Buying signals for it services & msps

IT work follows physical and organisational change: new offices, mergers, migrations, headcount jumps. These signals give you the project before the RFP exists.

Company Profile & Technology

Adopts a New Technology

A company recently switched to or added a technology — the stack changed, and change is when money moves.

Your play: A company moving to Workday or NetSuite has signed the license but not solved the rollout. Implementation budgets often match or exceed the software cost, and they're spent in the first six months. Arrive during month one.

Company Growth & Funding

Buys Assets

A company acquires assets, property, equipment, or a product line from another business.

Your play: An acquired product line arrives with its own codebase, hosting, and licenses. Someone has to merge or migrate all of it, and internal teams rarely have the spare capacity. Quote the integration project by name.

Risk & Distress

Closes an Office

A company shuts down a location — consolidation work today, cost pressure on every renewal tomorrow.

Your play: Hundreds of laptops, monitors, and servers need secure wiping, resale, or certified recycling. IT owns the problem, faces compliance risk if it's done badly, and wants it gone in one contract.

Social Engagement

Engages with a Topic

A person engages with social posts about a specific topic or keyword, regardless of who posted.

Your play: Track engagement on posts about data warehouse migrations or dbt. The engagers are the practitioners who will run the project and the directors who will fund it. Speak to whichever one showed up.

Hiring & Talent

Headcount Increase

A company's overall headcount is growing quarter over quarter.

Your play: Every new employee is a laptop, an identity, and an attack surface. Growth without a proportionally growing IT team means the gap gets outsourced. Pitch the MSP contract when headcount growth visibly outpaces the IT job postings.

Hiring & Talent

Hiring Ramp-Up in a Country

A company's hiring in one country accelerates sharply — market entry turning into market commitment.

Your play: A growing country team needs local device logistics, connectivity, and eventually an office network stood up. HQ's IT team can't do it remotely at this scale. Regional MSPs win multi-year contracts at exactly this point.

Buying Intent

Looking for an Agency

A person publicly asks for agency recommendations: 'can anyone recommend a good design agency?'

Your play: 'Anyone know a good Flutter team?' means a scoped project already exists. Ask one sharp question about the build in the thread, then move to DM with a rough estimate range.

Social Engagement

Mentions a Company

A person names a specific company — yours or a competitor's — in a social post.

Your play: Posts naming legacy vendors in frustration, 'still on NetSuite and still reconciling by hand', describe funded migration projects. The poster is either the budget holder or knows them. Ask about the timeline.

M&A & Corporate Change

Merger / Acquisition

A company merges with, acquires, or gets acquired by another — and suddenly owns two of everything.

Your play: Two companies means two ERPs, two CRMs, two identity providers. Someone has to merge them, and the internal IT team is already drowning. Integration projects get scoped in the first 90 days. Bid on them.

Company Growth & Funding

Opened a New Office

A company announces a new office, facility, or location — at home or in a new market.

Your play: A new site needs internet, wifi, access control, cameras, and someone to set it all up. Ops managers buy this under time pressure. A message two weeks after the announcement lands well.

M&A & Corporate Change

Signs a New Client

A company announces a major client win — and now has to deliver on it.

Your play: Agencies and consultancies routinely win work slightly bigger than their capacity or outside their core skills. White-label subcontracting is how they say yes anyway. A public win in your specialty is an open door.

M&A & Corporate Change

Spins Off a Company

A company spins off part of itself into a new standalone entity — one that starts life owning almost nothing.

Your play: Email, devices, networks, and security all belonged to the parent. The spin-off's first IT hire is staring at a build-everything list with a TSA clock ticking. Offer to be the whole department.

Company Profile & Technology

Uses a Technology

A company runs a specific tool or platform — a fact about its stack, visible in job posts, integrations, and site code.

Your play: Companies running enterprise platforms (NetSuite, Workday, Salesforce) buy configuration and admin help continuously. The platform fact alone qualifies them; team size tells you the deal size.