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Leads vs Prospects in Distribution

AJ Traver

Hi everyone,

I was speaking with  , at EIS Inc (Distribution industry,) and we were discussing the difference between how EIS thinks about Leads and Prospects. In the Manufacturing and Distribution industry, there seems to be some variability in how 'leads' and 'prospects' are defined and managed. Aadil shared that a lead signifies someone interested in your offerings, while a prospect refers to a potential customer who fits your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) but hasn't requested a quote yet.

I'm curious to learn if others in the industry share the same distinction. How do you define and differentiate between leads and prospects in your manufacturing or distribution business? And how does your lead routing process accommodate these distinctions?

Thanks for sharing!

Parents

  • Lead: Much like a business card.  We have limited data but appears to be a consumer of products that we are capable of supplying.

     
    Prospect:  There has been confirmation that this company is indeed purchasing products that we are capable of supplying-They are currently spending money with our competition 

  • in reply to Tim Phillips

    Hi  , very interesting. Thanks for sharing. Have you built a custom module for Prospects in your CRM instance? I'm curious how your process works to automate routing for Prospects.

  • in reply to AJ Traver

    We have not yet officially launched SurgarCRM.  We are still in implementing.  This was a critical issue for us when selecting a new CRM.  I was very disappointed in HOW we are having to work the journey from Lead to Prospect to Customer.  We were told, through our many pre-sale meetings with Sugar, that this was standard and not a problem.  What we found out is that it is not standard and we had to come up with a work-around solution. We did not build a custom module for Prospects. 

     The journey process that we have worked out, and are currently testing, is as follows.  Lead:  we work to confirm the lead fits our target prospect profile.  Simply state, if they are spending money with our competitor, they are a confirmed prospect.  We then convert the Lead to an Account, but the account type is Prospect.  From that account type prospect, we are able to create sales opportunity.  Once the account type prospect commits to placing orders with us, we will change the account type to Customer.  

    It is somewhat confusing at first, but once everyone understands the terminology, it really isn't that big of a deal.  Please let me know if you have additional questions.  I am happy to share.  

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  • in reply to AJ Traver

    We have not yet officially launched SurgarCRM.  We are still in implementing.  This was a critical issue for us when selecting a new CRM.  I was very disappointed in HOW we are having to work the journey from Lead to Prospect to Customer.  We were told, through our many pre-sale meetings with Sugar, that this was standard and not a problem.  What we found out is that it is not standard and we had to come up with a work-around solution. We did not build a custom module for Prospects. 

     The journey process that we have worked out, and are currently testing, is as follows.  Lead:  we work to confirm the lead fits our target prospect profile.  Simply state, if they are spending money with our competitor, they are a confirmed prospect.  We then convert the Lead to an Account, but the account type is Prospect.  From that account type prospect, we are able to create sales opportunity.  Once the account type prospect commits to placing orders with us, we will change the account type to Customer.  

    It is somewhat confusing at first, but once everyone understands the terminology, it really isn't that big of a deal.  Please let me know if you have additional questions.  I am happy to share.  

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  • in reply to Tim Phillips

     

    Tim Phillips said:
    I was very disappointed in HOW we are having to work the journey from Lead to Prospect to Customer.  We were told, through our many pre-sale meetings with Sugar, that this was standard and not a problem.  What we found out is that it is not standard and we had to come up with a work-around solution. We did not build a custom module for Prospects

    This confusion is common.

    if you click on the menu for 'Targets', and look at the URL it is in fact /#Prospects.
    (I personally rename Targets to Prospects because Targets get users confused thinking they are part of Target Lists.)
    When you create a Target/Prospect, you also get the option to convert it into a Lead.

    Hope that helps.

    .

    CRM Business Consultant

  • in reply to Tim Phillips

    Hi Tim, thanks for such a thorough response. I'm sorry to hear that, and I appreciate your candor. It's helpful to understand how you've set up the process.  may also find this interesting, as he's approached the solution slightly differently. Aadil, do you want to share how you've set it up?

    I shared this insight around the Prospect to Lead to Customer process with our executive leadership team at Sugar so they have eyes on this particular industry process. Thanks again for helping me understand.