Buyer Tiering

Buyer Tiering

Segment prospects into 3 tiers by how close they are to buying.

When to Activate

• After prospect-research produces a product profile
• User wants to prioritize prospects by urgency
• Part of the /outreach pipeline (Step 2)

Input

Read the product profile from:

workspace/outreach/{date} - {client}/product-profile.md

The Three Tiers

Tier 1: In-Market NOW (Expected response: 15-25%)

These prospects have an ACTIVE buying signal. Something observable proves they need the product right now.

Signal types:

• EDP is present (the existential data point from research)
• Job posting for a role the product replaces or supports
• Recent funding round (budget unlocked)
• Leadership change (new CRO/VP reviewing stack)
• Regulatory deadline approaching
• Public announcement of relevant initiative

Tier 2: Approaching (Expected response: 5-10%)

Leading indicators suggest they'll need the product soon, but no active buying signal yet.

Signal types:

• Hiring growth in relevant department
• Tech stack changes (adopting complementary tools)
• Competitor movement (their competitor just adopted this type of tool)
• Market pressure (industry shift creating new requirements)
• Team scaling signals

Tier 3: ICP Fit (Expected response: 1-3%)

Right profile, no urgency signal. Standard targeting based on firmographics.

Signal types:

• Matches industry, size, and role criteria
• No specific buying trigger detected
• General ICP alignment

Process

Step 1: Define Tier Criteria

For each tier, specify:

• Observable signals (what you can find in data)
• Where to find these signals (job boards, LinkedIn, news, tech databases)
• Volume estimate (how many prospects fit this tier)

Step 2: Messaging Approach

Each tier gets different messaging:

| Tier | Approach | Example | |------|----------|---------| | 1 | Direct value delivery - they feel the pain NOW | "Your [specific signal] suggests [specific insight]" | | 2 | Education and insight - help them see what's coming | "Companies scaling their [department] often find..." | | 3 | General value proposition - plant the seed | "[Proof point] for companies like [theirs]" |

Step 3: Output

See [TIER-TEMPLATE.md](modules/TIER-TEMPLATE.md) for the output format.

Save to: workspace/outreach/{date} - {client}/tier-definitions.md

Key Principle

The tier IS the message. You don't write one email and send it to everyone. The list structure determines the messaging strategy.

Related Skills

• prospect-research - Previous step: product analysis
• campaign-strategy - Next step: write sequences per tier
• list-builder - Build lists using tier criteria

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: riccardovandra
• Source: riccardovandra/forge-gtm
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.