases, news) * Job postings and hiring patterns (company ATS, job boards) * Product launches and new features (press releases, company website) * Expansion into new markets or geographies (press releases, news) * Earnings call language and executive quotes (earnings reports) * Company social posts about initiatives or wins These feel logical but depend on information companies almost never share publicly. Rewrite them as observable proxies instead. | Won't fire | Rewrite as | | ------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------- | | Did {account} increase their L\&D budget? | Is {account} hiring for instructional designers or L\&D roles? | | Does {account} need better data hygiene? | Do {account} job postings mention data cleanup or CRM management? | | Did {account} decide to evaluate new vendors? | as {account} posted an RFP or hired a procurement lead? | | Is {account} unhappy with their current provider? | Does {account} mention replacing or migrating from \[category]? | | Won't fire | Rewrite as | | ---------- | ---------- | | | | | | | | | | | | | *** ## Related Copy-paste signal templates organized by category and use case. Add signals to WhiteWhale using the description box or in-platform library. Fix signals that are noisy, too broad, or firing from the wrong geography. Understand what sources WhiteWhale monitors and how signals become alerts.