← Box #5 Enrolling · BOX #6 TRIGGER EVENTS · Box #7 Disqualifying →
Be first with recently motivated decision-makers and you are 500% more likely to make a sale.
Does this sound familiar?
You find people who clearly have the problem. They agree it’s a problem. Then they say “maybe next quarter” — and go right back to living with it.
That’s not a closing problem. It’s a timing problem. You’re pitching the sleeping market — people whose problem is real but tolerable. “It’s good enough” wins every time.
Then something happens — and everything changes.
Buyers are 5× more likely to buy right after a trigger event
A trigger event is the moment a tolerable problem suddenly isn’t. It opens the Window of Dissatisfaction — in most B2B markets, just 2–3 weeks — when a decision-maker actively looks for a fix. Reach them inside the window and you’re first. Miss it, and they’re back to “it’s fine.”
Spot the trigger before your competition does
We call it the ABC Trigger Model — every trigger event is an Awareness, a Bad Experience, or a Change. Nine specific signals you can monitor with tools you already have — LinkedIn alerts, industry news, compliance calendars — so motivated buyers surface on your calendar instead of by luck.
The full how-to for this box is in the free Traction Canvas toolkit.
"You are not looking for people with problems. You are looking for people whose problems just became urgent."
3 ways founders blow this box
Get Box 6 working for you
→ Get the free toolkit — the fillable canvas, session slides, and a one-hour session recording.
→ Work through it with us — Brandy and Craig run the Traction Canvas live with founder cohorts and accelerators, and complete it 1:1 with funded teams.
→ Next: Box 7 — Disqualifying — not everyone with a trigger event is worth pursuing. Five factors decide who’s worth your time.
← Box #5 Enrolling · BOX #6 TRIGGER EVENTS · Box #7 Disqualifying →