Sales lead generation is the identification and gathering of contacts who have the characteristics of potential customers. White papers can generate sales leads along with related qualifying information.

Interested Prospects - An interested prospect is a person or company that has a current need or desire to purchase products or services, or to perform desired actions (such as volunteer for a group cause). People who have taken the time and effort to find and download a white paper have a good interest in the white paper topic. The sales lead contact information can be obtained from the white paper registration form.

Qualifying Information - Qualifying information is additional data about a contact that can be used to identify interest areas and to assist in the communication processes. If the white paper was designed to discuss an issue that is related to a product or service, the person who downloads the white paper is already interested in the subject.

White papers can be designed to allow people to request additional information which can be gathered and associated with the person who downloaded the information. These reference links and requests provide additional qualifying information about the reader which may be very helpful in the sales process.

This figure shows that white papers can generate sales leads from download registrations and information requests. This example also shows that sales lead information may also be qualified by information selections the person has chosen after downloading the white paper. In this example, the reader has selected two links, and their associated categories (marketing and affiliate programs) are added to the reader’s profile record.