The exact definition of what a lead tends to vary from person to person and is one of the biggest points of contention among sales and marketing professionals.
How to define what is a lead
Most sales professionals define a lead as someone who meets the criteria that the seller has established, and who has the need, reason and/or interest in obtaining a specific product. However, marketers tend to define a lead as being any person who may have these qualities, and believe that a lead who demonstrates having the desired attributes is considered a “potential customer”.
Both definitions make sense, but everyone involved needs to agree on which definition they are using. If you read advice on a sales website, for example, you can assume that the writer is referring to the first definition of lead, while writers trained in the marketing field will generally refer to the second definition.
Some sales experts prefer to use the term suspect (suspicious) instead of lead, to eliminate the confusion that can arise from the existence of multiple definitions. By referring to someone as a suspect rather than a potential customer, they clearly categorize how far along in the buying process the lead in question is.
What is a qualified lead?
Evaluate and qualify leads
Not all of them leads are equally valuable from a sales perspective. First, some sources of leads will provide a large quantity of leads that cannot even be converted into leads, let alone customers. This type of leads is called junk lead. For example, if you use the phone book as your source of information, leads, then most of the people you contact will be a junk lead. This is one reason why sales professionals and companies pay a lot to buy lists of leads of quality. The better the list of leads, the less time the salesperson will waste with people they will never do business with.
But even the leads that can become potential customers can vary in value. A lead A person who only has the potential to make a one-time purchase of your company's cheapest product is worth much less than one who will buy several expensive products over a long period of time.
Part of the qualification process involves determining that leads are more likely to become customers so you can then spend most of your time and energy on them.
Don't make choices based on instinct!
Some sellers make the mistake of selecting leads instinctively, believing that they have the power to know which leads are going to be good and which ones are not even worth trying to make contact with.
This is a mistake that will cost you a lot of sales. Contact all leads to get the most out of your list.
If you have any questions about how to create your list or how to generate more leads, there is nothing better than talking to our specialized services.
At Intuitiva we are experts in generating leads and sales through marketing campaigns on the Meta advertising platform.
