The vendor just told you their intent data will lift your pipeline 3x. The trial is 14 days. Procurement wants an answer by Friday. Your BDR manager is already excited because the salesperson demoed a dashboard with names and companies showing real-time.
I am George, founder of Leadpipe. We sell intent data. We also lose deals to competitors we respect and competitors we don’t. Before you sign anything, here are the 12 questions a VP of Sales should ask, written by someone who has answered all of them on the vendor side.
Who this post is for
You are a VP of Sales or head of sales at a company evaluating intent data, visitor identification, or an ABM platform for the first time or as a renewal. You have a budget between $5K and $200K per year for this category. You are responsible for whether the tool produces pipeline.
The short answer up front: 12 questions, grouped into 4 areas. Data origin, accuracy and match rate, integration and workflow, and commercial terms. Score each answer honestly. If the vendor dodges more than 2 questions, walk.
The 12 questions
| # | Area | Question |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Data origin | Is this your own data or licensed? |
| 2 | Data origin | Is matching deterministic or probabilistic? |
| 3 | Data origin | How often is the graph refreshed? |
| 4 | Accuracy | What match rate should I expect on my traffic? |
| 5 | Accuracy | What is the accuracy rate and how was it measured? |
| 6 | Accuracy | What counts as a “match” and what data comes with it? |
| 7 | Integration | Does this sync to my CRM and ad platforms natively? |
| 8 | Integration | What does a webhook payload look like? |
| 9 | Integration | What is the setup time from pixel install to first lead? |
| 10 | Commercial | What is the monthly price and what does it include? |
| 11 | Commercial | Is this month-to-month or annual? |
| 12 | Commercial | What happens if I cancel? Can I export my data? |
Each question below is short, with the answer you should hear and the red flags to watch for.
Data origin: where is this coming from
1. Is this your own data or licensed?
What to listen for. An honest vendor tells you whether they own the identity graph or license it from a third party like People Data Labs, FullContact, or a data broker.
Red flag. They call it “proprietary” and can’t describe how it was built. Most “proprietary” graphs in the visitor identification category are wrappers on the same 3 or 4 licensed graphs. If you evaluate 3 vendors and they all have similar coverage, that’s why.
Our answer. Leadpipe runs its own identity graph with 280M verified profiles and 60B intent signals, monitored across 5M websites with a 24-hour refresh.
2. Is matching deterministic or probabilistic?
What to listen for. Deterministic matching uses cookies, first-party signals, and confirmed identifiers. Probabilistic matching guesses from IP, device fingerprint, and behavioral inference. Deterministic vs probabilistic matching explained goes deeper.
Red flag. “Both” without a ratio. “Mostly deterministic” with no numbers. A vendor who cannot tell you the ratio is giving you probabilistic output and calling it deterministic.
Our answer. Deterministic, cookie and first-party signal driven. In the independent accuracy test of 75,000 visitors over 120 days, Leadpipe scored 8.7/10 vs RB2B’s 5.2/10 and Warmly’s 4.0/10. See the independent test results.
3. How often is the graph refreshed?
What to listen for. Daily or weekly is acceptable for intent data. Monthly is stale. Quarterly means you are buying a snapshot from 2025.
Red flag. “Real-time” as the only answer, without specifying what is real-time (the match event) vs the underlying graph (which is almost never real-time for anyone).
Our answer. 24-hour refresh on the core graph, real-time on the match event.
Accuracy: what will this actually return
4. What match rate should I expect on my traffic?
What to listen for. A range, contextualized by your traffic mix. US B2B, EU/UK, consumer, mobile, desktop all matter.
Red flag. “70%+” as a headline number. “Up to 50%.” “We identify everyone.” These are marketing claims that collapse in production.
Our answer. 30-40%+ on US B2B traffic, lower for international or consumer-heavy mix. EU/UK is company-level by default without user consent.
5. What is the accuracy rate and how was it measured?
What to listen for. A methodology. Sample size. Independent or internal. Time period.
Red flag. “95% accuracy” with no methodology. Claimed accuracy numbers from database vendors (ZoomInfo, Apollo) are typically around that number and labeled as “claimed” because no public test validates them.
Our answer. 8.7/10 on the independent 75,000-visitor, 120-day test. Methodology published.
6. What counts as a “match” and what data comes with it?
What to listen for. A match should include at least a name, a work email, a title, a company, and a LinkedIn URL or equivalent identifier. Anything less is a company-level match in disguise.
Red flag. “We identify the company and you can see who visits LinkedIn” is company-level identification with a decorator. That is fine if you want it, but know what you are buying.
Our answer. A person-level match from Leadpipe includes 100+ fields: business and personal email, phone, job title, seniority, department, work history, company firmographics, HEMs, cookies, device IDs, intent score, pages viewed, visit duration, return visits, geography.
Integration: how will this fit your stack
7. Does this sync to my CRM and ad platforms natively?
What to listen for. Named native integrations with your CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Zoho), your engagement tool (Outreach, Salesloft, Apollo), your ad platforms (LinkedIn, Google, Meta), and Slack.
Red flag. “We integrate with everything via Zapier.” Zapier is a fine fallback, but if your CRM needs a Zapier middleman you will lose events, pay extra, and have no support path when something breaks.
Our answer. 200+ integrations including native connectors for Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Outreach, Salesloft, Slack, LinkedIn Ads, and Google Ads.
8. What does a webhook payload look like?
What to listen for. Ask to see a sample JSON. The fields matter: you want visit timestamp, pages, identified person data, company data, and an intent score you can filter on.
Red flag. Refusal to share a sample payload until you sign. That’s a tell the data is thinner than the demo suggested.
Our answer. Webhooks fire on First Match and Every Update. Full field list in the webhook payload reference.
9. What is the setup time from pixel install to first lead?
What to listen for. 5 to 30 minutes for self-serve pixel installs. Longer is a sign the product needs a services team to deploy.
Red flag. “Our implementation specialist will schedule a kickoff.” For a pixel-based tool, that’s a 30K/year enterprise sales motion disguised as a product.
Our answer. 2 to 5 minute pixel install. First identified leads usually within hours of going live.
Commercial: what are you actually signing
10. What is the monthly price and what does it include?
Most intent data pricing is opaque on purpose. Make the vendor commit.
| Typical vendor structure | What to get in writing |
|---|---|
| Per-identification | Monthly cap, overage price, reset cycle |
| Per-seat | Who needs a seat, what viewer seats cost |
| Platform fee + usage | Minimum spend, usage tiers, overage logic |
| Annual commit with ramp | Rollover rules, reduction rights |
Red flag. “Let us build a custom quote.” That is a signal the base price is high and the sales team is pricing to what you can pay, not what the product costs.
Our answer. Published pricing. Pro at $147/mo for 500 identifications, Growth at $299/mo for 1,500, Scale at $599/mo for 5,000, Agency at $1,279/mo for 20,000, Enterprise stabilizing around $8K/mo for 1M+.
11. Is this month-to-month or annual?
What to listen for. Month-to-month with ramp options. Annual with an exit clause if performance benchmarks are not hit.
Red flag. 3-year contract with no out. This is standard for the enterprise ABM category (6sense, Demandbase) and is the reason those tools often outlive their usefulness in a stack.
Our answer. Month-to-month. No annual contracts required.
12. What happens if I cancel? Can I export my data?
What to listen for. Full export of identified leads, configurations, and any custom audiences you built.
Red flag. Export only in an obscure format. Data lock-in. “We can export to your CRM during the contract but not after.” That is a contractual moat disguised as a feature.
Our answer. CSV export, API export, full webhook replay. Data is yours during and after.
The scorecard
Score each vendor on the 12 questions from 0 to 2:
- 0: dodged or red-flagged
- 1: answered partially
- 2: answered with specificity
| Total | Interpretation |
|---|---|
| 20-24 | Strong. Start the trial. |
| 14-19 | Mixed. Ask the weak questions again in writing. |
| 0-13 | Don’t sign. Find another vendor. |
A VP of Sales who walks into the vendor call with this list changes the conversation. You are no longer the one being sold to. You are running a diligence.
What NOT to do
- Don’t skip the methodology question on accuracy. Everyone’s marketing site claims 95%. Only tools tested against a real sample are credible.
- Don’t sign a 3-year annual on a category that is still evolving. ABM contracts from 2023 are locked to tools that were built before person-level intent was possible.
- Don’t let BDR excitement drive the decision. BDRs love dashboards. What they need is routed, scored, ICP-filtered leads in their sequencer.
- Don’t confuse intent data with visitor identification. Different categories. Intent data vs visitor identification explains.
- Don’t overweight “SOC 2” as a disqualifier. GDPR, CCPA, DPA, and subprocessor transparency are the substance. SOC 2 is a common audit artifact, not the full security story.
A VP’s first 30 days after signing
If the vendor passes the audit and you sign:
- Week 1: pixel live, CRM and Slack connected, ICP filter defined.
- Week 2: 3 sequences written for P1 visitors, first meetings booked.
- Week 3: retargeting audiences exported, suppression lists loaded.
- Week 4: first pipeline-attribution report, decision on upgrade vs stay.
If the tool doesn’t produce meetings in week 2 with clean setup, it isn’t the tool. It is either the traffic or the follow-up. The SDR playbook for identified visitors covers follow-up.
If you want the short version: $147/mo gets you person-level identification on 500 visitors with full contact data. See full pricing →
