Many businesses view acquired sales leads as "low-hanging fruit." Believing that leads could uncover prospects with immediate needs, sales reps tend to focus sales efforts on converting those "hot" leads into sales without properly qualifying the prospect or building trust.

In reality, many leads come from prospects with long buying cycles. Such customers are not ready to buy. In fact, an honest review would reveal that most leads from advertisements and trade shows never turn into sales. Instead, cold leads usually perpetuate a cycle of wasted time and frustration for the company and the salesperson. However, if the lead is then discarded, what are the chances of getting the future sale? The prospect eventually will make a purchase, but from whom? The prospect is most likely to buy from the company that maintained contact and built trust with them over the course of their buying cycle.

Therefore, companies looking to convert cold, dead leads into warm, informed prospects-and therefore long-term customers-must make the effort to build trust with prospects before ever trying to sell to them. Salespersons win by turning prospects into friends, friends into customers, and customers into endless sources of referral for future business.