How to use Laserfocus to segment enterprise accounts by industry and buying signals

If you’re in B2B sales, you know the pain: endless lists of enterprise accounts, all mixed together, and no easy way to figure out who’s worth your time. You want to work smarter, not harder. That’s where segmenting by industry and buying signals comes in—and where a tool like Laserfocus can actually help you cut through the noise.

This guide is for sales teams, revenue ops, and anyone tired of sifting through spreadsheets. I’ll walk you step-by-step through using Laserfocus to break your accounts into useful groups—without getting buried in features you don’t need. You’ll get the real pros and cons, plus a few honest shortcuts.

Why Segment Accounts at All?

Let’s get this out of the way: segmentation isn’t just “nice to have.” If you treat all enterprise accounts the same, you’re either wasting time or missing deals. Industry and buying signals are two of the most reliable ways to slice your list:

  • Industry: Some verticals are a better fit for your solution. Others are just tire-kickers.
  • Buying signals: Not every company is in-market. Identifying intent is the holy grail for outbound.

If you’re not segmenting, you’re probably chasing ghosts.

Step 1: Prep Your Account Data

Before you touch Laserfocus, make sure your account data isn’t a dumpster fire. Clean data is half the battle.

  • Check for basics: Industry fields, company size, contact info, recent activity. If these are missing or all over the place, fix that first.
  • Standardize industry names: “Healthcare” vs. “Health Care” vs. “Health/Medical”—pick one format.
  • Buying signals: These might come from intent data, website visits, email engagement, or CRM activity. Even a simple “last touched date” helps.

Pro tip: Don’t obsess over perfection. Get your data 80% clean and move on. You can fix as you go.

Step 2: Connect Laserfocus to Your CRM

Laserfocus works by pulling in your CRM data (think Salesforce, HubSpot, etc.). Here’s what to do:

  1. Sign in to Laserfocus and go to integrations. It’s usually a few clicks to connect your CRM.
  2. Map your fields: Make sure “Industry” and any buying signal fields (like “Intent Score,” “Engagement Level,” etc.) are mapped correctly.
  3. Sync your data: Run an initial sync. If there’s an error, it’s almost always a weird field mismatch or permission issue.

What works: Laserfocus is actually solid at surfacing errors here. If something’s missing, it tells you.

What doesn’t: If your CRM fields are a mess (see step 1), the sync will spit out garbage. Garbage in, garbage out.

Step 3: Build Industry Segments

Now the fun part: actually segmenting.

  1. Open the Accounts view in Laserfocus.
  2. Create a new segment or filter. Most tools call this a “view” or a “list.”
  3. Add an Industry filter. You’ll usually get a dropdown of all industry types from your CRM.

Here’s how to make it useful: - Start broad (e.g., “Technology”) and see what’s in there. If you have too many, refine further (e.g., “SaaS,” “IT services”). - Name your segment something obvious: “Enterprise Healthcare Accounts” beats “Segment 7B.” - Save your segment for quick access.

Ignore: Getting too granular out of the gate. If you have six accounts in “Waste Management: Mid-Atlantic Region,” you’re overthinking it.

Step 4: Layer on Buying Signals

Industry tells you who. Buying signals tell you who cares.

  1. Edit your industry segment to add another filter—this time, something that shows intent. Common options:
  2. Intent data score (from Bombora, 6sense, etc.)
  3. Recent website visits
  4. Recent email opens or meetings booked
  5. Opportunity stage (if you only want “open” deals)
  6. Set your criteria. For example, “Intent Score > 60” or “Last Activity within 30 days.”
  7. Preview the results. If your list goes from 500 accounts to 5, double-check the logic. Maybe you need to loosen filters.

What works: Combining these filters gives you lists you can actually act on—like “Manufacturing accounts who visited our pricing page in the last week.”

What doesn’t: Relying solely on intent data. It’s noisy and imperfect. Treat it as a clue, not gospel.

Step 5: Prioritize and Take Action

You’ve got your segment. Now what?

  • Sort by highest intent or recent activity. Don’t just go alphabetically.
  • Assign owners. If you’re in a team, divvy up by region, size, or rep bandwidth.
  • Export or sync to your sales tools. Laserfocus usually lets you push lists to sequences, cadences, or whatever your team calls them.

Pro tip: Set a recurring reminder to revisit these segments. What worked last quarter might be junk today.

Step 6: Avoid Common Pitfalls

Even with a slick tool, it’s easy to screw this up. Here’s what to watch for:

  • Too many segments: If you’ve built 20 micro-lists, nobody will use them.
  • “Set and forget” syndrome: Markets change, companies change. Refresh your filters and data regularly.
  • Chasing false positives: Buying signals are just that—signals. Don’t pester every company that opens your email once.
  • Ignoring feedback: If reps aren’t using your segments, ask why. Maybe the filters are off, or the data’s stale.

Pro Tips for Getting More from Laserfocus

  • Tag top accounts: Use tags or custom fields to flag VIPs or strategic targets, so they don’t get lost in the crowd.
  • Automate updates: Set up auto-refresh or alerts for when new accounts match your criteria.
  • Build “exclusion” lists: Remove customers, competitors, or bad fits from your outreach.
  • Share segments: Most sales orgs work better when everyone’s on the same page. Share your best segments with the team.

What to Ignore (Or Use With Caution)

  • Fancy AI scoring: If Laserfocus offers “AI-powered segment suggestions,” treat them as a starting point, not gospel. Human review still beats black-box scores most of the time.
  • Overengineered dashboards: If you spend more time building reports than talking to accounts, you’re missing the point.
  • Vanity metrics: Don’t get distracted by “accounts viewed” or “emails sent.” Focus on meetings booked and deals moved.

Wrapping Up: Keep It Simple, Iterate Often

Segmenting enterprise accounts by industry and buying signals isn’t rocket science—but it does take a system. Start with clean data, build a few useful segments in Laserfocus, and test what actually moves the needle. Don’t chase every shiny feature. Keep your lists tight, update them regularly, and spend your energy where it counts: having real conversations with the right prospects. That’s where the wins come from.