recon-fundamentals

Vendor switches are the best buying signal in B2B sales. Better than topic intent. Better than content consumption. Better than a pricing-page visit. Why? Because a company that is preparing to replace a tool already has pain, urgency, budget pressure, and an internal champion. The mistake most reps make is

Every public source you usually check before a sales call was written by someone with an agenda. Press releases are written by PR. Earnings calls are managed by investor relations. Job posts are written to attract applicants. Glassdoor is different. It is the closest thing to a free wire tap

Most reps ignore WARN filings because they think layoffs mean a dead account. That’s backwards. A WARN notice usually shows up before the public narrative catches up. It gives you a 60-day window into a company that is actively restructuring. And restructuring is when teams change tools, budgets move,

Job postings tell the truth technographic tools can’t. A company’s website might expose a few detectable scripts. A hiring manager trying to fill a role will tell candidates what they actually use, what they are rolling out, what they are fixing, and what they are standardizing. If you

AI agents are now part of the sales stack. That part is over. Salesforce’s 2026 State of Sales report found that 87% of sales organizations already use some form of AI, and 54% have deployed AI agents across the sales cycle. Sellers expect agents to cut prospect research time

AI does not replace OSINT methodology. It compresses it. The rep who knows where to look still wins. What changes in 2026 is speed. A seller who understands how to point AI at the right public sources can turn raw signals from earnings calls, job posts, press releases, and company

Most reps learn OSINT on US accounts. They get used to SEC filings, deep LinkedIn coverage, and enrichment tools that work well enough out of the box. Then they move to Europe and the workflow breaks. The signals are still there. Companies still hire before they buy. Leaders still change.

Most reps ignore SEC filings because they look dense. That is a mistake. If you sell into public companies, 10-Ks, 10-Qs, and 8-Ks are one of the best free intelligence sources you can use. They tell you what leadership is worried about, where the company is spending, what changed this

Most reps wait for a prospect to raise a hand. That is too late. Government grants and regulatory changes create demand before the buyer starts a vendor search. A grant means money has been allocated to a project. A new regulation means a deadline is coming whether the prospect likes