Use the Metaphors Tone: Vol. IX — 'The Lighthouse'
- Tone the AI-Bloke who Spoke but Instead Wrote Blog
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
By Tone the AI Bloke who Spoke but Instead Wrote Narrated by Keeper of the Lighthouse
I learned very young that ships speak long before they reach the harbor.
Not with words.
Flags.
Sails.
Speed.
Draft.
Smoke.
The direction from which they arrive.
Sometimes with what they carry.
Sometimes with what they no longer carry.
And sometimes simply by appearing somewhere they had never appeared before.
For twenty-seven years, I was the Keeper of the Eastern Lighthouse above a harbor in a kingdom that never existed.
Every morning before the merchants opened their doors, I climbed 387 stone steps carrying a telescope, a signal ledger and enough coffee to make good decisions about other people's ships.
From the tower, I could see nearly the entire bay.
Below me, merchants saw ships.
I saw behavior.
There is a difference.
One Thursday morning, a black-hulled merchant vessel appeared beyond the cape.
Nothing unusual.
Then she changed course.
That was unusual.
She wasn't sailing toward the grain docks.
She wasn't heading for the shipyards.
She was moving slowly toward the eastern warehouses.
I opened my ledger.
The ship had visited our harbor twice before.
Both times for timber.
This time she rode unusually high in the water.
Less cargo aboard.
More capacity available.
I raised my telescope.
New flags hung from her mast.
The merchant standing beside me asked:
"Is she buying?"
I lowered the glass.
"No."
He looked disappointed.
"Then what have we learned?"
I smiled.
"That she may be preparing to."
....
I. B2B Buying Signals: The Signal Before the Sale
Most merchants waited for the obvious signal.
A captain walked into the market.
Asked for timber.
Requested prices.
And suddenly every timber merchant in the city discovered the same opportunity at exactly the same moment.
By then, there was no secret.
Only competition.
The Lighthouse existed because the more interesting information usually appeared earlier.
A vessel changed route.
A warehouse expanded.
A ship arrived empty.
A captain replaced his quartermaster.
A foreign company began surveying land.
A merchant purchased storage before purchasing inventory.
None meant:
Sale.
They meant:
Pay attention.
That is remarkably close to the modern idea of B2B buying signals.
6sense describes buying signals as behaviors and digital clues that can reveal purchasing intent before a prospect explicitly declares interest. Those signals may include business events or research behavior—useful not because each proves a purchase, but because they tell a seller where closer examination may be worthwhile.
The mistake is treating every signal like a raised hand.
It isn't.
A new executive isn't a purchase order.
Expansion isn't a purchase order.
Website research isn't a purchase order.
Hiring isn't a purchase order.
Funding isn't a purchase order.
But something has changed.
And change gives the operator a reason to ask another question.
The merchant beside me pointed toward the vessel.
"Should we contact them?"
"Perhaps."
"When?"
"Not yet."
His frustration returned.
The signal had done its job.
Now judgment had to do ours.
...
II. B2B Buying Signals: Learn to Notice What Others Miss
My apprentice was eighteen when she joined me.
Smart.
Quick.
And convinced that if something mattered, it would be obvious.
One morning I handed her the telescope.
"What do you see?"
"Six vessels."
"What else?"
"Three grain ships. One passenger vessel. Two merchants."
"What else?"
She looked again.
"Clouds."
I waited.
She groaned.
"What am I missing?"
"The northern merchant lowered half her sails two miles before the harbor."
"So?"
"Yesterday there was no wind."
The apprentice looked again.
The ship wasn't slowing because of weather.
"Why would she slow down?"
"Now you're working."
We checked the ledger.
The vessel had never docked here.
We checked her flags.
Foreign registry.
Then the harbor book.
A new trading house had leased warehouse space only four days earlier.
No single fact meant much.
Together, they deserved attention.
That's the discipline behind useful buying-signal intelligence:
Notice the change.
Then place it in context.
Modern buyers make that harder because they increasingly investigate on their own. Gartner reported in 2026 that B2B buyers used an average of seven information sources during a recent purchase and 45% had used generative AI. Yet 69% preferred to validate AI-generated insights with sales representatives—suggesting that information may surface independently long before a seller becomes part of the conversation.
The seller therefore has two jobs.
Recognize when the buyer may be moving.
And know when human engagement can actually add value.
The apprentice looked toward the new vessel.
"Should we send someone now?"
"What would they say?"
She thought.
"I saw your ship?"
"Terrifying."
She laughed.
Then understood.
A buying signal is not permission to become strange.
It is information that may improve preparation.
Signals tell us where to look. Judgment tells us how to behave...
The Time Warp
Replace the harbor.
Keep the lighthouse.
The telescope becomes digital research.
The ship registry becomes firmographic data.
The warehouse lease becomes company expansion intelligence.
The signal flag becomes website behavior.
The shipping ledger becomes CRM history.
The captain change becomes executive-change data.
The approaching vessel becomes an account.
The principle survives.
Something moved.
AI can help us see far more movement than the Keeper of the Eastern Lighthouse ever could.
Thousands of accounts.
Millions of events.
Research patterns.
Hiring changes.
Leadership changes.
Technology changes.
Market events.
Engagement.
But visibility creates another problem.
Noise.
A signal isn't valuable merely because software detected it.
Some signals matter.
Others don't.
Some matter today.
Others become relevant six months later.
AI-P + BIP = OilSire
AI-P expands what can be observed.
BIP organizes the commercial environment.
OilSire as the operator asks:
What changed?
Why might it matter?
Does it warrant another look?
What responsible action follows?
The telescope helps us see the flag.
It still requires someone to read it.
....
III. B2B Buying Signals: Cold Isn't Cold When the Buyer Is Already Moving
One winter morning, another merchant arrived at the tower.
"I don't believe in signals."
"That's unfortunate."
"I believe in direct selling."
"How exciting."
He ignored me.
"I have fifty messengers."
I looked toward the harbor.
"Congratulations."
"We send offers to every ship."
"Every ship?"
"Every one."
"What are they selling?"
"Timber."
I looked through the telescope.
One vessel carried timber.
Another was carrying livestock.
Three were fishing boats.
One was a naval patrol.
And approaching from the south was a ship flying signals that indicated she needed repair.
"You're sending the naval patrol a timber offer?"
"Volume."
He said it proudly.
Then one of his competitors walked into the repair yard.
She had noticed the damaged vessel.
She had noticed its reduced speed.
She had noticed the distress signal.
She didn't have fifty messengers.
She had one relevant reason to begin a conversation.
The merchant looked irritated.
"She got lucky."
No.
She had been watching.
This is why the traditional distinction between cold and warm prospects can sometimes hide something important.
An account may have never spoken to you.
That doesn't necessarily mean nothing is happening.
6sense's 2026 account-prioritization research cites its buyer study finding that 95% of B2B purchases went to a vendor that was already on the buyer's Day-One shortlist. In other words, much of the competitive movement may occur before sellers receive an obvious declaration of interest.
The account may be researching.
Changing.
Expanding.
Comparing.
Planning.
Replacing.
Preparing.
The relationship may be cold.
The buyer may not be.
That does not mean chase every anonymous twitch.
It means targeting can improve when we recognize that buyers move before they speak.
The Signal Before the Sale
Years later, The apprentice had became keeper of the Eastern Lighthouse.
Before she left, she asked me:
"What is the most important signal?"
I laughed.
After all those years, she was still trying to get me to give her an easy answer.
"There isn't one."
"Funding?"
"No."
"Leadership change?"
"No."
"Research?"
"No."
"Expansion?"
"No."
She folded her arms.
"Then what am I supposed to watch?"
I handed her my old telescope.
"Difference."
She looked confused.
"Difference from what?"
"Yesterday."
That's the work.
A market is constantly moving.
Companies move with it.
The opportunity is often hidden inside the change.
Not every change becomes a sale.
But almost every sale has a story that began before the sale.
Somebody expanded.
Something broke.
Leadership changed.
Demand increased.
Technology shifted.
A contract ended.
A market opened.
A problem grew.
A buyer began researching.
Then eventually someone said:
"We need something."
The Lighthouse tries to notice the sentence before anyone says it aloud.
Give Away the Wisdom. Protect the Workbench.
We can give this away:
Look for change.
Buying signals are clues, not guarantees.
Learn to notice what others miss.
And:
Cold isn't necessarily cold when the buyer is already moving.
What we do not publish is exactly how signals should be weighted, combined, scored or prioritized across a commercial market.
That remains the workbench.
Give away the wisdom.
Protect the workbench.
Tomorrow morning another ship will appear beyond the cape.
Most people will see a ship.
Someone will see that it changed direction.
Email tony@oilsire.com with the subject “Request for Discovery.” Include your best time to be reached and the time zone you do business in.
Drill the Market. Find the Pay Zone.
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