What is the 95-5 rule in B2B marketing?

The observation that at any given time only around 5% of a market is actively in a buying cycle while 95% is not. It comes from Ehrenberg-Bass Institute research and it is the reason most outbound to a title-filtered list underperforms.

How do you find buyers who are already in market on LinkedIn?

Look at who engages with your competitors' content. Someone who liked or commented on a competitor's post has signalled they are thinking about that category, which is a far stronger signal than matching a job title.

Is it allowed to look at competitors' post engagement?

Yes, it is public information. Anyone can open a company's posts and see who reacted or commented. Collecting it at scale is a tooling question rather than a permissions one.

How many competitors should I monitor?

Start with one to prove the approach, then expand. Twenty competitors produces a large list where every person has shown relevant intent, which is a better way to scale than loosening your filters.

What other intent signals work on LinkedIn?

Your own profile views from the last 90 days, engagers on viral posts in your category, recent job changes in buying roles, and people who followed your company page without connecting to anyone.

Does this replace targeting by job title?

No, it layers on top. Use the title filter to confirm someone is a plausible buyer, and the engagement signal to confirm they are thinking about it now. Either on its own is weaker.

How do I reach out once I have the list?

With something useful and specific, referencing why you are getting in touch. The full method is in our DM playbook: lead with value, write in their language, and offer two routes forward rather than a yes or no.

Outreach

How to Find the 5% of Buyers Already in Market on LinkedIn

At any moment most of your market cannot buy from you. Here is how to find the small share who can, using signals your competitors are generating for you for free.

By Niall Ratcliffe, Co-founder, noticed. · 6 min read

Published October 23, 2026

Key takeaways

At any moment roughly 95% of your market is not buying and 5% is. Most marketing spends its budget trying to convert the 95%.
The 5% leave signals, and the most reliable ones are on your competitors' posts. Someone engaging with a competitor has told you they are thinking about the category.
Build lists from engagement, not job titles. A filter on seniority finds people who match a profile; engagement finds people with the problem.
Scale by adding competitors, not by loosening filters. Twenty competitors' engagers is a large, high-intent list; a broader title filter is just a bigger list.
Other signals worth tracking: your own profile views over the last 90 days, engagers on viral posts in your category, and people who changed role recently.

At any moment, most of the companies you want as customers cannot buy from you. Not because they dislike you, but because they are not in a buying cycle.

The commonly cited split, from Ehrenberg-Bass Institute research, is that roughly 95% of a market is out of market and 5% is in it at any given time. Whether the exact figure holds for your category matters less than the shape of it, which is unarguable: most of your list is not buying today.

Most marketing responds by trying to convert the 95%. That is expensive and slow. The alternative is to find the 5%, and they are easier to spot than most people assume.

The signal hiding on your competitors' posts

Someone who likes or comments on a competitor's post has just told you something your CRM cannot: they are thinking about this category right now.

Not that they are unhappy with the competitor. Not that they are ready to switch. Just that the subject is live for them this week, which is the single most useful thing you can know before writing to someone.

It is public information and it takes minutes to look at. Open a competitor's company page, open their recent posts, and read the reaction list. You will find marketing directors, operations leads and founders who match your buyer profile exactly.

How to scale it properly

The instinct when a list is too small is to loosen the filter. Resist it, because that puts you straight back to a title-filtered list of people with no demonstrated interest.

Scale by adding competitors instead. One competitor gives you a handful of names a week. Twenty gives you a substantial list where every single person has shown intent in your category. The quality of the list is identical; only the volume changed.

Four other signals worth collecting

Your own profile views. LinkedIn shows you everyone who viewed your profile in the last 90 days. Someone who looked at you and did not get in touch is a warm contact who needed a reason.
Engagers on viral posts in your category. When a post about your subject takes off, hundreds of relevant people self-identify in the comments.
Recent role changes. Someone three months into a new job is reviewing suppliers and has political permission to change things. Six months later that window has closed.
Followers of your company page who have not connected with anyone. They found you deliberately and nobody has spoken to them.

Why this changes the economics

A message to someone who engaged with a competitor last week is doing a different job from a message to someone who merely matches a job title. The first can reference something real; the second has to manufacture a reason.

Reply rates follow from that, which is why list quality matters more than copy quality. You can write an excellent message to the wrong person and it will still fail.

Once you have the list, the method for writing to them is in our DM playbook, and social selling covers the relationship work that makes those messages land. If you would rather someone ran it, the outreach shortlist compares the options.

Frequently asked questions

What is the 95-5 rule in B2B marketing?: The observation that at any given time only around 5% of a market is actively in a buying cycle while 95% is not. It comes from Ehrenberg-Bass Institute research and it is the reason most outbound to a title-filtered list underperforms.
How do you find buyers who are already in market on LinkedIn?: Look at who engages with your competitors' content. Someone who liked or commented on a competitor's post has signalled they are thinking about that category, which is a far stronger signal than matching a job title.
Is it allowed to look at competitors' post engagement?: Yes, it is public information. Anyone can open a company's posts and see who reacted or commented. Collecting it at scale is a tooling question rather than a permissions one.
How many competitors should I monitor?: Start with one to prove the approach, then expand. Twenty competitors produces a large list where every person has shown relevant intent, which is a better way to scale than loosening your filters.
What other intent signals work on LinkedIn?: Your own profile views from the last 90 days, engagers on viral posts in your category, recent job changes in buying roles, and people who followed your company page without connecting to anyone.
Does this replace targeting by job title?: No, it layers on top. Use the title filter to confirm someone is a plausible buyer, and the engagement signal to confirm they are thinking about it now. Either on its own is weaker.
How do I reach out once I have the list?: With something useful and specific, referencing why you are getting in touch. The full method is in our DM playbook: lead with value, write in their language, and offer two routes forward rather than a yes or no.

About the author

Niall Ratcliffe, Co-founder, noticed.

Niall co-founded noticed. in 2022 and has since run LinkedIn content, outreach and strategy programmes for more than 200 B2B companies, from the NHS to Hutchinson Engineering.

Intent Signals, LinkedIn Outreach, Lead Generation, B2B Targeting