Signal-based outbound · built on Clay

Your outbound isn't underperforming.
It's guessing.

Most outbound fires the same message at a static list and hopes timing lines up. The prospects who were ready last quarter are gone; the ones ready today never get flagged.

We build and run a signal-based outbound engine on Clay — it watches for the events that predict intent, enriches the account in real time, and triggers the right sequence while the signal is still hot.

You don't need more volume. You need a system that reacts to buying behavior the moment it happens.

SIGNAL ENGINE · LIVE
LAST 60 MIN · 7 DETECTED · 7 ACTED
08:12 Leadership → New VP RevOps · Series B fintech SEQUENCED 4m
08:31 Hiring → 3 SDR reqs opened · 240-seat SaaS SEQUENCED 2m
08:44 Technographic → Competitor tag removed · 1,100 employees IN FLIGHT
09:02 Funding → $38M Series C · PE-backed logistics SEQUENCED 6m
09:15 Engagement → Pricing page · 3rd visit in 8 days ROUTED 1m
SIGNAL FRESHNESS · MEDIAN TIME TO FIRST TOUCH 6 min
0 min manual benchmark · 9 days
The problem

Outbound breaks in the same three places every time.

You've probably already bought the tools — you may already have a Clay seat. The gap isn't tooling; it's the system those tools are supposed to sit inside.

Leak 01 — Signal blindness

The events that predict a deal never reach a rep.

A new exec hire, a raise, a job posting for the role you sell into, a competitor being ripped out. They happen daily inside your market. By the time anyone notices manually, the window is closed.

SIGNALS SURFACED TO REPS

~11% of qualifying events, spotted by hand

Leak 02 — Static lists, stale context

Lists get built once and decay immediately.

Titles change, companies pivot, priorities shift. You personalize off data that was true three months ago, so "personalized" outreach still reads generic.

LIST ACCURACY OVER TIME 100% 41%

Day 0 → day 180. Every touch after that is a guess.

Leak 03 — Disconnected sequencing

A human has to notice, research, write, and send.

Even when a good signal surfaces, there's no automated path from signal → enriched → scored → routed → sequenced. That human is the bottleneck, and the bottleneck can't scale.

WHERE A REP'S WEEK GOES
RESEARCH
TALK

Manual research 62% · admin 17% · live conversations 21%

The result: reps spend the day on research instead of conversations, your best signals expire unused, and outbound stays a volume game you're trying to win by working harder.

The shift

From list-based outbound to signal-based outbound.

The old model builds a list, blasts a sequence, measures reply rate, rebuilds the list. The new model listens before it speaks.

Dimension List-based outbound Signal-based engine on Clay
Trigger to reach outA quarterly list refreshAn observable event in your market
Data freshnessSnapshot, 30–180 days oldEnriched at the moment of the signal
PersonalizationMerge fields in a templateThe reason for the email is the signal
PrioritizationAlphabetical, or whoever's nextFit + intent score, highest first
Time to first touchDays to weeks after the eventMinutes, while the window is open
Rep's jobFind, research, write, send, logTalk to people who are already flagged
How it improvesSomeone tries harderScoring retrains on what closed

Clay is where signals get detected, enriched across 100+ sources, scored, and handed to sequencing with no human in the loop. But Clay is a workbench, not a strategy — left alone it becomes another expensive tool nobody fully operates. We architect the system, build it in Clay, and run it.

How it works

One connected flow. No human in the middle.

Most teams can describe the first two steps. Almost none can run the full chain automatically — that's what we deliver.

CLICK A STAGE — UPDATES THE DETAIL PANEL BELOW AUTO-ADVANCING
STAGE 01 / 08

Signal detected

WHAT THIS STAGE OUTPUTS
AUTOMATED

100%

TYPICAL LATENCY

< 60s

The signal library

We don't guess who's ready. We watch for the proof.

A signal is any observable event that raises the odds a company is in-market. Each type gets its own detection logic, scoring weight, and sequence.

CLICK A SIGNAL TYPE — UPDATES DETECTION LOGIC, WEIGHT + SAMPLE OPENER
HIRING SIGNALS

SCORING WEIGHT
ACTION WINDOW

CADENCE

DETECTION SOURCES WIRED IN CLAY
ASSEMBLED FIRST TOUCH · SPECIMEN Auto-written off the signal
TO: CHANNEL:

SUBJECT

BODY

SIGNAL → SEND: under 10 min BRANCHES: 3 MERGE FIELDS USED: 0

That's the difference between "we do intent data" and a system that turns a specific event into a specific, timely, relevant touch.

The sequence framework

The signal writes the first line for you.

Personalization fails when it's cosmetic. Here the reason for the outreach is the signal, so relevance is built in, not bolted on.

01

Signal-led opener

The first line names the actual trigger — the hire, the raise, the tech change. It reads like you were paying attention, because the system was.

02

Tight, specific relevance

One clear reason this event means you're worth a reply. No feature dump, no paragraph about your company.

03

Multi-channel cadence

Email and LinkedIn working together, timed to the freshness of the signal. Hot signals move fast; slower ones nurture.

04

Built-in branching

Opens, clicks and replies re-route the prospect. Engaged contacts accelerate; cold ones drop to a lighter touch instead of getting burned.

05

Clean handoff

A reply lands enriched, scored and routed — the rep picks up a warm conversation, not a research project.

Branch map for one signal-led play

DAY 0 → DAY 14 · EMAIL + LINKEDIN
DAY 0 · <10 MIN

Signal-led email

Opener quotes the trigger. One ask.

DAY 1

LinkedIn view + connect

Same person, same reason, different surface.

IF OPENED 2× / CLICKED

Accelerate

Cadence compresses to 48h, rep alerted in Slack.

IF SILENT BY DAY 7

Second signal or drop

Re-enters only when a new event fires. No burn.

ON REPLY

Routed in SLA

Enriched, scored, owner assigned in CRM.

The math

What your expiring signals are worth.

Set four numbers from your own funnel. The arithmetic is shown so you can check it.

ACCOUNTS IN YOUR TARGET MARKET
AVERAGE CONTRACT VALUE
WIN RATE ON SOURCED OPPS
SIGNALS YOU CATCH TODAY

Weak <20%

Acceptable 20–45%

Strong 45%+

You are here: WEAK · median across 100+ engagements at first audit: 14%

Fixed assumptions, editable in a working session: 35% of target accounts fire a qualifying signal per year · 6% of acted-on signals become a meeting · 45% of meetings become an opportunity · engine catches 78% of qualifying signals.

Pipeline you're leaving on the table

$0

new pipeline per year from signals you already generate and currently miss

CLOSED-WON IMPACT

$0

EXTRA MEETINGS / MONTH

0

THE ARITHMETIC

SIGNALS PER MONTH · CAUGHT VS EXPIRED
4
23
8
Caught today Recovered by the engine Still out of reach
What you see every week

The engine reports on itself.

Signal volume, catch rate, and meetings by signal type — so retiring a weak signal is a decision, not a hunch.

SIGNAL ENGINE · SPRINT 12 REVIEW
CRM in sync 2 signals under review
SIGNALS DETECTED

1,284

+18% vs sprint 11

CATCH RATE

81%

MEDIAN SIGNAL → TOUCH

6 min

manual baseline 9 days

MEETINGS BOOKED

37

29 from top-2 signal types

MEETINGS BY SIGNAL TYPE · LAST 6 SPRINTS TECHNOGRAPHIC LEADING
S7S8S9 S10S11S12
Technographic Leadership Funding
SIGNAL PERFORMANCE · MEETING RATE PER 100 ACTED
Technographic9.1
Leadership7.4
Engagement5.2
Hiring4.6
Funding2.1

Funding signals are under review this sprint — high volume, weak conversion. Retire or re-scope, decided on the number.

What we build & run

Same team designs it, builds it, and operates it.

No handoffs, no "here's your login." You get a system that reacts to your market automatically — and a team that owns whether it works.

PHASE 01

System architecture

We map your ICP, buying triggers and motion, then design the signal-to-sequence system end to end before touching a tool.

PHASE 02

Clay build-out

Signal detection, enrichment waterfalls, scoring models, contact resolution, dedup and CRM sync — configured, tested, documented.

PHASE 03

Sequence engineering

Multi-channel plays wired to each signal type, with branching logic and clean routing into your existing sales workflow.

ONGOING

Operate + optimize

We run the engine: watch what converts, retire what doesn't, add signals as your market moves, tune scoring so quality compounds.

Why JayOh

Agencies run campaigns. We run the system those campaigns depend on.

A Clay shop leaves you a workbench and a login. A strategy firm hands you a deck about "intent-based GTM." Neither owns whether meetings get booked.

Clay implementers

Builds tables and enrichment

Hands over documentation

No strategy, no sequences

No ownership of outcomes

Strategy firms

Frameworks and an ICP deck

Workshops, then an invoice

Doesn't build the system

Doesn't run it after launch

JayOh · GTM systems engineering firm

Architects the signal system

Builds it in Clay, tested + documented

Wires sequences, branching, routing

Operates it and owns the number

The signal engine doesn't sit in a silo — it plugs into how leads get routed, how pipeline gets tracked, and how revenue gets attributed back to source.

From click to close — we own the system.
Proof

The outbound engine is one stage of the revenue system we build.

What that system has produced across engagements:

$2.2M

pipeline generated in the first 90 days from a demand engine built from scratch

$3M

influenced pipeline from a 30-day ABM acceleration program

80+

SQLs from a single 30-day targeted program

−68%

cost per lead, through tighter targeting

−90%

data errors across the GTM stack

5.8 hrs

saved per week, per rep — manual research and reporting removed

100+ engagements across B2B SaaS and PE-backed portfolios · founded 2016 · operates across 60+ tools in the GTM stack.

FAQ

The questions buyers actually open with.

Clay is a workbench, not a strategy. A seat isn't a system that detects signals, scores them, and runs sequences without someone babysitting it. Most Clay accounts run at a fraction of what the tool can do — we build the system and operate it so the seat pays for itself.

Intent data is one input. A signal-based system detects the event, enriches the account, scores it, resolves the contact, writes off the signal, sequences across channels and routes the reply — automatically. Intent data tells you someone might be looking. The system does something about it in time to matter.

No. It removes the part of their day that doesn't need a human — manual list-building, research, guessing who's ready. Reps spend their time on live conversations with prospects who are already flagged, enriched and warm.

We design for 90-day impact. Early sprints stand up the first signals and sequences; by the end you have a running engine with plays tuned against real results — not a pile of unfinished automations.

Yes. The engine plugs into your CRM and sales tooling rather than replacing it. Signals in, enriched and scored, sequenced, and routed back into the workflow your reps already use.

Next step

Stop working outbound harder. Build the system that works it for you.

If your best buying signals are expiring unnoticed and your reps are drowning in manual research, that's not an effort problem. It's a system problem — and it's fixable.

Book a working session 45 minutes, screen-shared. We map where your outbound is leaking and what a signal engine would catch. No deck.