Lead

A lead (or sales lead) is a person or an organization that has shown interest – whether directly or indirectly – in what you are selling.

The term is also often applied to the corresponding CRM record containing all the information about a certain potential buyer.

Sales leads are typically the contacts that have just entered your funnel, i.e., the ones who might be interested in your product or service, but you can’t be sure yet.

Related terms:

• Lead attribution is the process of identifying which marketing efforts to credit for bringing in a lead.
• Lead routing (or lead distribution) is the process of assigning incoming leads to different sales reps for further nurturing. The process is often automated using lead routing software.