We spend a lot of real estate on our blog talking about extremely detailed aspects of lead distribution and the lead generation industry. (I'm looking at you live transfers with data matching - ping post method.) So today we wanted to take a step back and answer the basic, yet important question, "What is a sales lead?"
A sales lead is someone who shows interest in a specific product or service by taking action. The action usually involves a potential consumer providing contact information to a company in an attempt to gain more information about a product or service. Sales leads are extremely valuable to companies because of their potential to generate revenue. In fact, an entire industry revolves around generating and selling sales leads.
If you were to ask different companies, “What is a sales lead?”, they would most likely give you different answers. boberdoo.com might say a sales lead is someone who filled out their contact information on a landing page in order to download a whitepaper. Your local home improvement contractor may say a sales lead is someone who calls into the office after being referred from a friend. While a cruise ship company would say a sales lead is someone who fills out their information on a raffle ticket to win a free cruise. Any and all of these responses would be a correct answer to the question, “What is a sales lead?”
Sales leads can be generated through a number of different methods. The growth of the internet has provided amazing potential to reach a wide audience and generate sales leads. Before the days of the internet, telemarketing and TV advertising were extremely popular ways to generate leads. Then there is the old-fashioned way of getting leads through networking and local marketing. Even with the amazing power the internet has for lead generation, person-to-person contact is still arguably the best way to get a quality lead because of the relationship built with the potential consumer.
As you can see, there are a variety of different answers to the question, “What is a sales lead?" Sales leads can come in many different varieties and formats and can be generated in a variety of ways. The process of acquiring sales leads has changed and will continue to evolve over time. But one thing that will remain the same is the high value that sales leads hold for companies in any industry.
boberdoo.com is a software provider for the lead generation industry. We build sophisticated technology that allows marketing companies to track, route and sell their sales leads in real-time to lead buyers. If you're interested in learning more about the lead generation industry or our innovative lead distribution software, give us a call at 800-776-5646 or fill out the form below.