Lead Generation in 2025: Complete Guide

So, you want to master lead generation but are not sure where to begin your research!

People say it’s “a journey from finding potential leads to turning them into loyal buyers.”

But only if it was that simple! 

New tools, AI-driven automation, and evolving customer behaviors mean your old lead generation strategies, processes, and knowledge won’t cut it today!

In 2025, lead generation will be more than just finding prospects; it will also demand innovative strategies, automation, hyper- personalization, and decoding the perfect process that turns leads into loyal buyers.

That is why this updated guide was designed. Let’s start, we have a lot to cover!

Lead Generation: TOC

• What is Lead Generation
• Lead Generation Funnel
• Types of Lead Generation
• How to Check and Score Your Leads (Everything – Lead Scoring)
• Simplest Lead Generation Process
• Lead Generation Strategies to Quickly Grow Your Business
• Most Effective Lead Generation Channels (Find the Best Channel)
• Why Efficient Lead Generation Is Key to Business Growth (Know the Numbers)
• Common Lead Generation Challenges with Solutions
• 2025 Lead Generation Trends: What’s Changing?
• Lead Generation: TL;DR
• FAQs

What is Lead Generation

Lead generation is the process of identifying potential customers, capturing their interest, and nurturing them toward a purchase.

It involves attracting the right audience, engaging with them, and guiding them through the sales journey until they’re ready to buy.

However, understanding the word “lead” is more important here.

Someone interested (expressed or implied) in your organization’s product or service is generally considered a ‘lead’. 

Lead Generation Funnel

Of course, they will not move automatically from one stage to the next; you will have to put effort into it. (Move them ahead in the lead generation funnel)

So, what are these stages? 

3 stages of lead generation funnel:

1. 1st stage: ToFu
2. 2nd Stage: MoFu
3. 3rd Stage: BoFu

1st stage: ToFu (Top of The Funnel)

People at this stage of the lead generation process are learning about your basic information related to your product/service. 

To move people from ToFu to MoFu stage, you will have to educate them. 

For that, you can utilize;

• Educational blogs or guides  (like the one you are reading)
• Infographics
• Explainer videos

2nd Stage: MoFu (Middle of The Funnel)

People are starting to have questions and queries about your product or service at this stage. They are curious. 

To move leads from the MoFu to the BoFu stage of lead generation, you need to answer their queries.

For that, you can utilize;

• How-to guides
• FAQs
• Live interactive sessions  

3rd Stage: BoFu (Bottom of The Funnel)

Now, they are just at the edge of buying your product/service. A little push or convincing can turn them into your customer. 

To move leads from BoFu to a customer stage of lead generation, you need to enable them to decide. 

For that, you can utilize;

• Free demo/trials
• Comparison blogs
• Customer reviews

Types of Lead Generation

All leads are different. 

But you need to know their “type” to convert them from a lead to customer. 

Why?

Because knowing their type here means knowing their current mindset regarding your product/service. 

Marketers divide their leads based on 2 factors. 

1. Interest-based Leads
2. Qualification-based Leads

1. Interest-based Leads

Based on their interest in your product/service, leads can be divided into 3 categories: hot, cold, and warm leads. (I know it sounds like temperatures, but hang in there!)

Cold Leads

Cold leads are leads who have not expressed any interest in your product. They are considered one of the toughest to convert.

Think of it like asking a kid to eat a salad. Somewhere, they know it’s healthy, but of course, they never think about having it.  

Warm Leads

Warm leads are already aware of your brand by reading your blogs, following you on social media, and showing a growing interest in your offerings.

Think of it like people in your office who “RSVP” to your emails. They might join, still thinking, checking the meeting details, and asking people at the next table, “Why do I need to join this meeting?”

Hot Leads 

Hot leads (also known as qualified leads) have explicitly shown an interest in your product. They could have filled out a demo form or contacted you directly.

Think of it like a kid in a candy store. They want to buy now, just by seeing different ones. Just a small push or convincing will make them convince their parents to buy it for them. 

2. Qualification-based Leads

Here leads are categorized based on their readiness to move through the sales funnel. 

Their readiness is assessed through specific interactions or behaviors that align with your sales and marketing criteria. 

We have 5 types here. Let’s know them in detail. 

MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead)

MQLs are right in the middle of the lead generation funnel and are just one step ahead of IQLs. The marketing team usually identifies these leads as being interested in your product.

Typically, these leads have to meet specific criteria, such as providing their information on landing pages, expressing an interest through social media platforms, having attended your company’s webinars, etc.

A little effort like sending a value-added follow-up email, could move them to the next stage.  

IQL (Information Qualified Lead)

IQLs are just beginning their buyers’ journey. They have just begun researching a solution to their problem.

Most of the time, these leads provide you with very little information about their company or job title.

Marketers generally don’t prioritize these leads, as most IQLs don’t move on to the next stage after obtaining the information they sought.

SQL (Sales Qualified Lead)

SQLs are leads that are considered to be ‘sales-ready.’ They are usually passed over from the marketing team to the sales team.

These leads have expressed an intent to buy what you are offering and are ready to buy. However, they could still be comparing solutions against your competitors.

Marketers and salespeople consider these leads as very ‘hot.’ (Again, I’m not talking temperature!)

Since they have already checked all the boxes and are fully qualified, all you need to do is strike while the iron is hot and start walking them through the sales process.

PQL (Product Qualified Lead)

PQLs are considered leads who have gone beyond the SQL stage and have already gained experience using your product.

This could be through a feature-limited access account or a free trial. Generally, SaaS or software companies focus more on PQLs as they most often offer free trials.

SQL (Service Qualified Lead)

Leads are existing customers who express interest in upsells or additional services. Indicates expansion opportunities for account managers or customer success teams.

A discount, an offer, or a deal can convert them into a premium customer. 

How to Check and Score Your Leads (Everything – Lead Scoring)

When your leads are based on criteria You Set, scoring them will also be unique to your business. 

How to do it? The answer is: Lead Scoring Model. 

Your lead scoring model is a unique process of ranking and scoring your leads to identify important leads that should be prioritized. 

For scoring leads, you need a lead scoring model. It’s a simple 5 step system. 

1. Identify Key Indicators
2. Assign Values to Those Indicators
3. Divide Scores into Levels in Scoring System
4. Integrate Lead Scores into CRM
5. Optimize

1. Identify Key Indicators

Find out what measurable traits your leads have.

Traits like web activity, time spent on the website, initiated checkout, signing up for newsletter, and many more. 

Don’t rush here. Take time and list every measurable trait or action of your leads.

2. Assign Values to Those Indicators

Based on how likely that action/trait can be converted into them being a customer, start scoring them. 

The more conversion likely trait will have a higher score. 

3. Divide Scores into Levels in Scoring System

Now, this step is just for creating alerts, so whenever a lead crosses that stage, you get notified. 

Let’s say your lead scoring model has 10 to 100 points. 

• Till 30-50, your lead is still unsure. 
• But as soon as it crosses 60, it becomes curious, so you can start nurturing them more. 
• If a lead has reached 80 or above, consider them your priority leads on whom you should focus the most. 

That is how you divide lead scores into levels of importance. 

4. Integrate Lead Scores into CRM

When your scoring is ready, upload those details into your CRM system. 

CRM systems then can track the details of your leads and notify you when a lead reaches an important stage. 

You can even download these lists or directly nurture them into the CRM tool. (Suggestions of the tools are here)

5. Optimize

Of course, without optimizing, you cannot achieve a perfect lead scoring model. (We are not that perfect!)

When you assign scores for the first time, you might not know their actual impact – just guessing! 

But after analyzing and checking CRM metrics, you can provide better scores to leads that are more likely to be converted easily. 

So, keep tracking and keep optimizing!

Simplest Lead Generation Process

Ok, enough information. Now, let me guide you to start with the lead generation process. 

Trust me, following the right process is crucial. Without it, you might still reach your goal but much later than you should. And honestly, who has time to waste when targets are waiting?

The lead generation process is a simple 7-step process. 

1. Define your ICP
2. Choose Channels
3. Create Compelling Content
4. Implement Lead Capture System
5. Verify Leads
6. Nurture Leads
7. Convert Leads into Customers

1. Define your ICP

Your lead generation process will start with knowing whom to sell to.  

This, in lead generation terms, is known as knowing your ICP (ideal customer profile). 

Building your buyer’s persona helps you to find matching or lookalike leads. (Who have similar traits to your ideal lead)

You can ask these simple questions to understand your ideal customers. 

1. Whom will my product/service help?
2. Where can I find them?
3. What are their likes and dislikes?
4. What are their pain points?
5. What are their measurable traits?

2. Choose Channels

Once your ideal lead list is ready, it’s time to decide where you connect with them. 

• Online or offline?
• Cold calls or cold emails?
• Paid ads or free events?
• LinkedIn or Instagram?

To decide this, you should keep your budget, time, efforts, and which channel your leads use the most to increase your chances of reaching them.

3. Create Compelling Content

As per the channel you decided, the content should be prepared. 

Convincing and moving the leads from one stage to the next requires excellent content. (written or verbal)

For example, if your ideal channel is cold emails, you should know how to write cold emails that can generate responses. 

Even if you use YouTube or any other channel to reach out to your leads, writing engaging, and valuable content cannot be ignored. (more about content in content marketing section)

P.S. – In case you are not good at writing content, you can take help from AI lead generation tools that also help you write with AI.

4. Implement Lead Capture System

How would you know if a convincing message reaches your leads after you send it? How would you capture that information for that lead?

Leads come from various sources. Knowing and optimizing those sources to capture leads requires setting up a system, AKA lead capturing system. 

Places From Where You Can Capture Leads?

When visitors land on your website, you can capture their information by optimizing key touchpoints.

5. Verify Leads

After capturing leads, it’s time to validate them. 

A lead’s information usually consists of an email or phone number. Marketers use this information to nurture the leads. 

You need 2 kinds of verification here. 

1. If the information you have about the lead is correct. 
2. If the lead you captured is your lead (ICP).

If the answer for any of the above is “NO”, you can eliminate the lead. 

How to verify this?

1. You can utilize email verification tools like Saleshandy, which has email verification with advanced cold emailing features. 
2. You should compare it with your ICP details to check whether it’s your lead. 

6. Nurture Leads

Now, when you are sure you have found a quality lead, it’s time to start nurturing them. 

Nurturing a lead can usually take weeks. 

Some of the methods you can use to nurture them are running email campaigns, conducting seminars, 1:1 sessions, consultations, sending offers and deals, and providing enough FAQ materials and guides. 

P.S. Automate lead nurturing with an email automation tool. 

7. Convert Leads into Customers

That’s it. Once a lead is nurtured, it will be converted into a customer. 

At this stage, marketers usually forward these leads to the sales team. Some businesses also appoint sales teams for nurturing. 

A well-trained sales team knows how to convert interested leads into customers with high success rates. 

With this step, we also sum up the lead generation process. Easy, wasn’t it!

Lead Generation Strategies to Quickly Grow Your Business

It all boils down here. Read each strategy carefully and understand its impact and implementation to scale your business. 

There are many strategies, but these 11 are truly the ones that can have a solid impact!

1. Cold Emailing
2. Cold Calling
3. Content Marketing
4. SEO
5. SMM – LI
6. Co-Marketing/Promotion
7. Registering Business in an Online Directory
8. Paid Ads
9. Social Selling
10. Networking/Referrals
11. Inbound Led Outbound

1. Cold Emailing

Regardless of your business, generating fresh leads in 2025 with the competition and available options before users is non-negotiable.

So if you want more leads? Cold email is the answer.

Why? Because it works. Let’s see why this strategy.

To get the perfect cold email strategy, you just need to take 1 step.

“Find the best AI-assisted cold email tool.”

Thousands of users who have used this strategy vouch for Saleshandy. 

Why? Because it has

Tempted to try for yourself? Try at no risk! (SOC2 certified)

• ✔ Sign up to Saleshandy (it’s free for 7 days)
• ✔ Find leads from Saleshandy’s 700M+ B2B professional leads or upload your own
• ✔ Set up sequences and let AI & automation optimize results (super easy to use UI)
• ✔ Check reports in 7 days – see real impact!

Want long-term results? The Basic Plan starts at just $25/month (billed annually). (Check more plans)

2. Cold Calling

Cold calling has evolved a lot in 2025! While it takes more effort, it can work if done right.

Cold calling is a time-consuming strategy, but the results are worth it if you know how to do it right. 

Why cold calling?

You can do it 2 ways. 

1. Outsource it. (no brainer)
2. Do it yourself. (If you have a team of experts to do it)

Of course, many agencies can easily do this work for you. You can find the best cold calling agencies listed in this directory. 

Want to Do It Yourself? Let me show you how to implement it.

Wait, it’s actually not!

Today, AI-powered tools like Dialpad are filled with features that make cold calling better than ever. 

It has features like; 

Cold calling has its place, but in my opinion it works best alongside a strong cold email strategy. Want faster, scalable results?

Compare head on head: Cold calling vs cold emailing (find out the winner)

3. Content Marketing

First things first, decide on goals and what channel you are using for lead generation. 

Based on the channel, the content marketing strategy will follow. 

Let me share some tips to implement in your content marketing strategy. 

Plenty of tools can help you with content marketing and related tasks. Check below for a few of them. 

With the right strategy and tools, content marketing can become a powerful lead generation strategy for you. 

4. SEO

I am talking about organic SEO (search engine optimization) here. Although it takes time, trust me the efforts are truly worth it. 

It’s about getting found by the right people at the right place. 

This strategy drives consistent, high-quality leads without ongoing ad spend in the costly online world.

It would seem a lot, but let me share the overall implementation of SEO strategy in lead generation. 

Don’t feel overwhelmed. Let me share what this strategy will do for your business to motivate you to adopt it. 

5. SMM – LinkedIn

44% of B2B marketers rank LinkedIn as their top lead generation channel. It’s where professionals connect, engage, and do business.

If you’re not using LinkedIn for lead generation, you’re missing out.

How to Implement This Strategy

How This Helps Your Lead Generation

Most SaaS companies rely on inbound marketing, and LinkedIn is a critical part of that mix. A strong LinkedIn presence attracts, nurtures, and converts leads.

You might find this useful: 12 best LinkedIn email finder tools

6. Co-Marketing/Promotion

Co-marketing lets you collaborate with complementary brands to generate more leads without increasing your workload.

Now, let’s talk about implementing this lead generation strategy in easy steps. 

Why choose co-marketing lead generation strategy? Read below to know.

7. Registering Business in an Online Directory

It’s not discussed often, but it works like magic for lead generation.

It’s like Google My Business – but for people searching specifically for what you offer. 

Why choose this strategy?

Because when your business is listed in the right place, leads come to you instead of you chasing them.

There are many online directories out there. But if you’re in lead generation, there’s only one that truly matters.

📍 Saleshandy’s Agency Directory is built exclusively for lead generation agencies.

Here’s what you can do with it

1. Find top-rated lead generation agencies
2. Register your agency if you offer lead generation services and want more clients.

It’s a simple move that puts your business in front of the right audience without extra effort.

8. Paid Ads

This strategy is for those who want fast results. So if budget isn’t a big concern for you, paid ads can put your business in front of the right audience instantly.

Why is paid ads a part of this strategy list? Let me share below

If these points excite you. Let me share how you can implement it into your business. 

Paid ads are powerful but require expertise. If done right, they can fuel your lead generation while your organic strategies

9. Social Selling

Social selling is like attending a virtual conference – but better. 

Every interaction is a chance to connect with potential customers without the hard sell.

Let’s talk about the benefits first. 

This is how social selling helps you in lead generation

Let me share how to implement this strategy…

Social selling isn’t about quick wins. Engage genuinely, contribute thoughtfully, and let trust do the selling.

10. Networking/Referrals

You know where you get the best quality and high paying customers? It’s not from ads, but from referrals. Yes, people believe in people more than marketing. 

There are more reasons why you should do this on the side of doing any other lead generation strategy like

Implementing this strategy also requires very little effort. Let me share.

Simple activities leave a bigger impact if you do it right! True for networking and referrals. 

11. Inbound Led Outbound

Why choose between inbound and outbound when you can use both?

Inbound-led outbound means starting with an inbound strategy and amplifying results with outbound tactics.

How to implement this strategy? You know where to check by now.

Do you still want to stick with 1, but are you unsure? Compare inbound and outbound marketing and pick the one that works best for you. 

Best Inbound + Outbound Combinations

1.  LinkedIn + Cold Emailing – Engage first, then reach out personally.
2. Content Marketing + Retargeting Ads – Attract visitors, then show targeted ads.
3. SEO + Cold Outreach – Rank for search terms, then contact engaged visitors.
4. Webinar + Cold Emails – Provide value first, then follow up with offers.

Why This Works for Lead Generation

Notice how most of these involve cold emailing? That’s because it’s versatile, scalable, and high-converting.

If I had to pick one strategy to start lead generation, I’d go with cold emailing.

Want more strategies: Get 11 high performing lead generation strategies for 2025

Most Effective Lead Generation Channels

I have collected all the information and put it in this tabular format for you to use for detailed comparison and analysis. 

Why Efficient Lead Generation is Key to Business Growth: (Know the Numbers)

Of course you know lead generation is important for any business, so you are here. 

So, let me share a few statistics to illustrate how much impact it can have on your business. 

• Cold email open rates can increase by up to 30% when you use personalization. 
• On an average, the open rate for a cold email campaign is around 50% to 65%.
• Email lead generation campaigns have a CTR of 2.82% on average. 
• By 2027, 4.89 billion global email users are expected.

If you are wondering whether to put this much effort into lead generation or simply want more stats, check out these 50 crucial lead generation statistics to understand how it can impact your business. 

Common Lead Generation Challenges with Solutions

If you do lead generation, you already know the challenges you face. 

But if you are starting lead generation, you can prepare for below mentioned lead generation challenges and know their solutions in advance. 

1. Low Quality Leads
2. Competitors Diverting Your Leads
3. Not Enough Leads
4. Lack of Proper Systems and Supporting Tools
5. The Time Spent Doesn’t Translate into Expected Results

1. Low Quality Leads

Businesses face this lead generation challenge because they do not set up a proper system of filtering leads or have a proper content strategy to attract the right leads. 

If you generate leads yourself, this can be solved with a proper lead scoring system. If you buy email lists, you can buy them from reliable sources. 

2. Competitors Diverting Your Leads

With advanced technologies and tools available for tracking everything, your competitors can also find your leads. 

It is an easy way to find leads because they can get quality leads, who are already looking for a product like theirs. 

By providing constant engagement and making them part of brand loyalty activities, you can make sure your leads don’t go to your competitors. 

3. Not Enough Leads

This happens when you don’t update your ICP persona when your business is scaling. Or you are not expanding your search criteria. 

Many businesses make the mistake of building their ICP only once. As business evolves, their ICP evolves too. 

Another trick to try here is to buy leads from trusted online sources. 

Need more leads?
Using Saleshandy’s lead finder, you can reveal up to 10,000 leads at once. It has a global B2B database of 700M+ professional profiles.  No need to face a lead shortage ever!

4. Lack of Proper Systems and Supporting Tools

For smooth lead generation, you will need to take support from automation tools and build solid systems that support doing operations at scale. 

Taking proper advantage of them can speed up the lead generation process. (Check tool suggestions in this strategy section)

5. The Time Spent Doesn’t Translate into Expected Results

Another challenge marketers face is investing the majority of their daily time in lead generation activities. 

But in 2025, with the rise of AI lead generation and automation tools taking over in affordable budgets, this problem is not that scary anymore. You just need to find the right tool!

2025 Lead Generation Trends: What’s Changing?

🛑 Before 2025: Generic outreach, manual processes, and scattered data.

✅ Now in 2025: AI-driven, highly automated, and hyper-personalized strategies. Let me share what’s changing here. 

• You will see a lot of AI in Lead Generation – Smarter algorithms now predict, engage, and nurture leads automatically

• People are multi-tasking, Voice Search Optimization will replace manual searches – Businesses are optimizing content for voice-based queries.

• You can have access to Buyer Intent Data – Lead generation now focuses on real-time intent signals for better targeting.

• Automation at Scale – Advanced tools effortlessly handle outreach, follow-ups, and segmentation.

• Not only Hi, (user name), you need Hyper-Personalization and dynamic contents – Generic messages are out; tailored, one-on-one interactions are in.

• Smarter and CRM Systems that will track the smallest of the actions – Better tracking, retention, and automated workflows improve conversions.

Lead Generation: TL;DR

•  What is it? Finding and converting leads into customers.
•  Funnel Stages: ToFu, MoFu, BoFu.
• Lead Types: IQL, PQL, SQL, MQL, cold, warm, hot.
• Process: Define ICP → Choose channels → Create content → Capture & verify leads → Nurture → Convert.
• Strategies: Cold emailing, SEO, content marketing, social selling, directories & more.
• 2025 Trends: AI chatbots, automation, voice search, smarter CRMs. 

FAQs

1. Which are the top 5 lead generation tools?

1. Saleshandy: for doing advanced AI-assisted cold outreach. 
2. Apollo.io: for finding leads using AI
3. Ahrefs: for doing advanced SEO 
4. Calendly: for managing everything content, and scheduling
5. LinkedIn: for doing social media marketing and social selling

2. What are different lead generation models?

• Email Forms
• Chatbots and AI
• Calling Button
• Lead magnets & freemium services
• Website pop-ups (exit, scroll, RCTA)