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SignalsSkill

Customer Signal Generator

Spot which accounts are ready to buy right now

Builds an Ideal Customer Signals (ICS) analysis for any company, mapping buying signals on its prospects to outreach plays with messaging angles and detection methods. Connect Clay and it back-tests signals against real customers, then surfaces a live board of accounts currently firing.

Alex Lindahl
Alex Lindahl

Creator in Residence at Clay

About this Skill

When to use it

Use this Skill when you need to identify buying signals, map Ideal Customer Signals (ICS), or find trigger-based selling opportunities for a company, including checking one prospect against an existing ICS or refreshing a saved signal board. It produces a ranked list of accounts to call first, each tied to a specific signal, threshold, and messaging angle.

What it delivers

Delivers an ICS report (HTML by default, or docx, pdf, markdown) plus a reusable signals.yaml file that ranks accounts to call first and explains why now. Connecting Clay unlocks back-testing and the live signal board, and the Skill never spends Clay credits without your approval.

SKILL.md preview

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Illustrative preview. Sign in for the actual file.

How someone would prompt this

Run an ICS analysis for Acme Security and show me which prospect accounts are hiring AppSec engineers right now.

Inputs & outputs

What someone provides before the Skill runs, and the reviewable artifacts it returns.

Inputs

  • 01Target company and scope
    • Company name or domain to analyze
    • choose whose outreach the plays target
    • optional focus segment and named competitors
  • 02Clay settings
    • Clay mode (off, public, or audiences)
    • which hiring signal sources the live board
    • sample sizes for the back-test and board
  • 03Output preferences
    • Report format (HTML, docx, pdf, or markdown)
    • visual theme (clay or neutral)
  • 04Saved signal dataA signals.yaml file, a previous report, or a link to one, used to refresh a board or check a single account

Outputs

  • 01Top-priority accounts heroA short ranked list of the accounts to call first, with the reasoning behind the ranking, so you can prioritize outreach immediately.
  • 02Live signal boardA table of accounts currently showing the one hiring signal that drives the board, each rated for fit and days left before the signal expires.
  • 03Signal export (signals.yaml)A saved file defining every signal, its threshold, and its expiry window, so you can reuse it later to refresh the board or check a new account.

Representative output

Report hero

Call these two first — Sixteen companies are hiring AppSec engineers right now. Two have job posts that show why now; Northwind's window closes in about a week.

Live signal board

#AccountAppSec hiring (45-day window)Why now (from the job post)Fit
1Northwind SystemsSecurity Engineer · 7d left · posted 31 AugWorks with product teams on secure-SDLC and DevSecOps; names SAST, dependency analysis and container scanning across Python and Go.Strong
2Contoso DataSecurity Infrastructure roles · 41d left · posted 4 OctSenior security infrastructure roles on an AI and agent platform; confirm the AppSec role before outreach.Moderate
3Fabrikam PayAppSec role · 30–45d left · posted 23 Sep–8 OctJob post not pulled. Clay's search matched an open AppSec role posted in the last 15 days.Not rated

Signal entry in signals.yaml

- id: appsec_hiring
  name: "Open AppSec, DevSecOps or Product Security role posted in the last 45 days"
  category: hiring_org_design
  decay_window_days: 45
  weight: 25
  clay_source: { type: search_filter, name: "jobs.exists" }
  backtest: { verdict: not_backtested }

How the Skill runs

Follow the steps in order. Each row includes the full instruction.

01
Confirm scope and setup

Explains what the run will read and write, picks a run mode, and checks for Clay before doing anything else.

Step
02
Research the company online

Runs several web searches on the company's products, market, pricing, recent news, and competitors to ground the analysis in real information.

Agent
03
Pull Clay company data

When you connect Clay, the Skill looks up the target's headcount growth, revenue, funding, recent news, customers, and competitors to replace guesswork with real data.

Step
04
Build the signal analysis

Works through the core sections of the framework, giving each buying signal a threshold and expiry window, then writes the summary last.

Step
05
Back-test signals against customers

Tests which signals actually show up on real customer accounts versus similar non-customers; the run stops and waits for your approval before spending Clay credits.

Step
06
Mine closed-won deal history

In Audiences mode only, asks what happened before past deals closed to refine which signals and triggers matter most.

Step
07
Build the live signal board

Finds accounts currently matching one chosen hiring signal and pulls their job posts to explain why now; the run stops and waits for your approval before spending credits on this paid step.

Step
08
Generate the final report

Renders the full report in your chosen format and saves a reusable signals.yaml file alongside it.

Output

Connections required

No connections listed.

Install Clay and run it

Sign in once, install the Skill, then run the prompt.

  1. 1Install ClayUse the connector or official plugin in your coding-agent environment.
  2. 2Sign up or log inAuthorize Clay access and return when the connection is ready.
  3. 3Install the SkillRun the one-line install command from the Add this Skill card.
  4. 4Run the SkillPaste the example prompt and review the result.

Version history

Version 1From submitted SKILL.mdCurrent

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