Suspects, prospects, leads, traffic.. all these terms can be confusing for you as an enterprising marketing or sales manager or as an enterprising entrepreneur from time to time. We are all guilty of using different terminology to describe potential customers as they move through the B2B Sales Funnel, but what do they all mean? What is a prospect? And what is the difference between a lead and a prospect? Understanding these sales terms is essential for a successful sales strategy, so that we can determine how far each buyer is in the sales process.
What is a B2B Sales lead?
What comes first; a lead or a prospect? The afghanistan phone number list answer is a B2B Sales lead. A lead is someone who is interested in a product or service that you sell. Leads are the most basic type of contact for any salesperson or marketer. Once a potential prospect shows interest in your company, he becomes a Sales lead.
B2B Lead Generation can be done in two main ways:
1. Inbound B2B Lead Generation
Potential customers fill out your web form or sign up for your newsletter, leaving their contact details. These leads can be considered hot leads, influencer content of cat with cake because they have shown interest in your product or service and would like to receive more information in the short or medium term.
2. Outbound B2B Lead Generation
Salespeople use email or phone lists to contact potential interested parties. Contacts become leads when they express interest and confirm their contact information. At this stage, your leads are unqualified. But they remain leads as you learn more about them.
How do you turn a B2B Sales lead into a qualified prospect?
By showing engagement from the first point of contact. This is typically done through automated email campaigns that use marketing content to generate interest and encourage targeted leads to enter the Sales Funnel. The main goal is to learn more about leads, gauge their level of interest, and help develop a long-term relationship. However, email marketing campaigns do not necessarily create a dialogue, so you must include a call to action to qualify a lead as a prospect.
What is a prospect?
The definition of a prospect is a lead that has been qualified by a sales team to fit a company’s “ideal” customer profile. But it’s not that simple. There are two types of prospects: marketing qualified prospects and sales qualified prospects.
Marketing Qualified Prospects
Marketing Qualified Prospects are those contacts that could become leads – in other words, ‘prospective’ leads. An example of this phone database would be prospects from an email database. Before any action is taken, all contacts are prospective leads. They become a sales-ready lead when they have confirmed their interest.
Sales Qualified Prospects
The definition of a Sales Qualified Prospect is different. While B2B Marketing Qualified Prospects are at the very top of the sales funnel, Sales Qualified Prospects are at the penultimate level. Leads become Sales Qualified Prospects when they are ready to engage in two-way communication with a named individual. At this stage, they have likely demonstrated their intent to purchase your product or service and are ready to discuss further details with you. Calls to action for Sales Qualified Prospects will focus on continuing the conversation until an agreement is reached.