Fit-Intent Quadrant
Concentrate selling effort where customer fit and active buying intent overlap.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- 98%
Evaluate every prospect across two independent dimensions. Fit asks whether the buyer belongs to the target market, works at an appropriate company, holds a relevant role, can authorize a purchase, and could become a valuable customer. Intent asks whether current behavior suggests an active problem or buying process. Plot prospects into four quadrants: high fit and high intent, high fit and low intent, low fit and high intent, or low fit and low intent. Prioritize the first quadrant because it combines stronger contract potential with higher conversion rates and shorter sales cycles. Use recent social posts, interactions, competitor mentions, and website behavior to refresh intent continuously, then personalize contact using the prospect's expressed needs and language.
Origin
Extracted from Marketing Against the Grain as Kipp Bodnar formalizes Yuliya Bel's explanation of using social data to detect real-time buyer intent.
Core principles
- 01Fit determines whether a prospect can become a valuable customer.
- 02Intent determines whether the prospect is ready to consider a solution now.
- 03The overlap of high fit and high intent deserves the greatest attention.
- 04Social behavior can reveal intent that static CRM records cannot show.
How to run it
- 1
Set fit criteria
Define the company, role, authority, use case, and economic traits of a valuable customer. Turn these traits into observable qualification criteria.
Pro tip Use historical customer value to distinguish genuinely predictive traits from convenient demographics.
Watch out Do not confuse a recognizable company with a qualified buyer.
- 2
Capture intent signals
Monitor recent posts, content engagement, competitor discussion, website behavior, and explicit pain points. Weight signals by recency and relevance.
Pro tip Use the prospect's own words to understand both the problem and its urgency.
Watch out Old or generic activity may not indicate a current buying process.
- 3
Place prospects in quadrants
Classify each prospect as high or low on fit and intent. Make the scoring rules visible so sales and marketing teams prioritize consistently.
Pro tip Store fit in the CRM and refresh intent from live behavioral sources.
Watch out Do not collapse fit and intent into one opaque score that hides why a lead ranks highly.
- 4
Prioritize the overlap
Direct the fastest and most personalized response toward high-fit, high-intent prospects. These opportunities offer the best combination of value and likelihood to close.
Pro tip Create alerts when an existing high-fit account produces a strong new intent signal.
Watch out Slow responses allow a short-lived buying window to close.
- 5
Tailor the action by quadrant
Nurture high-fit prospects without current intent, qualify high-intent but low-fit prospects cautiously, and avoid low-fit, low-intent prospects. Match effort to expected return.
Pro tip Use education rather than aggressive selling for high-fit prospects whose timing is not yet right.
Watch out Do not spend premium sales time on the bottom-left quadrant.
- 6
Update continuously
Re-score prospects as their roles, organizations, interactions, and needs change. Use conversion results to refine which signals predict action.
Pro tip Compare signal combinations against actual close rate and sales-cycle length.
Watch out A static intent score quickly becomes misleading.
In the wild
A software vendor already knows that an operations director at a mid-market company fits its ideal customer profile. The director then posts about a workflow failure and engages with content comparing competing solutions. The vendor moves the account into the high-fit, high-intent quadrant and sends a message referencing the stated problem in the director's own language.
→ The seller reaches a valuable prospect during an active evaluation window with relevant outreach.
A student repeatedly engages with product-comparison content and requests a demonstration, showing high intent. However, the enterprise platform exceeds the student's authority and needs. The team classifies the lead as low fit and avoids assigning expensive senior-sales time.
→ The company preserves sales capacity for opportunities with meaningful revenue potential.
Common mistakes
Optimizing only for fit
A perfect target account may not be shopping now, making repeated outbound contact slow and costly. Add current intent before escalating effort.
Optimizing only for intent
Ready buyers can still be poor customers with low value or insufficient authority. Confirm fit before committing substantial resources.
Treating all activity as intent
A like or broad topic mention may be weak evidence. Look for relevant, recent combinations of signals tied to the problem you solve.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for B2B teams that can combine CRM attributes with timely behavioral or social signals.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal when purchases are anonymous, immediate, and too low-value to justify prospect-level qualification.
From the transcript
“the magic is when you get the overlap of fit and intent”
“they're actually shopping right now so that you can combine the the high selling price with a high close rate and shorter deal cycle”
“low fit low intent which you just would never want to spend any time there”
From the episode
How To Get Your First 100 Customers Using Ai In Social Media
Yuliya Bel