SOUTHLAKE, Texas – SBI Growth Advisory, the consulting firm specializing in GTM, and Polaris I/O, an AI-powered enterprise account platform, today released a joint research report titled Pipeline in Plain Sight: Predictable Account Expansion in Unpredictable Times. The report draws on an analysis of more than 58,000 business evolution signals across 46 enterprise accounts over 12 months and presents data on how GTM teams can systematically identify expansion demand before it enters traditional buying cycles.
The findings arrive at a moment when chief executives are under mounting pressure to drive growth from their existing customer base. According to SBI's Q4 2025 CEO Survey of 118 executives, 71 percent rate account expansion as critical to hitting their growth targets. Only 49 percent said they are confident their teams can actually execute it. That 22-point gap is wider than any other growth lever SBI measured, including go-to-market efficiency and customer retention.
"Most account teams are working hard, running QBRs, managing relationships, staying close to their contacts. The problem is that demand is forming inside their largest accounts in places they are not looking. Business changes create new needs long before anyone fills out a form or searches for a solution. By the time intent data picks it up, someone else is often already in the room."
Nick Toman, Partner, Strategy, SBI Growth Advisory
What the Data Shows
The research compared two parallel account management approaches across the same 46 accounts over the same 12-month period. Teams using business evolution signal monitoring generated four times the number of qualified opportunities compared to teams using traditional account management methods. They converted those opportunities at a 71 percent rate, versus 20 percent for traditional approaches. Average deal size for signal-driven opportunities reached $2.6 million, compared to $350,000 for traditionally sourced deals. And those deals closed in an average of 144 days, compared to 272 days.
The report also identifies the three categories of business evolution events that drove 82 percent of all closed expansion deals in the study: Strategic Transformation (31 percent), including technology migrations and platform modernization; Growth and Restructuring (28 percent), including acquisitions and geographic expansion; and Environmental Disruption (23 percent), including regulatory changes and organizational shifts. .
Why Engagement Timing Determines Outcome
A core finding of the report is that the role a vendor plays in a deal is largely determined by when they engage after a business evolution event. Teams that respond within the first 30 days enter conversations before requirements are defined and are positioned as strategic advisors who help shape priorities, budget, and evaluation criteria. Teams that engage between 30 and 90 days become one of two or three vendors being compared. Teams that arrive after 90 days typically receive an RFP and compete on price.
The report pairs this signal intelligence framework with SBI's Headway Selling methodology, which draws on research with nearly 600 buyers. GTM teams that practice Headway Selling, focusing on the customer's change rather than their own solution's capabilities, have seen an average win rate increase of 33.5 percent.
"We built Polaris I/O to solve exactly the problem this research documents and to unlock the growth opportunity that comes with it. Expansion pipeline materializes every day in parts of accounts that teams can't easily see or monitor. The data we collected with SBI puts a real number on the cost of that visibility gap. We hope this research compels GTM leaders to invest differently in account expansion by aligning with evolving customer needs earlier and more deliberately. The results are powerful."
Dave Irwin, Founder & CEO, Polaris I/O
A 90-Day Playbook for GTM Leaders
Beyond the research findings, the report provides a practical implementation guide for GTM leaders who want to build signal-driven expansion capabilities within a single quarter. The four-step framework covers identifying which business evolution events historically predict expansion revenue for a given business, building the signal monitoring infrastructure, equipping account teams with AI-powered guidance that surfaces prioritized actions rather than raw data feeds, and redesigning account review cadences to be forward-looking rather than backward-looking.
The report is available now at sbigrowth.com.
ABOUT SBI GROWTH ADVISORY
SBI is a management consulting firm focused on revenue growth. Driven by insights and delivered from experience, SBI helps clients grow revenue, margin, and enterprise value. SBI partners with go-to-market leaders as an extension of their team, providing research-backed strategies and hands-on execution support. Learn more at sbigrowth.com.
ABOUT POLARIS I/O
Polaris I/O is an enterprise account platform that modernizes account research, planning, and execution. Polaris I/O applies external data and AI-driven intelligence to continuously monitor the relevant needs of enterprise accounts for growth and expansion. With a focus on pre-intent signals, the Polaris I/O platform proactively alerts account sellers to relevant customer problems and challenges, which solutions align to address those challenges, who is involved in the decision-making process, and which value propositions match each stakeholder. Polaris I/O monitors commercial signals across accounts, markets, industries, and suppliers to proactively inform commercial teams of immediate areas of risk and opportunity. Learn more at polarisio.com.
