What is a lead?

A lead is a potential customer who has shown concrete interest in a company's product or service. This interest is expressed by sharing contact information, such as email or phone number, in response to an advertisement, content, or by filling out a form on the website.

Unlike a prospect, who is a potential customer potentially interested in the product or service offered, a lead is a person who has expressed a certain level of interest but has not yet been qualified.

Types of leads

Leads are often also differentiated into:

• Cold: not yet actively looking for the product or service.
• Warm: interested in the value proposition, but has not yet developed a serious interest.
• Hot: shows a strong interest and may be ready to buy.

Marketing and Sales: two worlds apart

Often, marketing and sales diverge on the lead topic. Marketing focuses on the number of leads generated, while sales complain about their poor quality.

The risk is that salespeople do not pay the right attention to leads, losing business opportunities. According to Gleanster Research, only 25% of leads are qualified for sales, and when marketing and sales are not aligned, 4% of annual turnover is lost.

The importance of alignment

Marketing and sales need to work in synergy, sharing goals and results. The common goal is to increase turnover, as evidenced by MarketingProfs: companies that align sales and marketing achieve an annual turnover growth of 20%.

The ideal solution

The ideal solution is to work together, in a coordinated manner. The marketing team must focus more on the quality of leads, rather than quantity, while the sales team must provide accurate feedback to colleagues about the value of the contacts provided.

How to improve lead quality

Here are some tips on how to improve lead quality:

• Create targeted content: Create content that is relevant to your target audience and that addresses their specific needs and pain points.
• Use effective lead capture forms: Make sure your lead capture forms are easy to fill out and that they only ask for the information you need.
• Nurture your leads: Once you have generated a lead, don't just forget about them. Nurture them with relevant content and offers until they are ready to buy.
• Track your results: Track the results of your lead generation efforts so you can see what's working and what's not.

By following these tips, you can improve the quality of your leads and increase your chances of closing more deals.