Lead Generation
Lead generation is the process of identifying and attracting potential buyers and capturing their contact details so sales and marketing can follow up with them.
Also called: lead gen
Why it matters
Every B2B sales team needs a steady flow of new names to work. Lead generation produces them through inbound channels, such as content, webinars, search and lead magnets, and outbound channels, such as list building and cold outreach. The quality of those leads decides how much time sales spends on real buyers versus people who will never purchase.
Lead generation is often confused with demand generation and pipeline generation. Demand generation builds awareness and interest, even among people who do not fill out a form. Lead generation captures identifiable contacts. Pipeline generation is the next step, turning qualified leads into real sales opportunities. Teams measure lead generation by volume, cost per lead and conversion to qualified leads.
Example
A company that sells compliance software publishes a free checklist for preparing a security audit. Visitors enter their name, work email and company to download it. Each download becomes a lead in the CRM, is enriched with company size and industry, and is scored so that the best matches go to an SDR for a call.
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