Terms

Triggers

A trigger is a stimulus—such as a person, place, sound, or smell—that causes a strong emotional reaction by bringing up memories of a past traumatic event. This response can make a person feel as if they are reliving the trauma and can activate or worsen the symptoms of a mental health condition like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Common Types of Triggers

Triggers are highly personal and can be categorized as either internal or external. Internal triggers originate from within a person's own body and mind, such as a memory or a physical sensation. External triggers are environmental cues, like a specific place or sound, that provoke a reaction.

  • Sensory: Sights, sounds, smells, or tastes that are reminiscent of a past event.
  • Cognitive: Intrusive thoughts or memories that bring up distressing feelings.
  • Emotional: Specific feelings, such as loneliness or anger, that are tied to trauma.
  • Environmental: People, places, or objects that serve as painful reminders.
  • Situational: Events like anniversaries, holidays, or high-stress scenarios.

Identifying Triggers

Identifying your triggers begins with self-awareness. Pay close attention to your emotional and physical responses throughout the day. Sudden shifts in mood, anxiety, or physical discomfort can act as signals. These reactions often point to a trigger in your environment or internal state.

Keeping a journal is a powerful tool for recognizing patterns. Note the situations, people, or thoughts that preceded a strong emotional response. This practice helps connect specific stimuli to your reactions, which is the first step toward managing them effectively.

Triggers vs. Cues

In outbound sales, the terms 'triggers' and 'cues' describe events that signal a potential opportunity, but they differ in nature and application.

  • Triggers: These are specific, often time-sensitive events like a new funding round or an executive hire. They signal a strong, immediate need, making them ideal for enterprises targeting high-value accounts with precision. However, they can be less frequent and more complex to track.
  • Cues: These are broader, more general indicators like company growth, hiring trends, or technology usage. Cues are more abundant and easier to scale, making them suitable for mid-market companies looking to build a consistent pipeline, though they may represent weaker buying intent than a direct trigger.

Managing Triggers

Effectively managing sales triggers requires a systematic approach to turn timely events into actionable opportunities. By setting up a clear process, you can ensure your team capitalizes on these high-intent signals without getting overwhelmed.

  • Identification: Pinpoint the specific events that signal a strong buying intent for your product.
  • Monitoring: Implement tools and processes to track trigger events across target accounts automatically.
  • Qualification: Establish clear criteria to quickly vet whether a trigger represents a real opportunity.
  • Action: Develop standardized, yet personalizable, outreach plays to engage prospects immediately.

Impact of Triggers

Sales triggers have a significant impact on outbound campaigns. They enable teams to engage prospects at the exact moment of need, making outreach highly relevant and timely. This targeted approach boosts response rates, shortens sales cycles, and ultimately drives more revenue by focusing efforts on high-intent accounts.

Frequently Asked Questions about Triggers

How are sales triggers different from buying signals?

Triggers are specific, time-sensitive events like a new funding round, signaling immediate need. Buying signals are broader indicators like company growth, suggesting potential but less urgent interest. Triggers are a high-intent subset of buying signals.

Isn't tracking triggers too time-consuming for a small team?

While manual tracking can be intensive, modern sales intelligence platforms automate the process. They monitor target accounts for specific events and deliver real-time alerts, allowing even small teams to capitalize on these high-value opportunities efficiently.

Where can I find reliable trigger event data?

Reliable data comes from news outlets, press releases, financial filings, and job boards. Sales intelligence tools aggregate this information, providing a centralized and verified feed of trigger events to streamline your prospecting efforts and ensure accuracy.

Other terms

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Latency

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Latency

Forecasting

Forecasting uses historical data to make informed predictions about future trends, helping businesses anticipate outcomes and plan accordingly.

Forecasting

Business to customer

Learn about business to customer, including maximizing B2C sales strategies, B2C vs. B2B: unveiling differences, & core principles of B2C success.

Business to customer

HubSpot

HubSpot is a customer relationship management (CRM) platform with tools for marketing, sales, and service, all aimed at helping businesses grow.

HubSpot

Consumer Relationship Management

Consumer Relationship Management (CRM) is a strategy for managing all of a company's relationships and interactions with its customers.

Consumer Relationship Management

Programmatic Display Campaign

Programmatic display campaigns use automation to buy and sell digital ad space in real-time, targeting specific audiences across the web.

Programmatic Display Campaign

User Testing

User testing involves observing real users interact with a product to identify usability issues and improve the overall user experience.

User Testing

Net 30

Net 30 is a common payment term where a client has 30 calendar days from the invoice date to pay for goods or services in full.

Net 30

Mobile Optimization

Mobile optimization adapts your website to ensure visitors on smartphones and tablets have a seamless, user-friendly experience.

Mobile Optimization

Dynamic Data

Dynamic data is information that updates in real-time. Unlike static data, it reflects the most current state of information automatically.

Dynamic Data

Lead Generation

Lead generation is the process of identifying and cultivating potential customers for a business's products or services.

Lead Generation

Lead Scrape

Lead scraping is the process of automatically extracting contact information and other relevant data about potential customers from online sources.

Lead Scrape

Channel Partner

A channel partner is a company that works with a manufacturer or producer to market and sell their products, software, or services to customers.

Channel Partner

Sales Stack

A sales stack is the suite of tech tools—from CRMs to prospecting software—that sales reps use to close deals faster and more efficiently.

Sales Stack

BAB Formula

Learn about BAB formula, including implementing BAB in sales strategies, crafting an effective BAB pitch, & comparing BAB with other sales frameworks.

BAB Formula

Quality Assurance

Quality Assurance (QA) is the systematic process of ensuring a product or service meets specified quality standards from development to delivery.

Quality Assurance

Freemium

Freemium is a business model offering a product's basic features for free, while charging for advanced or supplemental features.

Freemium

Sales Pipeline Management

Sales pipeline management is the process of organizing, tracking, and managing potential deals through every stage of your sales funnel.

Sales Pipeline Management

CPM

CPM, or Cost Per Mille, is a key advertising metric. It's the cost an advertiser pays for one thousand views or impressions of a single ad.

CPM

Lead Scoring

Lead scoring is the process of assigning points to leads based on their attributes and actions to determine their sales-readiness.

Lead Scoring

Low-Hanging Fruit

Low-hanging fruit are the most obvious and easy-to-tackle tasks or goals that provide a quick, valuable return for minimal effort.

Low-Hanging Fruit

Inside Sales

Inside sales is a remote sales process where reps sell products or services via phone, email, and other digital tools instead of in person.

Inside Sales

Cost Per Click (CPC)

Cost Per Click (CPC) is a digital advertising model where an advertiser pays a fee each time one of their ads gets clicked by a user.

Cost Per Click (CPC)

Sales Cycle

A sales cycle is the series of steps a company takes to close a new customer. It starts with prospecting and ends with a signed deal.

Sales Cycle

Drip Campaign

A drip campaign is a series of automated messages sent to prospects or customers over time to nurture leads and drive engagement.

Drip Campaign

Data Warehousing

Data warehousing is the process of storing and managing large sets of data from various sources for business intelligence and reporting purposes.

Data Warehousing

Dynamic Territories

Dynamic territories are fluid sales assignments that adjust based on real-time data, ensuring reps can focus on the highest-value accounts.

Dynamic Territories

B2B Data Platform

Learn about B2B data platform, including key benefits of B2B data platforms, choosing the right B2B data platform, challenges in implementing B2B data platforms.

B2B Data Platform

Lead Generation Software

Lead generation software helps businesses automate finding and capturing potential customers' contact information to build sales pipelines.

Lead Generation Software

Sales Workflows

Sales workflows are a set of automated actions that streamline the sales process, helping teams engage leads consistently and close deals faster.

Sales Workflows

Demand Generation Framework

A demand generation framework is a strategic process for creating awareness and interest in your product, ultimately driving new business.

Demand Generation Framework

Geo-Fencing

Geo-fencing creates a virtual boundary around a real-world location. It triggers actions on a device when it enters or exits this area.

Geo-Fencing

Inventory Management

Inventory management is the process of ordering, storing, and using a company's inventory, from raw materials to finished goods.

Inventory Management

Data-Driven Marketing

Data-driven marketing uses customer data to inform marketing decisions, optimize campaigns, and deliver personalized experiences to consumers.

Data-Driven Marketing

Marketing Qualified Opportunity

A Marketing Qualified Opportunity (MQO) is a lead vetted by marketing as a genuine sales opportunity, ready for direct sales follow-up.

Marketing Qualified Opportunity

Agile Methodology

Agile methodology is an iterative approach to project management and software development, focusing on delivering value in small, incremental steps.

Agile Methodology

Sales Quota

A sales quota is a time-bound sales goal for a rep or team, measured in revenue or units sold, to be met within a specific period.

Sales Quota

Order Management

Order management is the end-to-end process of tracking customer orders from placement to fulfillment, ensuring a seamless customer experience.

Order Management

B2B Contact Base

Learn about B2B contact base, including building an effective B2B contact base, & strategies for expanding your contact base.

B2B Contact Base

Marketing Attribution

Marketing attribution is the process of identifying which touchpoints contribute to a conversion and assigning value to each of them.

Marketing Attribution

Lead Generation Tactics

Lead generation tactics are the strategies and methods used to attract potential customers and convert them into leads for your sales team.

Lead Generation Tactics

Revenue Intelligence

Revenue intelligence is the process of collecting and analyzing customer data to provide insights that help sales teams make smarter decisions.

Revenue Intelligence

No Spam

“No Spam” is a commitment to sending only relevant, solicited messages. It means avoiding bulk, unwanted emails to respect the recipient's inbox.

No Spam

Digital Advertising

Digital advertising is the practice of delivering promotional content to users through various online and digital channels like social media or search engines.

Digital Advertising

Firewall

A firewall is a digital barrier that protects a network by monitoring and controlling traffic, blocking unauthorized access and malicious content.

Firewall

Predictive Lead Generation

Predictive lead generation uses data and AI to find prospects most likely to buy, helping teams focus their efforts on high-value leads.

Predictive Lead Generation

Performance Plan

A performance plan is a formal document outlining an employee's goals, expectations, and metrics for success over a specific period.

Performance Plan

Awareness Buying Stage

The awareness stage is the first step in the buyer's journey, where a potential customer realizes they have a problem or an opportunity to explore.

Awareness Buying Stage

Closed Lost

Closed Lost is a sales term for a deal that didn't go through. The prospect decided not to buy, or the sales team disqualified them.

Closed Lost

Unique Value Proposition (UVP)

A Unique Value Proposition (UVP) is a concise statement that clearly communicates the unique benefit a customer gets from your product or service.

Unique Value Proposition (UVP)

Personalization in Sales

Personalization in sales means tailoring outreach to a prospect's specific needs, interests, and context to make communication more relevant.

Personalization in Sales

Social Proof

Social proof is a psychological phenomenon where people assume the actions of others reflect correct behavior for a given situation.

Social Proof

D2C

Direct-to-consumer (D2C) is a sales strategy where a brand sells its products directly to end customers, bypassing any third-party retailers.

D2C

Landing Pages

A landing page is a standalone web page created for a marketing campaign. It’s where a visitor “lands” after clicking an ad or email link.

Landing Pages

Sales Automation

Sales automation uses software to streamline and automate repetitive, manual sales tasks, freeing up reps to focus on selling.

Sales Automation

Tokenization

Tokenization is the process of breaking down text into smaller units called tokens, such as words or characters, for AI to process.

Tokenization

Sales Forecast Accuracy

Sales forecast accuracy is a key metric that compares your predicted sales revenue against the actual sales revenue you ultimately achieve.

Sales Forecast Accuracy

End of Quarter

“End of Quarter” (EOQ) refers to the final weeks of a business quarter when sales teams rush to meet quotas, often leading to a flurry of deals.

End of Quarter

Accounts Payable

Accounts Payable (AP) is the money a company owes its suppliers for goods or services bought on credit. It's listed as a current liability.

Accounts Payable

Application Performance Management

Application Performance Management (APM) monitors and manages an application's performance, availability, and the experience of its end-users.

Application Performance Management

Single Page Applications

A Single Page Application (SPA) is a web app that interacts with the user by dynamically rewriting the current page rather than loading new pages.

Single Page Applications

Break-Even

Learn about break-even, including calculating your break-even point, importance of break-even analysis, & break-even analysis vs. profit margins.

Break-Even

B2C2B

Learn about B2C2B, including how B2C2B transforms sales, key strategies for B2C2B success, & differences between B2C2B and B2B2C.

B2C2B

Price Optimization

Price optimization is the process of finding the ideal price for a product or service to maximize profitability or other business objectives.

Price Optimization

ClickFunnels

ClickFunnels is a popular online tool that lets entrepreneurs easily build sales funnels to guide potential customers through the buying process.

ClickFunnels

Below the Line

Learn about below the line, including key strategies for below the line marketing, & distinguishing above and below the line tactics.

Below the Line

Compliance Testing

Compliance testing ensures a product or system adheres to specific regulations, standards, or policies set by governing bodies or organizations.

Compliance Testing

Sales Champion

A sales champion is your internal advocate at a target company. They believe in your product and help you push the deal forward to close.

Sales Champion

Sales Operations Analytics

Sales operations analytics is the practice of analyzing sales data to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the entire sales process.

Sales Operations Analytics

Data Security

Data security protects digital information from unauthorized access, corruption, or theft throughout its entire lifecycle.

Data Security

Browser Compatibility

Learn about browser compatibility, including understanding the importance, common challenges, best practices, & tools for testing.

Browser Compatibility

Sales Operations Management

Sales Operations Management streamlines sales processes, tech, and data analysis to help sales teams sell more effectively and efficiently.

Sales Operations Management

Pipeline Management

Pipeline management is the process of tracking and managing potential customers as they move through the different stages of your sales process.

Pipeline Management

Reverse Logistics

Reverse logistics is the process for goods moving from the customer back to the seller, covering returns, repairs, recycling, and disposal.

Reverse Logistics

Demand Generation

Demand generation is the process of creating awareness and interest in your products to build a pipeline of qualified leads for your sales team.

Demand Generation

Event Tracking

Event tracking is the method of collecting data on specific user actions, or 'events,' on a website or app, such as clicks or downloads.

Event Tracking

Always Be Closing

“Always Be Closing” (ABC) is a sales mantra meaning every action a salesperson takes should be with the ultimate goal of closing the sale.

Always Be Closing

Lead Nurturing

Lead nurturing is the process of developing and reinforcing relationships with buyers at every stage of the sales funnel.

Lead Nurturing

B2B Data Solutions

Learn about B2B data solutions, including unlocking the power of B2B data, & key components of effective B2B data solutions.

B2B Data Solutions

B2B Marketing Channels

Learn about B2B marketing channels, including maximizing B2B channel effectiveness, & exploring digital vs. traditional channels.

B2B Marketing Channels

Video Prospecting

Video prospecting is the sales technique of sending personalized videos to potential customers to grab their attention and secure more meetings.

Video Prospecting

B2B Data

Learn about B2B data, including sources and types of B2B data, leveraging B2B data for sales success, & ensuring the accuracy of B2B data.

B2B Data

Buying Criteria

Buying criteria are the specific requirements and standards a customer uses to evaluate products or services before making a decision.

Buying Criteria

Account

An account is a company or organization that you're targeting for sales. It can be a prospective, current, or even a past customer.

Account

Conversion Rate

Conversion rate is the percentage of visitors who complete a desired goal, like a purchase or sign-up, out of the total number of visitors.

Conversion Rate

Field Sales Rep

A field sales representative, or outside sales rep, travels to meet prospects in person, selling products or services directly within their territory.

Field Sales Rep

Sales Development Representative (SDR)

A Sales Development Representative (SDR) is a sales specialist who finds and qualifies new leads, building a pipeline for the sales team.

Sales Development Representative (SDR)

Process Automation

Process automation uses technology to execute recurring tasks or processes, replacing manual effort to cut costs and boost efficiency.

Process Automation

Outbound Sales

Outbound sales is when reps proactively contact potential customers through cold calls or emails to generate leads and build a sales pipeline.

Outbound Sales

Opportunity Management

Opportunity management is the process of tracking potential sales from first contact to a closed deal, helping teams prioritize and win more.

Opportunity Management

B2B Demand Generation

Learn about B2B demand generation, including strategies for effective B2B demand generation, & key components of a demand generation program.

B2B Demand Generation

Messaging Strategy

A messaging strategy defines what your brand says, how it says it, and where it says it to connect effectively with your target audience.

Messaging Strategy

GDPR Compliance

GDPR compliance means following the EU's strict data protection laws to ensure the secure and lawful handling of personal data.

GDPR Compliance

Smile and Dial

"Smile and dial" is a high-volume sales tactic where reps make numerous cold calls from a list, often with little to no prior research.

Smile and Dial

Bad Leads

Learn about bad leads, including identifying bad leads, warning signs of bad leads, impact of bad leads on sales, & strategies to minimize bad leads.

Bad Leads

Logo Retention

Logo retention is a key B2B metric that measures a company's ability to retain its customers, or 'logos,' over a specific period.

Logo Retention

Sales Prospecting Techniques

Sales prospecting techniques are methods used by sales teams to identify, contact, and qualify potential customers, also known as prospects.

Sales Prospecting Techniques

Competitive Intelligence (CI)

Competitive intelligence (CI) is the ethical gathering and analysis of market data to inform strategic business decisions and gain an advantage.

Competitive Intelligence (CI)

Warm Outbound

Warm outbound is a sales strategy for contacting prospects who've shown interest in your brand through prior engagement, like website visits.

Warm Outbound

Sales Manager

A Sales Manager leads a sales team, setting goals, analyzing performance, and developing strategies to drive revenue and meet targets.

Sales Manager