What is a lead?
A lead is the term for a potential customer. Lead is a concept used within sales and marketing and describes when a person has shown interest in a company's product or service.
A distinction is made between "cold" and "warm" leads, where warm leads are closer to and more likely to make a purchase than cold leads.
What is a lead in your business?
What constitutes a lead in your business depends on your customers' customer journey and your business. A person goes from being a stranger to being a lead when you have at least basic information about them. For example:
- Name
- Phone number
And similar.
This information can be provided, for example, when the person fills out a form, is in contact with someone at your company, downloads material (whitepapers, e-books and similar), thereby transitioning from being a stranger to being a lead.
The different types of leads
Just as a distinction is made between "cold" and "warm" leads, there are also various terms that describe at which stage of the lifecycle a lead is. In other words: how far along and in which phase of the customer journey they are: from stranger to loyal customer.
Before the customer knows you at all, and you know them, they are a potential customer/a stranger. They then become a lead, for example by filling out a form, downloading material or otherwise providing their information.
When they show sufficient interest, the lead is qualified as an MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead). This means the lead is receptive to marketing.
After a certain amount of marketing nurturing, the lead moves from being marketing qualified (MQL) to being an SQL (Sales Qualified Lead) and is at this point considered ready to buy.
This is typically where the lead is handed over from marketing to sales. Sales' task here is to "close" the customer and convert them from being an SQL to being a paying customer.
Below you can see an illustration of the lead lifecycle and its stages throughout the customer journey. From stranger, to Lead, to MQL, to SQL and finally; to customer:
Are you ready to optimise your lead generation?
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