It's not a lead, It's and inquiry!

Too often we come back from a tradeshow or a meeting with a client and the first question from our boss is "so how many leads did you get?" The smart salesman says "none", because he knows a lead isn't a lead until you qualify it. Until the qualification stage happens it's merely an inquiry.


Brian Carroll, author of Lead Generation for the Complex Sale, states it best when defining a lead over an inquiry. "An inquiry is an interested party who has requested information and needs some level of assistance."

The first step in defining an inquiry is to have an ideal customer profile. Yup, that means your sales department and marketing department are going to have to get together and agree on something. But it's the most important thing they will agree on. It's your ideal customer, and it's vital to your marketing department to target. And even more important for your sales department to pursue. Having a universally defined ideal customer gives you a blue-print to qualify an inquiry. Your ideal customer profile should be based on previous leads (not inquiries) that turned into successful sales. It should represent your target market for your product or service. To put it simply, it should the person that you always want walking through your door, going to your website, or calling you on the phone to buy your product.

So what is a lead anyway? Well a lead is a potential customer who inquired about your company and fits your description of an ideal customer profile. Therefore, not all inquiries are leads. A lead has a high probability of turning into a sale. Where an inquiry has a low probability of turning into a sale.

Why all the fuss? Well if you feed your salespeople too many inquiries and call them leads your going to frustrate them immediately. They will loose faith in the marketing department and have zero faith in your leadership.

The Selling Point: Stick to the basics, qualify your inquiries, and give your sales people the best leads possible. I assure you that your bottom line will thank you.