Signal-based GTM for EMEA: Leveraging intent & buying group insights

Go-to-market in EMEA is inherently complex. Buying decisions are rarely owned by a single individual and almost never confined to one country. Instead, teams must navigate:

• Distributed decision-makers across regions
• Procurement-led and consensus-driven buying
• Long, consultative sales cycles shaped by regulation and local nuance

Traditional, lead-centric funnels struggle here. They optimise for volume, not readiness, and miss the account and buying group context that actually determines deal progression.

Signal-based GTM fundamentally shifts this model by:

• Prioritising accounts based on real buying signals, not form fills
• Identifying and engaging buying group members across roles and regions
• Aligning marketing and sales around shared, actionable insights

Below, we break down how sales & marketing teams in EMEA are using intent and buying group intelligence to accelerate engagement, pipeline, and revenue.

What is signal-based GTM (and why does it matter)

Signal-based GTM relies on:

• Account intent data: actual behaviour indicating rising interest (searches, content engagement, topic surges)
• Buying group intelligence: who’s influencing, evaluating and deciding within an account
• Orchestrated plays: coordinated actions across channels and teams

This is especially critical in EMEA where cultural norms, complex purchasing groups and market fragmentation mean that multiple stakeholders across regions must be influenced before deals close.

Financial services: Focus without friction

For marketers in financial services, long sales cycles, regulatory scrutiny, and risk-averse buying committees often dilute impact. Signal-based GTM cuts through by revealing which firms are actively researching and which roles are engaging across regions.

This enables targeted, compliant outreach that supports relationship-led sales motions, reduces wasted spend, and builds confidence that marketing is influencing real demand—not passive interest.

Customer example: 

GoCardless

By unifying intent signals across marketing and sales:

• 11× pipeline ROI on campaign investment
• Strong cross-functional alignment
• Automated campaign playbooks for sellers

Key takeaway: Intent delivers value when paired with shared visibility and execution.

SaaS: Competing earlier and winning faster

EMEA SaaS teams face crowded categories and buying groups spanning product, IT, security, and finance—often across multiple countries. Signal-based GTM helps identify early demand, prioritise accounts with momentum, and engage the full buying group as intent builds.

This shifts teams beyond volume-driven MQLs toward coordinated plays that support SDRs and sellers at precisely the right moment.

Customer examples:

PageUp

By connecting intent to buying group activity, PageUp achieved:

• 30% lift in account list size
• 15 new opportunities influenced
• Over 11% of annual pipeline created
• Five six-figure closed deals in six months
• 161% increase in sales/SDR engagement

Key takeaway: Engaging the full buying group, not just the loudest voice, drives measurable results.

Randstad

• Transitioned from lead-centric to account-centric targeting
• Integrated intent into dynamic account prioritisation
• Scaled GTM execution with consistent sales–marketing alignment

Key takeaway: Intent insights compound over time, especially at enterprise scale.

AVEVA

• Clarified account targeting across complex, multi-product accounts
• Streamlined workflows to reduce manual effort
• Enabled actionable insights for SDRs, LDRs, and regional marketers

Key takeaway: For multi-layered buying committees, intent plus buying group intelligence is essential to reduce wasted effort.

Turning signals into action

1. Define intent signals that matter. Identify topic sets and behaviours that correlate with real buying interest in your verticals and markets.
2. Map buying groups across regions. Use intent and firmographic data to build role + region profiles of key stakeholders.
3. Orchestrate across channels. Activate campaigns that follow intent spikes: ads, personalised content, SDR outreach and event invitations.
4. Align metrics across teams. Shift from lead counts to account engagement, buying group penetration and pipeline influence as KPIs.
5. Review & iterate weekly. Signals evolve. Create short feedback loops between sales and marketing to refine thresholds and plays.

In competitive EMEA markets, signal-based GTM removes guesswork. It prioritises the accounts most likely to engage and the buying group members who drive decisions. Real EMEA practitioners like PageUp, GoCardless, Randstad and AVEVA have shown that the result is stronger alignment, more meaningful pipeline, and measurable revenue growth.

For a detailed, step-by-step guide to measuring and executing account-centric growth, download Demandbase’s Account-Centric Growth Metrics & Strategy Playbook.