In intelligence circles, analysts rely on different types of information to make decisions: HUMINT (human intelligence), SIGINT (signal intelligence), and OSINT (open-source intelligence). The balance between these determines whether they make sound decisions or miss the threat entirely.
There are many examples in history of the military or the intelligence apparatus relying too much on SIGINT and ignoring the human element. One of the most painful lessons comes from the Battle of Midway during World War II, where the U.S. Navy’s intelligence apparatus heavily favored SIGINT codebreaking Japanese naval communications over HUMINT from spies or scouts. This overconfidence nearly turned a stunning American victory into a devastating defeat, costing lives and nearly derailing the Pacific War. Post Midway, Admiral Nimitz mandated a hybrid intel fusion going forward.
In sales leadership, the stakes are just as high for your mission, but most sales managers are still flying half-blind. Let’s unpack this analogy and how it maps to sales, and more importantly, how you can use it to stop missing your number.
HUMINT: What Your Frontline Managers Already Know Or Think They Do
HUMINT is all about human interaction: boots on the ground, face-to-face interviews, and gentle inspection and interrogation. When developing your sales team, this is your frontline sales manager. They know their people. They talk to them, review their deals, go on virtual ridealongs, have 1:1s, and maybe even review some call recordings.
HUMINT is critical, but only as good as the observer and how often they meet their assets. When your managers are running from fire to fire, coaching on gut instinct, or “winging it” in 1:1s, that intelligence becomes inconsistent, if it exists at all.
How much do you trust your HUMINT? How much are you investing in improving this intelligence? How often are you and your sales team acting on the manager’s intelligence?
SIGINT: The Signals in Your Tech Stack Sitting Unused
Sales organizations today have an overwhelming number of signals flowing in: CRM activity, call transcripts, calendar data, conversation intelligence tools, and engagement scores. That’s your SIGINT.
Call intelligence is great, but who is sifting through that noise and highlighting the most important signals? Your managers and salespeople are buried. Data is everywhere, but insight is rare. Even if someone finds ‘good intel,’ determining how to act on it can be difficult.
Is anyone paying attention to your SIGINT? How are you prioritizing and acting on this intelligence?
OSINT: Public Information That’s Hiding in Plain Sight
Then there’s OSINT: information already available, just not synthesized. In sales, that might be deal intelligence, client research, performance metrics, enablement content, or even sales training and playbooks. It’s “there”, but it’s scattered, unstructured, and unactioned.
This creates a dangerous illusion. You think you have the information, but your frontline managers and salespeople still say, “I haven’t had time to look at it. Where do I find that again?”
How much have you invested in your OSINT that is going unused? What is publicly available that you are still missing? How are managers holding salespeople accountable for leveraging this intelligence?
CoachEm: An AI Manager Operating System Fusing Actionable Sales Intelligence
Great military intelligence doesn’t rely on a single source. It fuses HUMINT, SIGINT, and OSINT to give leaders a complete picture. It’s the ‘hybrid intel fusion’ Nimitz refers to. That’s exactly what CoachEm does for your sales org, especially the frontline managers.
CoachEm takes all of the information from your systems, processes it through our proprietary Causal AI, determines the next best action for your salespeople for deal coaching and developmental coaching, and delivers it in a single pane of actionable insight for every manager.
CoachEm turns manager/rep 1:1s HUMINT strategy sessions. The managers know where to focus, whether it’s skill gaps, mindset, or coaching moments that actually matter.
Better Action Plans. Less Guesswork. Real Performance Lift.
This isn’t about more tools. It’s about better intelligence. At one client, pipeline grew 300% YoY after frontline managers began using CoachEm to run consistent, focused 1:1s.
In today’s market, you can’t afford to be wrong. When managers use guesswork, cherry-picked data, or skip coaching altogether, you get reps who underperform, a pipeline that falls flat, and regrettable attrition that keeps your team in a constant rebuild cycle.
CoachEm flips that momentum. It turns your managers into multipliers, intelligence analysts with clear next steps, targeted interventions, and a coaching cadence you can actually track.
Want to Get the Full Picture?
You’re already sitting on the information. We help you activate it. CoachEm is the strategy dashboard your managers need to coach with clarity, context, and confidence. That’s how we go from firefighting to mission-critical progress.
Let’s talk about what would happen if we made your frontline leaders the most informed people in the company.
