Cold vs Warm Leads: How to Tell the Difference

Did you know that nearly 20% of businesses fail within the first two years? The good news, however, is that there are steps you can take to prevent this from happening.

One of the most important steps you need to take when it comes to maximizing your business success is appropriately handling your sales leads.

More specifically, you need to understand how to segment your cold leads and warm leads so that you can take the best action possible. We’ve put together a brief guide that details everything you need to know. Let’s take a look.

What Is a Cold Lead?

A cold lead is a person or company that has had little to no interaction with your business. They may have visited your website once or twice, but they haven’t subscribed to your newsletter, downloaded any ebooks, or attended any webinars.

In other words, they’re not particularly interested in what you have to offer… yet.

With that said, just because someone is a cold lead doesn’t mean they’ll never do business with you. With the right approach, you can eventually turn a cold lead into a warm (or even hot) one.

What Is a Warm Lead?

A warm lead, on the other hand, is much further along in the sales process.

They’ve interacted with your brand multiple times and have shown a genuine interest in what you have to offer.

For example, they may have read several of your blog posts, subscribed to your newsletter, downloaded an ebook, and attended one of your webinars. Or, they may have reached out to you directly to inquire about your products or services.

In short, a warm lead is much more likely to do business with you than a cold lead.

How to Handle Cold Vs Warm Leads

When it comes to cold leads, the best course of action is to slowly nurture them until they become warm. This can be done by sending them helpful content (e.g. blog posts, ebooks, etc.), inviting them to subscribe to your newsletter, and/or asking them to attend one of your webinars.

With warm leads, you can be a bit more aggressive in your approach since they’ve already shown an interest in what you have to offer.

You can reach out to them directly, invite them to schedule a consultation, and/or send them a sales pitch. There is a limit to how pushy you can be. As long as you are not overbearing with your advertising, there shouldn’t be any issues, though.

It’s also worth noting that you can take advantage of professional lead generation services if you find yourself needing extra guidance.

Managing Cold Leads and Warm Leads Is Easier Than It Seems

As long as you keep the above information about cold leads and warm leads in mind, you should have no trouble taking the best action possible. From here, you will be well on your way to hitting your desired business metrics.

Want to learn more about what we can do? Be sure to reach out to us today and see how we can help you.