We all want leads!

Every company needs and wants leads. That’s the first thing a company asks me when I’m being considered to work with them: “We need leads.”

Sure, I can help.

But that one statement always makes me pause because the real question is, what exactly do you mean by a lead?

I was having a conversation recently with James Bradshaw-Weaver, CEO of EqualsFive, and he asked me a really good question:

“How do you define a lead?”

And that, right there, is the common mismatch between sales and marketing.

What marketing deems a lead can differ completely from what sales expects from marketing. When I answered James, I said, “That’s what sales and marketing need to work out together.” Because in my experience, some sales teams want anyone who has shown even a hint of interest, someone who has registered for a webinar, downloaded a guide, or signed up for a newsletter.

Then other sales teams only want leads that are ready to buy, people who are interested, warmed up, and halfway through the decision-making process. They don’t want to waste their time chasing people who were merely curious; they want prospects with intent.

Here’s my take.

A lead is a potential customer who has demonstrated genuine interest and engagement with your brand, indicating a clear intent to take action, such as filling out a contact form, requesting a demo, or booking a consultation. Most importantly, they should fit your ideal customer profile (ICP), meaning they have the budget, authority, need, and timeline that align with what you offer. Once captured, leads should be qualified based on their level of interest, decision-making authority, and readiness to buy, so that both marketing and sales can focus their energy on those most likely to convert.

It’s always refreshing to work with a sales team that genuinely wants to collaborate with marketing, rather than blaming marketing for not delivering. Because here’s the truth: sales and marketing alignment is where lead generation truly succeeds. One cannot function effectively without the other. We’re not competing departments; we’re two halves of the same customer journey. Marketing’s role is to identify, attract, and nurture potential customers, while sales focuses on converting those prospects into paying clients. When both functions are working in sync, sharing definitions, insights, and feedback, that’s when the pipeline grows with real, qualified opportunities.

The Different Kinds of Leads

In B2B marketing, not all leads are created equal. Understanding the stages of a lead helps both sides stay realistic about what’s being delivered.

• Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL): Someone who has engaged with your marketing activities, perhaps they have attended a webinar, downloaded a whitepaper, or engaged with a social post. They have shown interest but may not be ready to buy yet.

• Sales Qualified Lead (SQL): A lead vetted by sales that shows intent to make a purchase. They may have requested pricing, asked for a demo, or confirmed they have a project in motion.

• Product Qualified Lead (PQL): Common in SaaS or tech, a user who has tried your product and is demonstrating usage patterns that suggest buying potential.

• Cold Lead: Someone who fits your ICP but has not yet engaged. Often identified through outbound efforts such as LinkedIn outreach or targeted lists.

Knowing where each lead sits helps manage expectations and prevents the classic tug of war between sales and marketing.

Why the Definition Matters

When the definition of a lead is not agreed upon, chaos follows. Marketing gets accused of generating low-quality leads, and sales complain that they are wasting time. Meanwhile, great opportunities fall through the cracks because there is no shared understanding of what success looks like.

I have seen this play out too many times.

In one company I worked with, the marketing team celebrated generating 500 new leads from a campaign, but when I spoke to sales, they told me only 10 were worth pursuing. The problem was not the campaign; it was the lack of a shared definition. Marketing was tracking engagement; sales was tracking intent. Once we aligned on a joint scoring system that combined behavioural data with qualification criteria, both sides were finally speaking the same language.

The result was that the number of sales-ready leads tripled within a month, not because we changed the campaign, but because we clarified what we were aiming for.

The Sales Perspective

You don’t think this article was gonna miss the sales perspective? No way! I love sales, and having worked with two in particular, I’d have to get their input for you. They are successful because they understand the marketing and sales alignment. 

Claudia Van Heel, 20+ years in international sales and Senior Business Manager 

I’ve seen it time and again, sales and marketing operating as separate islands, each chasing their own KPIs, wondering why growth feels harder than it should be.

The real game-changer? Alignment.

After 20+ years in international sales, I’ve seen the same pattern in so many organizations, sales and marketing working as separate islands, chasing their own KPIs and wondering why growth feels harder than it should be. But the real breakthrough happens when both teams look at the same funnel, share the same goals, and trust each other as one revenue team. 

One funnel. One goal. One team. That’s where real growth begins.

When sales and marketing operate as one revenue team, energy is focused, efforts are amplified and real growth happens.

Steven Betancourt Dominguez, Co-Founder of SofiScale and 9 years in Sales

​​As more companies struggle to generate their own leads due to various reasons, it is crucial that sales and marketing are aligned to focus their time on prospects with a higher likelihood of success.

We find it is vital to classify a lead not by interest alone, but by intent, fit, and timing, following specific sales methodology, ensuring every conversation starts with real potential, not just possibility. And this is done with Marketing, not separately. 

Real-Life Examples

Let’s say your company sells cybersecurity software. A marketing-qualified lead might be someone who downloaded your “2025 Cybersecurity Trends” report or attended a webinar on threat detection. They are showing curiosity, but they may not be ready to buy.

A sales-qualified lead, on the other hand, would be the IT Director of a mid-sized firm who has filled out a “Book a Demo” form, mentioned that their contract with a current vendor is ending soon, and has a budget allocated for security upgrades. That is a lead worth pursuing.

Or imagine a SaaS platform offering analytics for e-commerce brands. A visitor who signs up for a free trial and uses the tool daily for a week is a product-qualified lead. Their behaviour signals interest and intent far stronger than a casual website visitor.

The point is that leads come in different shapes and levels of readiness. Defining what stage they are in helps your sales team prioritise their efforts effectively.

The Role of Nurturing

Lead generation does not stop at capturing interest. Many potential customers are not ready to buy immediately, and that is where nurturing comes in.

Through targeted email sequences, valuable content, webinars, or retargeting ads, you can continue building trust until the timing is right. The aim is to stay relevant without being pushy, to offer value consistently so that when the prospect is ready, your brand is already top of mind.

I always say that you don’t just generate leads; you grow them.

Final Thoughts

Every business wants leads, but what they really need is clarity. Clarity between sales and marketing on what a lead truly is, what qualifies it, and how to handle it once captured. Without that alignment, you end up with friction, wasted effort, and frustrated teams.

The most successful organisations I have worked with are the ones where sales and marketing operate as one revenue team, collaborating, communicating, and holding shared accountability for pipeline growth.

Because at the end of the day, generating leads is not just about volume. It is about quality, consistency, and connection. A hundred unqualified names mean nothing if they do not convert. But a handful of well-defined, well-nurtured leads? That is what drives sustainable growth.

So next time someone says, “We need leads,” my answer will always be the same: Let’s first decide what a lead actually means to your business.