Lead generation

Lead generation is the process of finding people or companies that might buy from you, getting a response from them, and passing them to a sales team as a lead.

That covers a lot of ground. Inbound lead generation means content, search, and ads that bring buyers to you. Outbound lead generation means email, phone, LinkedIn, and paid social that go to them. Most companies do some of each, and most arguments about which is better are really arguments about which fits the size of the market.

The thing people get wrong is treating a lead as a fixed unit. A lead can mean a form fill, a download, a reply, a booked meeting, or a meeting a rep looked at and accepted, and those are five different things at five different prices. Any lead generation number is meaningless until you know which one it's counting.

An example

An MSP wants new clients in its metro. Inbound: it writes articles about cybersecurity and ranks for "IT support Phoenix," and some owners call. Outbound: it emails the 40 companies in the metro that posted an IT admin job last month and books calls with the ones who write back. The first produces a steady trickle from whoever's searching. The second produces a smaller number of conversations with companies that have a reason to switch this quarter.

How it's measured

Cost per lead is the common number and the least useful one, because it depends entirely on the definition of lead. Cost per booked meeting, cost per held meeting, and cost per closed deal are the numbers that can be compared across programs. Ask for those.

Related terms

B2B lead generation · Outbound prospecting · Sales accepted lead (SAL) · Lead qualification

If you want this run for you, see our lead generation agency.