What you'll learn
By the end of this lesson you can tell a trigger event from ordinary news, judge how long its window stays open, score timing from evidence and decide what to do when nothing has changed.
What counts as a trigger event?
Fit changes slowly. Timing changes every month. The same account can ignore a message in March and reply to it in June, because in June something inside it changed. A scored list answers "who should buy from us?". Timing answers "who should hear from us now?".
A trigger event is a change inside an account that gives one of its people a reason to talk to you now. Most company news is not one. Put each candidate through four tests:
- Dated. You know when it happened or will happen.
- Linked. You can point to the source.
- Lands on a role. You can name the job inside the company it makes harder.
- Connects to your problem. That harder job is one you help with.
A change that fails any test is news, not a trigger. A funding round is dated and linked, but if you cannot say whose job it changes, it gives you nothing to say.
What are the three families of trigger?
The 12 triggers in our Trigger-Event List fall into three families:
- Change in people: a new leader, a hiring burst, a champion who moves company. These open doors.
- Change in plans: a new site or market, a named programme, an acquisition, a new system. These give the reason.
- Change in pressure: a regulation with a deadline, a public failure, a contract up for renewal. These set the date.
The strongest timing is two families at once: a new operations director at a company that has just announced a second site.
How long does a trigger window stay open?
Too early and there is nothing to discuss yet. Too late and the decision is made. These are our working rules, judgement from our own work rather than measured averages.
| Trigger | When to approach | When it has usually passed |
|---|---|---|
| New leader in your buyer's function | After their first few weeks | Once their first plan is set |
| New site or market announced | Between announcement and opening | Once the site is running |
| Regulation with a deadline | Well before the deadline | Once the deadline has passed |
| Contract up for renewal | Before the review starts | Once the renewal is signed |
| Public failure | After a few days of distance | Once the fix is announced |
A trigger found after its window has closed is recorded, not acted on.
How do triggers set the timing score?
Use the 0 to 3 definitions from lesson 2, with two rules. Only a trigger that passes all four tests counts. Score 3 when two families land in the same period. Write the date and the link next to the score.
In our scorecard timing carries 25 of the 100 points, so it can lift a good account into Tier 1 but never rescue a poor one. Rescore timing every month. Fit and access can wait for the quarterly review.
What do you do when nothing has changed?
Most accounts will have no qualifying trigger in a given month. You have three honest options:
- Watch. Keep it in the weekly sweep.
- Warm. Send one role something useful, with no request attached.
- Wait. Park it with a date to look again.
Do not invent a reason. "Just checking in" tells the buyer there is none, and a month of silence costs less than a message that teaches someone to ignore you.
To watch without drowning, split the work by tier. A person reads Tier 1 news every Monday, using the sweep in the Trigger-Event List. An AI assistant with web search checks Tier 2 and Tier 3, ten accounts at a time, with the Weekly Trigger Watch prompt. Open every link before anything reaches a buyer: AI assistants can report events that never happened.
Worked example (illustrative, not a real company)
Quaywise sells warehouse software. All names are invented.
| Account | Change found | All four tests? | Timing | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northfield Logistics | Second site announced last month | Yes: lands on Dana Whitfield, VP Supply Chain | 3 | Approach this month |
| Calder Cold Chain | New operations director, three weeks in | Yes | 3 | Approach once settled |
| Harlow Freight | Funding round | No: no role, no link to stock across sites | 0 | Watch |
| Pennant Parcels | Nothing found | No | 0 | Wait a month |
Harlow Freight has the biggest headline and the lowest timing score, because the news does not touch the problem Quaywise solves. That is why it stays in Tier 2.
What comes next?
Your list is now scored, tiered and timed. The last lesson covers capping it to what your team can carry.
Key takeaways
- A trigger counts only if it is dated, linked, lands on a role and connects to your problem.
- Approach inside the window, or record the trigger and wait.
- Rescore timing monthly. When nothing has changed, watch, warm or wait.
Exercise (40 minutes)
- For your ten highest-scoring accounts, find one change in the last six months. (20 minutes)
- Run each through the four tests. Cross out the failures. (10 minutes)
- Rescore timing, with a date and a link next to each score. (5 minutes)
- Mark each account with no trigger "watch", "warm" or "wait", with a date. (5 minutes)
Why this works on named accounts
Put it into practice
Account Scoring Tool
Score target accounts on fit, timing and access, and sort them into Tier 1, 2 and 3. Runs in your browser.
The Trigger-Event List: When to Approach an Account
For sellers with a good account list and no idea which account to work this week.
You leave with 12 trigger events, where to spot them and who to approach when one lands.
Target Account Selection Scorecard
For founders and sales leaders who have an ICP on a slide and need a ranked list of named accounts.
You leave with a one-page ICP, an 11-point weighted scorecard and three tiers.