Job Changes and Promotions
Outcome: a tracked population of past buyers and evaluators, a weekly change check, and a message per population that does not read as automated congratulations.
- Surface
- App and MCP server
- Level
- Intermediate
- Uses
- check_job_change · check_promotions · newly_hired_executives
- Credits
- ~1 per person checked
- Prerequisite
- Lesson 02, and a list of past contacts
Three triggers, one mechanism
| Trigger | Who | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| Champion moved | Someone who knew you, now somewhere new | Relationship survives; the blocker does not |
| Promotion | Someone at a known account, now with authority | New budget, same relationship |
| New exec in seat | A stranger with a mandate | Hired to change something, in their first two quarters |
The first two require you to be tracking specific people. The third works cold, against any target account.
The populations worth tracking
Past customers
Used the product, know it works. Highest conversion, smallest list.
Past champions who lost
Wanted it, were blocked by budget, an incumbent contract or a competing priority. Arrive somewhere new without the blocker. Usually several times larger than the first list.
Past evaluators
Sat in demos, did not decide. Lower intent, but zero education cost — they already know what category you are in.
Track all three, message each differently. Tracking only the first is the common mistake, and it leaves most of the value unclaimed.
A real move versus a title cleanup
Not every change is a trigger, and sequencing the non-triggers erodes trust with exactly the people you least want to annoy.
| Change | Trigger? |
|---|---|
| New company, comparable or senior role | Yes |
| New company, junior role or a pivot out of your buying centre | No — relationship intact, authority gone |
| Same company, promotion into buying authority | Yes |
| Same company, title normalization (“Manager” → “Sr. Manager”) | No |
| Contract, advisory or interim role | Usually no |
Apply this filter to the detection output, not to the detection itself.
The window
| Time since the move | What is happening | Your move |
|---|---|---|
| Week 0–2 | Onboarding, no authority yet | Congratulate only. Do not pitch. |
| Week 3–12 | Auditing the stack, forming the plan | The window. |
| Month 4–9 | Plan set, budget committed | Workable, longer cycle |
| Month 10+ | A normal account with a friendly contact | Nurture |
Weekly detection is what makes this play work. A monthly check means the average champion is two weeks into a twelve-week window before you know; a quarterly one means you mostly find people in month four, after the decisions are made.
Message each population differently
| Population | Opening |
|---|---|
| Past customer | Reference the shared history directly. “We worked together at [old company]” — they will remember. |
| Blocked champion | Reference the blocker being gone, lightly. “Timing was the problem last time” is enough. |
| Past evaluator | Reference the category, not the relationship. They may not remember you specifically. |
| New exec, cold | No relationship to reference. Use the mandate: what the role usually owns in the first quarter. |
A templated “I saw you joined Acme — 15 minutes to discuss our platform?” in someone’s first week tells your warmest lead that they were being monitored. Congratulate in week one with nothing attached, and let the real message land in week three.
Do this now
Build the three populations
From closed-won, closed-lost with a named advocate, and demo or trial records.
Deduplicate
People appear in more than one.
Run the change check weekly
check_job_change across the tracked list.
Apply the real-move filter
Drop title cleanups and out-of-centre moves.
Qualify the new company
Before spending on contact details. A champion at a company you cannot sell to is still a miss.
Enrich at the new employer
New domain, new email, verify.
Route by population
Different message per list.
Add promotions and new execs
check_promotions on tracked people, newly_hired_executives on target accounts.
Check your work
- Three populations exist and are deduplicated
- The change check runs weekly, not monthly
- Title cleanups are filtered out
- The new company is qualified before contact spend
- Each population has its own message
Where this breaks
Enriching contact details before qualifying the new employer is the expensive version of this play. Champions land everywhere — including at companies far too small, in the wrong market, or already customers. Qualify the destination company first; it costs a fraction of the contact lookup and removes a meaningful share of movers.
Further automation
The job-change check doubles as your contact-data refresh: the people it flags are precisely the ones whose email and title are now wrong. Running it weekly gives you a lead source and a hygiene process from one action. Job Changes & Champions is the full build.
Next lesson
06 — Building a target account list, where the plays start running against a named list.
Reference for this lesson: check_job_change, check_promotions, newly_hired_executives, Job Changes & Champions.