Inbound Lead
An inbound lead is a potential buyer who reaches out to a company or shares their details on their own initiative, for example by filling in a form, requesting a demo or signing up for a trial.
Also called: inbound leads, inbound sales
Why it matters
They are the result of marketing work such as content, SEO, ads, events and word of mouth. Handling them well, with fast follow-up and the right routing, protects the value of that work.
Not every inbound lead is a good fit. Students, competitors and very small companies also fill in forms. Teams use lead scoring and qualification to sort inbound leads, sending the best to sales quickly and putting the rest into nurture. Inbound leads also differ by intent: a demo request is not the same as a guide download.
Example
A company gets 120 inbound leads in a month. Forty asked for a demo, and the rest downloaded a guide. Demo requests that match the ideal customer profile are routed to account executives within the hour, while guide downloads join a nurture sequence and are scored on their later activity.
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