1. A company's marketing department is typically responsible for lead generation.
2. Our challenge in sales is to be able to spot the imposter quickly so we don’t waste time on them.
3. Sales prospects who are interested will engage with you consistently, while suspects will only engage with you as long as it’s safe.
4. lead generators: any marketing-related activity intended to publicize the availability of a vendor's product or service.
5. lead nurturing: the practices that a company establishes for dealing with potential leads.
6. lead scoring: processes or software designed to rank the importance of leads to the company.
7. The way you call them out is by asking them to share with you something about themselves or their business that is not publically known. Prospects, if they genuinely are interested in you and your product, will see the value in sharing such information. Suspects will not.
8. Second level is to then ask the person to do something for you after you leave. You might ask them to review some information and email you with their comments. You might ask them to provide you with internal documents. The idea is to get them to spend time doing something after you’ve left the call. A real prospect, if they’re serious, is naturally going to do this, because they see the value. On the other hand, a suspect is not going to do something for you, because their goal is to get you to do everything for them.9. The sooner that you as the salesperson can verify you’re dealing with a solid sales prospect, the greater your chance of being successful and maximizing profit.
10. In marketing, lead generation is the generation of consumer interest or inquiry into products or services of a business.
11. some say leads are qualified prospects, others say prospects are developed from leads, and still others say prospects are equivalent to sales leads.
12. a lead is information that indirectly points toward a sale.
14. Sales-ready leads have provided the same information and demonstrated a greater degree of sales potential. In both cases, the information is typically user-generated and provides a contact method (thus enabling further communication and sales potential). With these two clarifications taken into account, the final definition is the following.
15. Lead – An individual who has provided contact information and, in doing so, pointed toward a potential sales opportunity.
16. Prospects tend to be classified in one of two ways. Some consider prospects to be contacts who fit one of a company’s buyer personas, but have not expressed interest. Others consider prospects to be sales-ready leads that have moved on to the sales team
17. The verbiage around “lead” discusses slight or indirect indications toward a subject, while that around “prospect” discusses the potential for immediate development and actualization. In other words, a leads puts you on the path toward an outcome, while a prospect is the final step before actualization of the outcome.
18. Prospect – A qualified and interested individual who, through two-way interaction, has demonstrated they are preparing to make a purchase decision
19. The single biggest difference between prospects and leads is their engagement; leads are characterized by one way communication, while prospects are characterized by two way communication.
20. A lead has reached out to a company – through a form or sign-up – and provided their information. Once the company has that information, they enter the lead into their nurture process, wherein the lead receives communications from the company with hopes of driving further engagement. More qualified leads may engage with the content, but there is no sustained back and forth. Prospects, on the other hand, are created after a sales-ready lead is contacted by a rep. In order to be elevated to the status of prospect, the lead has to engage in dialog with the rep. This could take the form of a chain of email messages, a phone call, or a meeting.
21. The other key difference between leads and prospects is the methods of communication. Leads are typically contacted in large groups or as part of an automated program. In either case, processes are defined by the marketing department. Messages come from general addresses (marketing@company.com, newsletter@company.com, etc.) and calls to action are related to consuming additional content or connecting in on additional channels. Prospects are usually contacted on an individual or small group basis. Messages come from associated reps and are highly personalized to the recipient. Calls to action for prospects usually center on keeping the dialog going (scheduling a call, requesting a quote, etc.).
