I recently participated in a discussion on LinkedIn where a group of sales and marketing consultants were debating the meaning of the word “lead.” Definitions vary, but in the interest of brevity, I’m going to cover the three most common ways people talk about “leads.”

First, some people see a lead as the original inquiry that a potential customer makes about a product. In this example, when a person hits your company’s website and says, “Send me more information,” this is a lead. The person inquiring about your company may not have a budget or meet any other buying criteria; they are just asking for information. The inquiry is called a lead until you know more about what they need. The fact that people use the term to mean both the company AND/OR the person making the inquiry poses many sales-tracking challenges. (See our whitepaper on managing leads in Salesforce.com.)

The second use of “lead” is in sales cycle mapping. In this case, the noun “lead” is defined by the adjectives in front of it. The word “lead,” paired with another word, tells you where you are in the sales process. For example, a “marketing-qualified lead” or “sales-ready lead” indicates that this potential buyer is moving through the steps of qualifying. A “qualified lead” implies you know enough to propose work to them. In this situation, it’s the adjective that really clarifies where they are in the sales process, not the word “lead” alone.

Finally, some people see a lead as a potential buyer who has reached the highest point in the qualification process. In this scenario, a lead is someone with whom you’ve spoken, possibly multiple times. You’ve determined that this prospect has the budget and the authority to buy your product, as well as a real need that your solution addresses.

At Initial Call, we use “lead” according to the first explanation. We say “lead” to mean someone who has inquired of our services but about whom we know little. Once we begin conversations with the inquiring party, we refer to them as an Account, whether a Suspect Account (meaning we need more information) or a Prospect Account (meaning it is qualified as a potential client). Much confusion can be averted by limiting the use of the term “lead” to only those early inquiries into your product. 

We will provide more information about this way of tracking sales in future newsletters. In the meantime, no matter how you define “lead,” the single most important thing is that everyone within your company use the word the same way. 

Don’t assume that they do. 

Ask them.