Stage 1

Everything about an account on one page

Open any account on the Stage 1 Board to see what happened, who to reach, the way in, the 3x3 research and the recommended move.

Kevin French
· 3 min read

A ranked list tells you where to look. It doesn't tell you what to do. Before you reach out to a $400K account, you want the story in one place, read in two minutes, not rebuilt from six tabs.

The account dossier is that one place.

What it shows

Click any account on the Board and the dossier opens beside the list. It reads top to bottom in the order you'd think about the account.

The header has the company name, industry, headcount, region and domain, with a short summary when Stage 1 has one. Next to it sits signal strength, a score from 0 to 100 with a ten-bar meter. If the account breaks one of your fit rules, a note under the header says it was ranked down and which rule it broke.

What happened

The first section is a timeline of every signal at the account, newest first. Each line names the kind of signal, what happened, the person it's tied to if there is one, how strong that kind of signal is and how long ago it landed. When a signal has a source, a Source link opens the filing, the post or the story it came from. ## Who to thread, and the way in

The next section is the buying committee. Up to three people, each tagged Buyer, Champion or Technical.

Every person carries a fit ring, four segments around their photo. More blue is a better fit. Tap the word under their title to see the reasons, like a buying seat or a senior title. You see their LinkedIn degree, the door Stage 1 picked for them and why, and the way in. That's either a warm path through someone you know, a note that you're already connected, or a plain line that says the opener goes direct.

If you sold to this company before, a History with your firm section shows that too.

The research and the opener

Under the people sits the 3x3 research. Three panels, public record, social context and market, with up to three facts each.

Below that is the Hypothesis Opening for the lead person, drafted from the research. The four parts are labeled underneath it, so you can see which line does what before you approve.

The last section reads the signals and the committee together and says what to do. When there's an RFP on the timeline, it reads like this.

They are buying now. Go straight to the economic buyer and ask to be considered.

A new leader with a buyer on the committee gets a different move. So does a company hiring for the problem, or one looking at a rival. It's one or two sentences, written as a call you'd make, not a score you'd interpret.

Where to find it

On the Board. Click any account, or use J and K to move down and up the list. The bar at the bottom holds Approve and Pass. A approves, X passes. Pass asks why, and your answer teaches the ranking. For how that ranking works, see how Stage 1 ranks accounts on the Board.

On the free trial, your top 15 accounts show everything. The rest show what happened, and the research, opener and warm paths wait for a plan.

Why it matters for services

Services buyers don't respond to a vendor who found their name. They respond to someone who seems to understand what's going on at their company. That takes context, and context takes time most sellers don't have.

The dossier gives a seller the context in the time it takes to read a page. What happened, who matters, how you get in, what to say and what to do first. The seller still decides. Nothing goes out until they approve the account.

When the dossier shows a warm path, that's the first move. Read more in warm paths in Stage 1.

Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial and no credit card. Plans and details are on the pricing page, or you can start your trial.

See which of your accounts are moving.

Stage 1 reads your site, finds accounts that fit and checks their filings and news. Your first Board in about two minutes. Free for 14 days, no credit card.