Sales Lead vs A Prospect: Know The Difference
A business’s success is directly related to the number of happy and satisfied customers it has. This is why salespeople play the most important role in a company. They are the ones interacting with the customers, understanding their needs, convincing them of your product’s value, and building great customer-employee relationships. In sales and marketing, the words “sales lead” and “prospect” are often confused with different things.
Who is a Sales Lead?
A sales lead is a potential customer or client who has expressed interest in your company or services. A lead is a person who has just entered your marketing funnel. He may have filled out your online form or signed up to your program or clicked your ad. A lead’s engagement is usually minimal. They have just shown interest, but haven’t invested in your product or service yet.
Who is a Prospect?
A sales lead becomes a prospect if they match the criteria of your target customer. A prospect shows a desire to avail your services or products. For a SaaS, he or she has been using the tool often and has been hitting pay walls. He may even check out the plans. For an eCommerce business, a prospect is someone who has something in his shopping cart. He’s close to making a purchase, he just needs a little nudge.
In simple terms, a prospect is a qualified lead.
Difference between Sales Lead and a Prospect
Now, having defined a prospect and a lead, it should be clear that they are quite different in the sales process. Therefore, logically your marketing approach for the two cannot be the same.
The key difference between leads and prospects is the method of communication. Leads are typically contacted in large groups or as part of an automated program. In either case, the marketing team defines the process. Messages are sent as a newsletter or through general addresses (marketing@abc.com, newsletter@abc.com, etc). Prospects are usually contacted on an individual or small group basis. Associated sales reps personalize messages and send to the recipient or schedule a call, request a quote, etc.
Once the company has the lead’s info, they enter the lead into their nurture process, wherein the lead receives communications from the company with hopes of driving further engagement. Leads may need more nurturing from your team in order to become a prospect. They’re still a little early on their customer journey. Prospects, on the other hand, are created after a sales-ready lead is contacted by a sales rep. To elevate to the status of a prospect, the lead has to engage in the form of a chain of email conversations, phone calls, or a meeting with the sales rep. Since prospects are further down the sales funnel compared to a lead, the sales team are better off focusing on prospects rather than leads. A little nudge and they will likely buy your products.
