Most B2B sales teams still treat form fills and demo requests as the beginning of the buying journey. But in reality, that’s the halfway point. By the time a prospect reaches out, they’ve already researched your product, compared alternatives, read reviews, checked pricing, and talked internally. What feels like a new lead to you is, in fact, a well-informed buyer nearing a decision.

In account-based sales, waiting that long is a mistake. The first anonymous visit to your website is no longer just “stealth traffic.” It’s the start of the deal, and it’s your first chance to gain an edge.

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Intent Happens Before the Hand Raise

Account-based selling isn’t just about targeting the right companies—it’s about recognizing intent the moment it appears. And often, that intent appears long before a lead ever makes contact. That first visit offers high-value signals:

• What company is visiting your site?
• What pages are they engaging with?
• Are they researching pricing, integrations, or product documentation?
• Have they returned multiple times?

These are not idle browsing behaviors. These are pre-buying signals. If your team isn’t seeing or acting on them, you’re likely missing your window to influence the deal.

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Every Department Has a Role in Early Engagement

An account-based strategy lives or dies by coordination. The earlier you act on intent, the more critical it is that everyone is aligned, not just Sales. Here’s what alignment looks like in practice:

• Sales & SDRs: Need real-time visibility into which high-value accounts are visiting and what they’re engaging with. That data drives more relevant, better-timed outreach.
• Marketing: Should shift from reactive nurturing to proactive personalization. Messaging and content should adapt to live buyer behavior, not a static persona.
• Revenue Operations: Must ensure lead routing, notifications, and account scoring are built for speed. If your sales motion is gated behind old triggers (like a form fill), you're too late.
• Customer Success & Product: Can offer insight into usage trends, ICP criteria, and expansion signals that help refine which accounts should be prioritized.
• The C-suite: Needs to align the organization around leading indicators, not just lagging metrics like closed-won revenue. When leadership focuses on early intent, it shifts how teams operate

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Why Early Signals Deserve More Weight

Account-based strategies often involve targeting a narrow list of high-value accounts. That’s part of what makes the approach so effective, but also so risky. When you're putting most of your effort into a limited set of companies, choosing the wrong ones hurts. You’re not just wasting ad spend or sales cycles. You’re giving up pipeline and potentially leaving the door open for competitors.

Early behavioral signals help you validate account fit and intent before doubling down. They let you: qualify faster, De-prioritize dead weight, Engage with context, and show up before anyone else does.

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Speed and Timing Beat Volume

In traditional sales, scale is everything: more leads, more calls, more sequences. In account-based sales, speed and timing are the real differentiators. The teams that win are the ones who act on early, subtle intent and not just on explicit interest. It’s about being first to add value, first to personalize, and the first to build trust. The clock starts ticking the moment a decision-maker lands on your site. If you’re not moving then, you’re playing from behind.