Sales teams only see a small slice of the buyer journey — the moment someone fills out a form, replies to an email, or books time on a calendar. But we know there’s a lot that happens before then, and marketing has the first look at those early signals.
Let’s break down what the data knows, and how to make sure your sales team can use it.
How Marketing Data Reveals Early Buyer Intent and Hidden Objections
By the time a buyer chats with a sales rep, they’ve already done the bulk of their research. Marketing data captures the breadcrumbs they leave along the way (and those breadcrumbs often say more than the buyer ever will).
Buyers quietly tell you they’re getting serious when they:
- Revisit pricing or service pages
- Spend time on problem-oriented blogs (not solutions yet)
- Watch product or demo videos
- Explore comparison assets or case studies
- Increase visit frequency over a short period
These behaviors reveal urgency, interest level, and topic focus long before a rep gets involved.
Marketing also sees the friction that buyers won’t voice directly:
- Form abandonment on key pages
- Repeated visits to FAQ or troubleshooting content
- Ignored nurture emails (hinting a mismatch in messaging)
- High bounce rates on conversion pages
- Clicking “Contact Us” but not submitting the form
When this information flows to sales, reps show up to conversations with context, not guesswork.
Spotting Buyer Intent Data in Your Existing Tools
Web Analytics
Your website is often the first place buyers reveal what they're really thinking. This doesn’t mean you need to dump every page view on your sales team, just the patterns that actually mean something:
- The pages they keep coming back to. Buyers don’t revisit pages for fun. When someone returns to pricing, services, or comparison content, it usually means there are internal conversations happening and they’re getting serious.
- The path they didn’t take. If someone bypasses your homepage or “About” content and goes straight into specific service pages, they’re already in evaluation mode. They’re comparing solutions, not learning the basics.
- Where they drop off. Top Exit Pages and scroll depth data help show where visitors lose interest or hit friction. These spots often point to early objections that sales should know when hopping on the first call.
Email Behavior
Email activity often reveals interest more clearly than replies. Sharing a few key signals with sales helps them time their outreach and tailor the conversation.
- Renewed engagement. When a previously quiet contact suddenly opens or clicks multiple emails, it’s a strong sign they’re paying attention again and starting to revisit the conversation.
- Consistent content preferences. Repeated clicks on case studies, pricing links, or specific topics (shown in Click Maps or the contact timeline in HubSpot) highlight what they care about most and where the sales discussion should start.
- Sequence drop-off points. Consistent drop-off tells you the message isn’t connecting—and gives sales a heads-up on where buyers may need more clarity.
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CRM Data
Your CRM shows patterns that individual deals can’t. Pulling a few key insights from your CRM, in our case, HubSpot, helps sales understand what typically happens—and what they can get ahead of.
- Stages where deals consistently stall. If a large percentage of opportunities sit in stages like “Qualified to Buy” or “Presentation Scheduled” for 14+ days, it often means buyers need more reassurance—case studies, ROI examples, clearer next steps. Bringing these earlier can help keep momentum.
- Closed-lost reasons that repeat. When HubSpot’s Closed-Lost Reason property frequently shows things such as “Budget,” “No internal alignment,” or “Timing,” it’s a sign those objections should be addressed in the first few conversations, not at the end.
- Deal velocity differences by segment. HubSpot’s Deal Stage Funnel or velocity reports often show that certain personas or industries move slower because they require more stakeholders. Others move quickly once they hit a specific stage. This helps sales prioritize the right leads and set realistic expectations.
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Turning Buyer Intent Data Into Action
Once you surface the right insights, the next step is making them usable for sales. Reports are great, but the goal is to translate this data into timely, practical cues that help move deals forward.
Build a Shared Dashboard
A simple dashboard in HubSpot can give sales a quick snapshot of what matters most, including:
- Recent pricing or service page views
- Renewed email engagement
- Deals sitting in a stage longer than expected
- High-intent actions like demo views or comparison page visits
With a dashboard, sales reps get quick context without digging through contact records and timelines.
Use Workflows
HubSpot workflows can push important signals directly to sales so they never miss meaningful activity:
- Pricing page viewed multiple times → Create a task for the rep
- Re-engagement after 30+ days of inactivity → Send a Slack notification
- Lead score hits threshold → Move to MQL and notify sales
- Deal stuck in a stage beyond a set number of days → Remind rep to re-engage
Lead With the Right Messaging
Use what buyers are clicking and viewing to shape talking points—value explanations if they’re focused on pricing, differentiation if they’re comparing options, and relevant case studies if they need proof.
If your sales team could use some fresh resources, check out Manufacturers: Here’s What Your Sales Toolkit Really Needs.
Making the Most of Buyer Intent Data
Sharing these insights gives sales a better understanding of where buyers really are in their process. It helps reps tailor their outreach instead of guessing, and ultimately, it creates smoother, more productive conversations.
If you want help turning these signals into a clear, repeatable process for your team, Lake One is here to make it happen. Drop us a line.