I ran 500 target accounts through a free-only OSINT triage before touching a single paid API credit last quarter. The result: I cut enrichment spend by 63% because roughly 300 of those accounts failed basic signal qualification before I ever opened Apollo or Wiza. That is the workflow I am going to walk you through.

Most guides on sales trigger signals either point you at paid intent platforms or give you a vague "set up Google Alerts" suggestion and call it a day. Neither is useful if you are trying to build a repeatable, OSINT-grade pre-enrichment filter. What I built is a five-step triage that runs entirely on free signals — funding events, job change velocity, tech stack shifts, hiring patterns, and SEC filings — before any paid enrichment happens.…