By The PhantomBuster TeamWhen it comes to growing your customer base, understanding the difference between lead generation and prospecting is key.
Both are essential to ensure business growth, but they serve distinct purposes. Lead generation covers the broader process of attracting interest, while sales prospecting involves actively seeking and qualifying potential customers.
In this guide, we’ll break down the key differences and explore strategies to help you succeed in both areas.
TL;DR
Sales prospecting involves actively searching for and qualifying leads. It is typically handled by sales professionals to build a sales pipeline of interested prospects.
Lead generation is a broader process for attracting interest and capturing leads. It is done by both marketing and sales teams using inbound and outbound methods.
The main difference between sales prospecting vs. lead generation is that they focus on different stages—lead generation focuses on generating leads, while prospecting identifies and qualifies them for the sales process.
Sales prospecting strategies include building prospect lists from social media, enriching CRM data to keep contacts accurate, and using AI to qualify leads based on their conversion likelihood.
Lead generation examples for your marketing team include using lead capture forms on landing pages or pop-ups to collect contact details, running targeted social media campaigns to reach decision-makers, and hosting webinars to engage with high-quality leads.
To increase lead generation efforts with prospecting, leverage intent data to target leads already researching similar solutions, prioritize warm outbound outreach based on lead engagement signals, and use automation tools to streamline prospecting tasks.
PhantomBuster automates both prospecting and lead generation by scraping data, automating outreach, and syncing leads with your CRM so your team can focus on nurturing the right contacts.
Sales prospecting definition
Sales prospecting is the process of actively searching for potential customers (or leads) who are likely to be interested in your product or service.
It's typically done by sales teams and focuses on identifying, reaching out to, and qualifying leads to determine if they’re a good fit for the business.
The goal is to build a pipeline of interested prospects ready to move down the sales funnel.
Lead generation definition
Lead generation is a broader process that involves attracting and capturing the interest of potential customers in a product or service.
Both sales and marketing teams engage in lead generation, though their methods differ.
Marketing often focuses on inbound strategies like content marketing, social media marketing, lead magnets, and lead capture forms, while sales teams may use outbound methods like cold calling and email outreach.
Essentially, a lead-generation process brings in new prospects that can later be qualified and nurtured into paying customers.
Prospecting vs. lead generation: Key differences
Though often used interchangeably, prospecting and lead generation focus on different sales process stages.
Lead generation is a broader term that involves both inbound and outbound methods, such as SEO, content marketing, paid ads, and cold emails. It’s about attracting interest and capturing contact information, often involving both marketing and sales teams.
Prospecting, on the other hand, is more targeted. Sales teams use it to actively identify and qualify leads. The process includes outreach and research to find prospects who fit the ideal customer profile.
The main distinction lies in who manages each task and how.
Marketing teams drive inbound and outbound efforts (through blogs, ads, social media, etc.), while sales teams handle prospecting and seeking qualified leads to push through the sales pipeline.
Prospecting and lead generation strategies
Having the right strategies in place can make all the difference in lead generation and sales prospecting.
Let’s look at some key sales prospecting and lead-generation strategies that can help you build a solid pipeline of potential customers.
Sales prospecting strategies
This section highlights some of the top sales prospecting techniques sales reps can implement to connect with potential leads.
Build prospect lists using social media platforms
Social media platforms like LinkedIn offer a powerful way to generate fresh, real-time leads.
Instead of relying on static databases, you can tap into dynamic conversations and interactions, which can help you find prospects who are already showing intent.
We recommend using PhantomBuster's LinkedIn Company Post Commenter and Liker Scraper to easily get a list of LinkedIn users who engage with specific company posts.
For example, you can extract LinkedIn profiles of people interacting with HubSpot’s posts.
It’s a very efficient way to capture leads who are already interested in topics related to your product or service.
Enrich leads inside your CRM
Maintaining a single, reliable source of truth is essential to keeping your contacts accurate and up to date.
Enriching your CRM ensures that your team has all the relevant lead information at their fingertips.
With the HubSpot Contact Sender, you can send lead data directly into HubSpot. This tool lets you directly push key details like job titles, LinkedIn profile URLs, and phone numbers into your CRM.
This way, your sales team always works with the most up-to-date information.
Use AI to qualify and prioritize leads across your sales pipeline
AI tools can analyze your lead data and answer key questions, like which sales prospects are most likely to purchase.
This helps you rank and qualify leads based on their likelihood to convert, giving your team a clear advantage.
For example, when promising prospects or clients change jobs, it can create new lead-generation opportunities or impact ongoing deals.
We suggest you use PhantomBuster’s AI LinkedIn Profile Enricher to track these career changes, so you can adapt your sales strategy, reconnect with prospects in their new roles, and maintain strong relationships.
You can also use the AI LinkedIn Profile Enricher to identify potential leads' ideal tone of voice.
This information will be very useful in personalizing your B2B connection messages.
Lead generation examples for marketing people
Marketing teams have access to a range of effective strategies and tactics to generate leads.
Here are a few approaches that deliver results.
Use lead capture forms
Lead capture forms offer a simple way to gather key information from potential customers.
Placing them on landing pages, pop-ups, or within gated valuable content (like eBooks) lets you collect contact details in exchange for useful resources.
This method helps you generate leads and understand which content attracts the most interest.
With tools like HubSpot, you can automatically log these submissions into your CRM, track potential clients' behavior, and trigger personalized follow-ups, allowing your team to nurture leads more effectively.
Aggregated forms data | HubSpotLead generation campaigns across social media
Social media gives you direct access to potential clients and provides robust tools to help you capture them efficiently.
Platforms like LinkedIn allow you to pinpoint decision-makers using specific criteria such as industry, job title, or location. From there, you can run targeted ads or create posts with embedded forms that make it easy to gather contact details.
Tools like Facebook Lead Ads and LinkedIn Forms simplify lead capture, allowing you to collect high-quality information.
By analyzing engagement and refining your targeting, you ensure that your marketing efforts reach the right audience, improving the quality of leads you bring into your funnel.
Host webinars to capture leads
Webinars or other online events allow you to connect with leads who are already invested in your industry.
During the webinar, you have the opportunity to provide actionable insights, solve key pain points, and showcase your expertise in real-time. This interaction builds credibility and trust, positioning you as an authority.
By the end of the session, you can engage with these warm leads, following up with personalized messages or offers tailored to their specific needs.
Webinars create a valuable platform for deeper engagement, moving leads further down the funnel toward conversion.
Best practices to increase lead generation efforts with prospecting
To improve lead generation results, you need strategies that deliver better-qualified leads.
Here are some best practices to help you achieve your lead generation goals.
Leverage intent data for prospecting
Intent data reveals which leads are actively researching solutions similar to yours. It tracks specific behaviors like content consumption and website visits.
This data allows your team to focus on leads already in a buying mindset, leading to better conversions.
Use intent data to prioritize outreach so you can connect with high-intent prospects who are ready to move forward. Ensure you build systems that identify and act on these signals to maximize efficiency.
We recommend looking for people who engage with your competitor's or industry influencers' content on social media platforms, as well as users who attend specific LinkedIn events.
This will boost your chances of connecting with leads who are ready to engage.
Favor warm outbound instead of cold calling
Warm outbound focuses on reaching out to leads who have shown buyer intent or have had prior contact with your brand or related topics.
Rather than cold calling, use signals like content downloads, email opens, or engagement on social platforms to identify these prospects.
Then, use AI to craft personalized messages and consider mentioning their recent interactions with specific content on LinkedIn.
This approach leads to more conversions and fosters stronger relationships.
Use lead generation tools to automate prospecting
Automation makes sales prospecting faster and more efficient by removing repetitive tasks. It frees up your team to focus on higher-value activities, like building relationships with your target audience and closing deals.
These lead generation tools ensure your pipeline stays full without spending hours on manual work.
With PhantomBuster, both sales and marketing teams can automate time-consuming tasks related to their prospecting or lead generation strategy. Here’s how it can help you:
Find and scrape leads: Gather leads from multiple platforms like LinkedIn and Sales Navigator.
Enrich your data: Pull additional details to update your lead lists.
Automate LinkedIn outreach: Set up automatic connection and follow-up sequences to engage prospects.
Keep your CRM updated: Sync lead data to ensure your CRM stays current.
Lead generation and prospecting FAQ
Leads vs. prospects
Leads are contacts at the top of your sales funnel who have made contact with your company in some way but have yet to be qualified.
Prospects are qualified leads who fit your ideal customer profile and have the potential to become paying customers.
Hot leads vs. cold leads
Hot leads are highly interested and are ready to buy.
Cold leads may be aware of your product but haven’t engaged yet or may need more nurturing before they convert.
What is warm outbound?
Warm outbound refers to reaching out to prospects who already know your brand or have interacted with it somehow.
This approach leads to higher success rates than cold outreach.
Potential leads vs. qualified leads
Potential leads are people who could become customers based on their alignment with a company's target audience, but they may not know about the company's offerings yet and haven’t shown any intention to make a purchase.
Qualified leads fit your ideal customer profile and have been evaluated, making them more likely to convert.
How do inbound and outbound prospecting differ?
Inbound prospecting attracts leads through content like blogs, social media, or SEO.
Outbound prospecting involves directly reaching potential leads via emails, cold calls, or messages.
What is the difference between a contact and a lead?
A contact is someone whose details you’ve captured and stored in your database, but they might not be part of your target audience or shown interest.
A lead, on the other hand, is someone who has made contact with your company and is now at the beginning of your sales funnel.
Why is lead qualification important?
Lead qualification is one of the most important stages of your B2B sales pipeline. It helps your sales team focus on prospects most likely to convert, saving time and resources.
It also increases the chances of successful deals by targeting leads that fit your ideal customer profile.
Conclusion
Understanding the difference between sales prospecting and lead generation is key to optimizing both your sales strategy and marketing efforts.
While lead generation casts a wide net to attract interest, sales prospecting allows your sales team to identify and qualify those leads. Both approaches are essential for a balanced, effective pipeline.
Use the right mix of techniques to reach your goals and streamline your process with automation tools.
Try PhantomBuster free for 14 days and automate your lead generation and sales prospecting efforts!
