by Tyler Schultz

If you’ve ever spent any time on lead generation Linkedin groups or surfed through lead company websites then you’ve seen the words “Quality Leads” advertised hundreds of times. While I’m not saying that everyone that advertises high quality leads is being misleading, its probably safe for me to doubt that a list consisting solely of 100,000 names and numbers constitutes quality leads. I also have a feeling that the ‘leads’ that unsuspectingly receive a call would agree, not to mention what the FCC would say about that.
So what are quality leads? While every lead gen company and lead buyer may answer this question differently, the most valuable and highest quality leads typically have the following 5 characteristics.

1. Valid Contact Information
Yes, its a no brainer but it is important to spot bogus contact information whenever you can. No, the end user probably isn’t going to dial out to a lead named Mickey Mouse, but there are other cues that can tip you off to bad contact information. If you’re collecting address, does the zip code match the city? Does the phone area code make sense for the address listed? These aren’t perfect metrics, but they can help you determine the quality of each lead.
2. Real-Time
Real-time leads are really the only type of leads that we should consider high quality. In an industry where speed-to-lead is the key, giving the end service provider the opportunity to contact the lead at the point when they are most interested in the product/service is essential.
3. Targeted
What questions were used when generating the lead? High quality leads often consist of more lead information which provides the end user with additional insight and confirms the lead’s level of interest in the product/service.
4. Good Generation Method
There are dozens of ways to generate leads and each lend themselves to a different lead quality. For example, leads generated via paid or organic search are usually highly targeted and high quality, while co-reg leads are generally less interested and less likely to convert on the final product/service.
5. Exclusive
Simply put, quality leads are generally sold exclusively. If the lead is qualified and highly likely to convert but sold to 10 different buyers, the quality is immediately divided by 10. That’s not to say that leads sold multiple times are not valuable. Just keep in mind exactly how many times a lead is being sold.
Whether you are generating and selling or buying leads, quality is an extremely important variable. However, unless you want to manually review each lead, it can be difficult to judge the quality of your leads.