Sales Prospecting Vs. Lead Generation – How Are They Different?

In the domain of B2B sales, often the words “sales prospecting” and “lead generation” are used for the same connotation. However, to the surprise of many Sales professionals, these terms are not the same at all. These two paradigms display objectives and procedural differences, which we shall explore in this article.

There are also specific distinctions between the functioning of a sales prospecting tool and a lead generation tool. This article will discover the innate differences of the concepts and approaches of these ideas and argue why one should not use them interchangeably.

What do we mean by sales prospecting?

Sales prospecting is the event of one-to-one interaction between a sales representative and a potential customer. The core objective of this activity is to create interest from target customers who may not know about the company and its products.

This procedure is a quick and short-term approach to identifying and distinguishing new clients.

What is lead generation in B2B sales?

In B2B sales, lead generation is a marketing activity driven by data. Unlike Sales prospecting, lead generation observes a one-to-many approach. Lead generation is a relatively gradual process that focuses on long-term awareness building in a broad target market.

Blog articles and YouTube Videos are examples of lead generation that strives to build a solid relationship with potential clients and engage them in the business.

• Functional Dissimilarities between Sales prospecting and Lead Generation

A Prospect in contrast to a Lead 

Leads are potential consumers who have expressed interest in the services and products of a company through activities like viewing a YouTube video or subscribing to the company’s YouTube channel or blog.

On the contrary, Prospects are generally those leads that align with the profile of your target consumers. The bottom line is that leads can be prospects if they exhibit the required traits to qualify as a potential customer.

Not using these paradigms in the proper stages of marketing can lead to an empty pipeline. But, it is often not very easy to decide what to use when. However, the functional differences will tell us exactly how to use them pertinently.

• If the pipeline is light and needs rapid replenishment, consider going with sales prospecting. Sales prospecting can help you close appointments with verified leads much quicker.
• Alternatively, you can think of using lead generation as a way to build a quality relationship with your potential clients if you have enough time at hand. This long-term approach enables you a better quality of leads in the pipeline.

• Differences between Sales prospecting and Lead generation in terms of Techniques and Tools

Sales Prospecting Tools and Techniques 

• Cold calling: Cold calling involves calling the leads. The purpose is to learn if they require the product and have the budget to buy it.

• Emailing: Emailing includes compiling a B2B lead list. Then sending ideal customers short, concise, personalized emails that can hook their attention.

• Social Selling: Social selling concerns connecting with potential clients on Social media platforms to chat about your services and products.

Lead Generation Tools and Techniques 

• Content Marketing: The idea of content marketing is to engage the target audience using digital content like blogs, eBooks, informative videos, infographics, whitepapers, and much more. It enables a company to collect the email addresses of clients. It builds a solid email marketing list.

• Lead Generation tools: An effective lead generation tool is software that simplifies capturing qualified leads without the need for coding.

Types of a lead generation tool can be:

• On page lead generation tools: For website
• Inbound lead generation tools: For other channels like video sharing platforms
• Outbound lead generation tools: Helps identify leads and send them messages (email, calls, etc.)

• ABM or Account-based marketing: ABM is a popular method that reaches out to various people within the same target account but with personalized content that addresses individual necessities.

Final Thoughts

When lead generation falls precisely in the marketing domain, sales prospecting is more of an activity related to the sales team. To always have a loaded pipeline, try to combine both an effective lead generation tool and sales prospecting methods concurrently to have a powerful impact on the target market.