What is a Lead?
A lead, or sales lead, is an individual who has just entered the sales funnel but isn’t qualified yet. They’ve shown some sort of interest in your product, but it’s yet to be determined if they’re a good fit, or how serious their buying intent is.
Lead vs. Prospect
The terms “lead” and “prospect” are often used by sales reps, and while they both refer to individuals within the sales funnel, there are differences. The main difference is whether they’ve been qualified.
Leads, while interested in your product at some level, haven’t been qualified.
A prospect, in simple terms, refers to a lead that has been qualified. They fit a company’s ideal customer profile and are interested in purchasing their product.
It’s important to understand the difference between leads and prospects so you can recognize where in the sales funnel that individual is.
How to Generate Leads
Lead generation is an important part of any sales cadence. To generate new leads effectively, your sales and marketing teams must be aligned. External communication must be consistent so new leads don’t get confused over mixed messages.
To generate new leads, practice the following:
Personalized Outreach
It may seem obvious, but one of the best ways to get people interested in your product is to tell them about it. Sales reps conduct outreach every single day in the form of cold calls or emails and are constantly tracking down new leads.
An effective way to stand out and grab your audience’s attention is to use personalized outreach. An easy way to do this is with video emails. In fact, over 70% of sales professionals have stated that video emails outperform text-based messaging and result in a higher open rate and increased responses.
Personalized outreach, specifically video content, will grab the attention of your audience and stand out from competition.
Meaningful Content
Meaningful content comes in many forms: a company website or blog, social media channels, newsletters, or video tutorials demoing a product. Producing content that connects with audiences and gets them interested in your product is key. Once their interest is piqued and they interact with your content, they’ll enter the sales funnel as a new lead.
Referrals
Referrals are an excellent way to get new leads. If an existing customer tells a colleague about the benefits of your product, they’ll likely look up your company and begin interacting with content on your website. If they sign up for a newsletter or free trial, they’ve entered the sales funnel.
In best case scenarios, referrals will reach out directly to speak to a sales rep for more information. In some cases, referrals are given to sales reps, and they can instead reach out to set up a meeting.
How to Nurture Leads
Lead nurturing is essential. It’s one thing to generate leads, but you need to ensure you’re consistently attracting the right people. If all your leads are unqualified it not only makes selling difficult, but signifies an issue that you’re not targeting the right audiences.
Nurturing leads ensures you’re meaningfully engaging with your target audience.
- Create targeted content. Know exactly who you’re targeting and what they’re looking for, and bridge that gap with targeted content.
- Personalize your outreach. Always ensure your outreach is personalized (remember, video emails are the most impactful) to help make a lasting impression.
- Follow up with leads in a timely manner. Don’t let conversations peter out. Keep your leads warm and remind them what you’re offering and how it will help.
- Use lead scoring tactics. Measure engagement metrics, demographic information, and exactly how people are interacting with you online to make informed decisions.