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How to Read Buyer Signals and Tell Deal-Closing Stories
Most teams either chase the wrong signals or miss the right ones entirely. The result? Good leads get missed and should-be opps never happen — even though you're "doing all the right things."
That's why for the first time ever, I'm sharing my Buyer Signal System — a simple, repeatable way to:
-See the signals buyers are actually sending
-Decode what they mean at each stage
-Tell the story that makes their decision easy
Join the webinar and master the stories that sell.
"Made you look!"
Is one of Nas’s most iconic lyrics from his 2002 track by the same name.
I’m not even a big New York rap fan. I’m all about Ice Cube, Snoop, and Dre — but Nas' line always stuck with me.
Because that’s what marketing often feels like.
There are distractions everywhere. Everyone’s trying to "make you look."
Back when I was a Director of Thought Leadership and Customer Marketing (longest title everrrr), I realized that my job wasn't just creating content or keeping customers engaged like you might think.
It was avoiding distractions.
I can’t count how many times my CEO Slacked me a competitor’s campaign with, "Why aren't we doing this??"
My responses usually fell into two buckets:
1️⃣ Because that’s not part of our strategy.
How likely is a client really to switch vendors because they spent 60 minutes on a thought leadership webinar with a no-name ankle-biter?
If our product does what we promise, we shouldn’t be worried.
It's better to stay the course instead of zig-zagging our way through the year.
2️⃣ Sometimes we were doing it! I just hadn’t communicated it.
I never liked “internal marketing,” but it’s part of the job. Especially when your CEO is a founder — they care a lot. And they’re reactive. In their effort to “help,” they send things frantically.
When I was a new leader, I treated every Slack from a senior exec like a to-do.
Turns out, most of them were just ideas fired off between meetings.
I learned to defend my strategy — at any time, in any thread, with anyone — even when a sales leader dropped a “Why don’t we have a client dinner in NYC?” message in front of the entire exec team.
(Because I asked three months ago and got zero budget!)
Here’s the thing:
It doesn’t matter how right you are.
You have to be able to explain why you’re doing one play — and why not another.
More advice:
If you get pressured — or, realistically, told to do something outside of your quarterly plan — you must remove something to make room.
This is hard for many to do because it requires mild confrontation.
But it’s the classic “short-term pain for long-term gain.”
The worst move? Saying yes to everything, burning out, and getting blamed when it underperforms.
Because you did agree, after all.
This all makes sense unless…
- You don’t have a documented content strategy. It’s impossible to follow — or protect — a plan that doesn’t exist.
- You have a plan, but you’re not comfortable defending it. Maybe you feel too junior or your boss is intimidating. I’ve been there.
My career took off once I learned how to set — and defend — my strategy to the C-suite. That skill changed everything.
Because here’s the truth: CEOs aren’t marketers.
They think that because they get marketed to, they know marketing.
News flash: they don’t.
But that’s what makes this skill so valuable.
The best marketers I know aren’t just creative — they’re disciplined.
They know when something’s just “made you look”… and when it’s actually worth doing.
If your CEO keeps chasing shiny objects, or your content feels reactive instead of strategic — let’s fix that.
My 95-5 Content System helps B2B marketers document a clear plan, defend it with confidence, and stay focused on what drives real pipeline.
It's Q4 and that means planning season — so thought I'd mention it in case your current plan isn't getting the job done.
If that's you, you can book time with me here.
Because in a world full of distractions, discipline is the new creative edge.
Holler at you later,
Devin
Pen by Devin Reed
Founder, The Reeder
Follow me on LinkedIn | YouTube | TikTok | Instagram
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