Lead, prospect, contact: what you are actually buying
Three words circulate in every sales proposal, usually as synonyms. They are not. The gap between them is sometimes a factor of ten on price.
Contact
A set of details. A name, a number, sometimes an email. Nothing indicates that this person wants anything, or has ever heard of you. A directory is a list of contacts, and it is priced accordingly: you are buying raw material, not an outcome.
Lead
Someone who showed interest through an identifiable action: filling in a form, requesting a quote, leaving a number to be called back. What sets a lead apart is a deliberate act by the person. How much data you hold does not change that.
That action is where the value sits, and it is exactly what loose vocabulary blurs. Many lists sold as leads are enriched contacts: nobody ever asked for anything.
The question that settles it
« What exactly did this person do, and on what date? » If the answer is vague, you are buying a contact at the price of a lead.
Prospect
A lead you have checked against what you sell: the need exists, the budget is plausible, the timing is known, they are eligible. A prospect is a lead that passed your filter, and the filter is yours. Which is why no supplier can honestly sell you prospects without knowing your criteria.
The word missing from all three: consented
None of these terms tells you whether you may legally call. That is a separate axis. In France it becomes decisive on 11 August 2026, when telephone prospecting will require prior consent under law n° 2025-594 of 30 June 2025, with the burden of proof falling on whoever places the call.
A lead can therefore be perfectly qualified and legally unusable. Qualification and legality are independent, and confusing them is expensive.
Four questions before buying a list
- What action did the person take? A prize draw entry is not a quote request.
- When? A three-week-old lead and a nine-month-old one are not the same product.
- Who was the consent collected for? France's data protection authority holds that consent only covers partners named at collection time, with no onward transmission.
- How many other buyers receive the same record? A supplier who genuinely sells exclusive records will put it in the contract.
Want to see a record with its proof of consent?
Ask for a sample record
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a lead and a prospect?
A lead showed interest through an identifiable action. A prospect is a lead you have verified against your own criteria: need, budget, timing, eligibility. Since the filter is yours, a supplier cannot sell you prospects without knowing those criteria.
Can a purchased contact be called?
That depends on consent, not on the label. From 11 August 2026 in France, telephone prospecting requires prior consent, and the party placing the call must be able to prove it exists.
Why are some lists so cheap?
Because they are contacts, not leads: nobody asked for anything. They can still pay off with volume and a short sales cycle, and become ruinous when every call ties up a salesperson for twenty minutes.
