Lead generation is a marketing term that refers to the creation or generation of prospective consumer interest or inquiry into products or services of a business. Leads can be generated for a variety of purposes - list building, e-newsletter list acquisition or for winning customers. There are many tactical methods for generating leads. These methods typically fall under the umbrella of advertising, but may also include non-paid sources such as organic search engine results or referrals from existing customers. Businesses strive to generate 'quality' leads. Quality is usually determined by the propensity of the inquirer to take the next action towards a purchase. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_generation
A sales lead, or Sales Lead, is the identification of a person or entity that has the interest and authority to purchase a product or service. This step represents the first stage of a sales process. The lead may have a corporation or business associated (a B2B lead) with the person(s). Sales leads are generic leads - i.e a person signs up for a type of offer, instead of a particular company or brand. come from either lead generation companies processes such as trade fair|trade shows, direct marketing, advertising, Internet marketing, spam, gimmicks, or from sales person prospecting activities such as cold calling. For a sales lead to qualify as a sales prospect, or equivalently to move a lead from the process step sales lead to the process sales prospect, qualification must be performed and evaluated. Typically this involves identifying by direct interrogation the lead's product applicability, availability of funding and time frame for purchase. This is also the entry point of a sales tunnel, sales funnel or sales pipeline. Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales_lead
So here are to turn more contacts into clients: