research lead meaning

Lead Research Meaning: What Goes Into a Qualified Lead?

by Joe Flanagan | July 12, 2021 | Sales Culture

Your company might offer the perfect product or service and have an incredible sales pitch, but the value of your outbound sales teams is only as good as the people they are calling upon. Lead research is critical for ensuring that the lists you are calling on are actually qualified towards your business, meaning more closes and more deals come from people who are genuinely interested in what your business has to offer.

What is the lead research meaning of the word, and how does it apply to your company? We explore how this practice influences our business.

Lead Research: Meaning and Methods

In the world of B2B lead generation, there are typically two methods employed for lead research: a dedicated lead researcher, or integrating lead research methodology into an existing sales team. A dedicated lead researcher is a role specifically designed to go through large lists, cleansing and enriching the data to keep all of the information therein relevant.

While we have provided this service to clients in the past, we prefer to integrate lead research methods directly into our teams. This ensures that the needs of a client aren’t siloed to a particular department – our SDRs and BDRs directly understand what a good lead is, and calibrate the lists themselves.

The process of lead research looks different to every B2B lead generation company, but the fundamentals are shared. What does sales prospecting research look like?

B2B Sales Prospecting Research

In order to net prospects, lead generation services typically purchase lists of leads. These lists can vary in quality, and are typically sorted by company, company size, position of contact, industry, location, and other variables. To determine the quality of these lists, they must be compared against your ideal buyer persona.

Once a list has been purchased, several techniques can be deployed to find the right contacts. We examine some of those methods below.

Data Cleansing

Typically, any purchased list of leads is already outdated by the time that it falls into your hands. This is the nature of list-purchasing – as time progresses, positions change, people enter and leave companies, and businesses fundamentally change their models to reflect an evolving economy.

To ensure that the right people are being contacted at all times, data cleansing weeds out outdated information

Data Enrichment

A list of leads can be quite large – to find the right groups to call upon, most companies use a process called data enrichment. This involves filling in missing gaps in a list of leads, and adds context to the data that is provided in the list.

Why Purchase Lists?

Why do we purchase lists instead of generating leads from research? In short: time and payoff. Doing all of the research by hand can provide extremely accurate leads, but comes at a tremendous cost in terms of resource usage and labor. Using lists and calibrating them to individual programs produces much better payout.

How Acquirent Approaches Lead Research & our Meaning of Lead Generation Success

Each of our teams includes salespeople that are dedicated to your account, as well as a manager who oversees operations and helps with reporting and strategy. Our lead research is done as part of our prospecting process, meaning that as we call upon more clients, we can understand the overall efficacy of a given list and adjust our strategy to determine a list’s efficacy.

The best way to determine the quality of leads on a list is to simply call in. We use a data subscription model that provides us with lists of contacts. From there, our SDRS, BDRs, and dedicated sales reps go about the task of cleansing and enriching data

The best lead generation services can’t simply buy a list of contacts and hope for the best – they must strategically go about the process of evaluating the data, and make sound decisions based on the information they have. At Acquirent, we understand that you can’t simply “hope for the best” but actively work towards calling on prospects that are interested in your services. Contact us today for more information about our services.

Depending on the target buyer persona, this task can be more arduous for some accounts. A product or service that is generally targeted towards a type of business might have significantly more qualified leads than one geographically targeted towards a specific region or unique type of business.

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How to Do Lead Research: Solid Tips for SDRs and Marketers

Ojesvi Singh

Table of Contents

Your marketing efforts do their magic when you can pinpoint the promising leads. But, to reach the right prospects, you must master your lead research efforts. It may involve better ideal customer profiling, social intelligence, and more. 

Where 67% of B2B marketers already focus on quality lead gains, you can compete ahead by refining your research strategies. So, explore this guide on the best tips to improve your capabilities as a lead researcher. We'll also check out select best practices and possible challenges. 

6 Tips for a Thorough Lead Research Process

Your competitors might be trying hard to get the best lead data. But the tips given below for your research practices will help you get the upper hand. These are as follows:

1. Find Your Exact Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) 

When researching leads, identifying your ICP is a significant step. It serves as a strategic compass, ensuring your outreach resonates with the right audience. 

To craft a robust ICP, delve into its key components:

• Demographics: Understand the characteristics of your ideal customers. It includes age, gender, location, and other relevant personal details.
• Industry: Specify the industries that align with your product or service. 
• Company Size: Define the ideal size of the companies you want to target, whether small businesses, mid-sized enterprises, or large corporations.
• Geographic Location: Pinpoint the geographic areas where your ideal customers reside. 
• Challenges: Identify your ideal customers' major and minor difficulties and pain points.  
• Buying Behavior: Analyze the typical buying behavior of your ideal customers. It involves understanding their decision-making process and preferences.
• Budget Considerations: Determine the lead's budget range. Check if it aligns with your product or service. 
• Tech Stack: Explore the technologies and tools your ideal customers use. Check for integration possibilities and compatibility.
• Decision-Making Authority: Define the roles and positions within the target organization that hold decision-making authority.  
• Cultural Fit: Consider the cultural values and preferences that resonate with your ideal customers. 

An accurate ICP plays a pivotal role in finding high-value leads faster. Plus, you can allocate resources wisely once you know whom to target. To ensure the best outcome of your research efforts: 

• Employ reliable sales lead research platforms that help you build a lead list . 
• Cross-reference collected data with your existing client base to eliminate overlaps. 
• Maximize potential by A/B testing ideal client profiles.

2. Conduct Preliminary Research

The next tip is to run thorough and strategic lead research across various databases and resources. Here are a few great ways to do it:

Pick Prominent Sources for Research

Select reliable and authoritative sources for gathering lead information. Prominent sources may include:

• Well-established websites
• Academic journals
• Reputable publications
• Government databases

Explore Advanced Search Techniques

Go beyond basic search engine queries and use more effective search techniques. It involves using specific search operators or modifiers to refine your results. 

For example: 

• "Artificial intelligence in healthcare"
• "Best practices for project management"
• Renewable energy -solar
• Web development -JavaScript
• site:nytimes.com "latest technology trends"
• site:stackoverflow.com "Python programming tips"

These techniques help retrieve more targeted and relevant information. Besides it, you can also try: 

• Deep Web Search: It lets you access information not indexed by traditional search engines. 
• Boolean Operators (AND, OR, NOT): They allow you to search for more complex and precise search queries. 
• Niche Platforms: These refer to specialized websites or databases tailored to specific industries or topics. 

Check Out Lesser-Known Search Databases

Access sources that may not be commonly used but can provide valuable insights. These could include:

• Industry-specific databases
• Research repositories
• Platforms that cater to niche areas

Collect the information in a unified sales lead database for easy access. 

Identify Where to Find Decision-Makers

You must understand where and how to find information about executives, managers, or prospects with decision-making authority. It includes exploring: 

• Company websites
• Professional networking platforms
• Industry directories

3. Harness Social Media Intelligence Insights

Social media platforms are valuable sources for filling up your lead generation database.

89% of marketers are already on platforms like LinkedIn to find and generate leads.

So, you only need to recognize and tap into the vast data on social media platforms. Here, you can find details about individuals, companies, and industries. You can also get insights into people's interests, activities, connections, and professional backgrounds. 

NOTE: For B2B lead research, LinkedIn and Twitter are the best sites. 

However, beyond basic social media browsing, you should use advanced techniques. These include:

• Using social media analytics tools like Hootsuite Analytics , Google Analytics , etc. 
• Monitoring relevant hashtags or keywords
• Employing advanced search functionalities on social platforms
• Leveraging social listening tools to track decision-makers discussing issues, topics, and solutions your business relates to.
• Participating in discussions, joining groups, or leveraging paid advertising features. 

Remember : When you gather information about prospects through third-party or built-in social media analytics, address ethical considerations and respect privacy. Avoid intrusive methods to collect data, and be transparent about data usage. 

4. Perform Competitive Analysis for Lead Insights

56% of executives actively monitor potential competitors and strategize to expand into new markets. So, why should you be left behind? 

Study and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors in the market. It's a goldmine for lead research because competitors often target similar audiences. Thus, you must analyze your competing businesses:

• Customer interactions
• Market positioning

It gives insights into potential leads, market trends, and customer preferences. Here's how you can do competitor analysis: 

• Examine your competitors' existing customer base to identify potential leads and understand their characteristics. 
• Analyze customer reviews.
• Monitor social media interactions.
• Study public testimonials

You can tailor your approach to attract similar leads by identifying who is engaging with your competitors. Additionally, you can modify your targeting and messaging strategies.

5. Implement Collaborative Research Efforts

Your sales and marketing teams should collaborate well for a unified and practical approach to lead research. These two departments must align their goals, share insights, and create a cohesive strategy. 

Discuss ways both teams can share data, tools, or expertise resources. Strategies may include:

• Establishing a centralized database
• Conducting regular team meetings to share findings
• Utilizing collaborative tools that facilitate information exchange

By pooling resources and sharing research findings, teams can ensure everyone accesses valuable insights. Here's how you can make your collaborative lead research more effective:

• Set clear communication channels between sales and marketing
• Establish a shared understanding of the target audience
• Create a feedback loop to improve research strategies continuously

6. Leverage Connection-building Psychology

B2B prospects mainly focus on tangible and rational considerations. But they also exhibit universal human characteristics. These include experiencing:

• Frustrations

Thus, they prioritize consistent quality, safety, reliability, and excellent customer service while buying. It shows the impact of emotion-driven decision-making in business.

So, while building a prospecting list , focus on the sentiments of decision-makers and organizations that your solution can satisfy. Besides emotions, also recognizing their: 

• Distinctive viewpoints
• Mutual interests
• Shared experiences 

It will help you search for leads likely to be loyal due to shared values.

Best Practices for Error-Free Lead Research

While finding leads, your lead database's quality, completeness, and correctness are essential. Here's how you can make it happen:

1. Fill in Missing Lead Data

Actively seek additional information about your leads to fill in gaps in your created database. Conduct interviews or surveys with your target audience to get exclusive insights that may not be readily available through other means. 

2. Replace the Old Database with Up-to-Date Information

Over time, contact information and other details about your leads can change. It's essential to update your database with the most current information available by using various methods like data enrichment and email scrubbing . It may include recent contact numbers, email addresses, job titles, and other relevant details.

This way, you can verify lead data, removing errors while reaching out. 

Here are some ways to do it:

• Cross-reference available information with multiple sources
• Use data validation tools like Webbula , Astera , etc.
• Reach out directly to leads for confirmation.

Common Challenges and Solutions

Here are the top challenges while searching for the right business leads . You can also find their provided solutions:  

1. Lengthy Manual Entry and Routine Tasks

Challenge: Conducting thorough lead research involves sifting through large volumes of data. When your team does it manually, it can be time-consuming and prone to errors. 

Solution: Incorporate automation tools and technologies like:

• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems ( HubSpot , Salesforce , etc)
• Data enrichment tools ( Clearbit ,  Enricher.io , etc.)
• Lead generation platforms ( Zendesk Sell, Revnew , etc.)

These tools can automate data entry, update information in real-time, and handle routine tasks.

2. Unclear ROI Feasibility for ICP

Challenge: You need to invest significant resources in researching and pursuing leads. However, it's challenging to tell whether the leads align with your expected return on investment (ROI). 

Solution: Regularly reassess and refine the ICP based on performance metrics. It ensures your resources reach leads with the highest ROI feasibility.

3. Scenarios Where No Leads Match Your ICP

Challenge- In some cases, no leads may precisely match your selected ICP. It causes a considerable loss of money and time. 

Solution: Have contingency plans in place. It could involve:

• Broadening the criteria of your ICP to capture a wider audience.
• Exploring adjacent markets that may share similarities with the target audience.
• Investing in market research to identify emerging trends and potential new segments that align with their offerings. 

Advanced B2B lead research hinges on a data-driven, collaborative, and industry-specific methodology. You must emphasize these principles for a successful lead generation campaign. 

Integrate these strategies into your existing practices for a holistic and practical approach that maximizes superior lead research results.

Make the process easier with expert-recommended specialized strategies at Revnew. We have proven expertise to help you reach high-value B2B leads. Contact us today to know more. 

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In the fast-paced world of business, a lead researcher is a crucial figure who plays a vital role. Their primary responsibility is to identify and analyze potential leads that can aid in the growth and success of businesses. 

Let’s delve into why lead research is important, the definition of a lead researcher, their significance and marketing and how they can help scale your teams.

Why is lead research important?

As you know it is crucial to find and connect with potential customers to achieve success. To achieve this, businesses need to engage in lead research, gathering comprehensive and valuable insights about potential customers. This empowers sales and marketing teams to effectively target and convert contacts. By pinpointing and comprehending the target audience, and delving into the characteristics, preferences, and behaviors of leads, businesses can customize their marketing strategies to effectively resonate with their audience.

This personalized approach increases the chances of converting leads into loyal customers.

Research helps businesses allocate their resources, time, and efforts more efficiently. For instance, Instead of sales or marketers trying to reach everyone and wasting time on contacts that may not convert, having research helps to identify which contacts are closest to the ICP which in turn means they can focus on the most promising prospects. Prioritizing leads that align with their products or services allows businesses to optimize their return on investment.

Personalization is a key driver of customer engagement and conversion. Through lead research, businesses gain valuable insights into their leads’ pain points, challenges, and desires. Armed with this knowledge, they can engage in more meaningful conversations and offer tailored solutions that resonate with potential customers on a deeper level.

A well-executed lead research strategy also helps businesses reduce wastage by preventing them from squandering resources on ineffective marketing campaigns or products that do not resonate with their target audience. By focusing on activities with higher chances of success, businesses can optimize their efforts and budget allocation.

In today’s competitive market, understanding leads better than competitors can be a game-changer. By investing in lead research, businesses can craft unique value propositions . This competitive edge can translate into increased market share and brand loyalty.

What is the role of a Lead Researcher?

A lead researcher is an expert who specializes in the process of finding and evaluating these high potential customers for a business. By searching through copious amounts of information, their task is to locate and assess leads that meet the ICP criteria. Additionally, they conduct data enrichment to ensure that sales and marketing teams have all the necessary information to target their prospects effectively. 

Ultimately the main responsibility of a lead researcher is to speed up and create efficiency within the sales and marketing process. Once a lead is qualified, the lead researcher works with the sales and marketing team to develop targeted strategies to convert the lead into a customer. This research is often carried out by sales reps, which can take up valuable selling time.

Researchers pay great attention to detail, have strong analytical skills, and communication and interpersonal skills. Attention to detail is critical for identifying and analyzing potential leads, while  analytical skills are necessary for interpreting data and making informed decisions. Communication and interpersonal skills are essential for building relationships with potential customers and working effectively with team members.

Should you integrate lead research into your sales & marketing processes?

Unequivocally yes. Being able to accelerate the sales and become more efficient in campaign targeting will not only improve ROI for the business, but drive higher conversion rates. Not only that, but ensuring that more contacts meet the ICP can actually also reduce overall churn rates for businesses. However, whilst they play a crucial role in identifying and analyzing potential leads to accelerate the sales pipeline, sometimes businesses do not have the bandwidth or the resources to allocate this task to an employee. 

This is where outsourcing can really help businesses solve this challenge. Find an outsource partner who can not only improve ROI, but scale your sales efforts by providing contact data that meets your ICP and converts.

Don’t waste time.

To find out more about how a dedicated lead research team could help your business – Get in touch today!

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Sales Leads Researcher

A lead researcher is a person who delivers curated, highly-targeted, and accurate lead lists for your company. The goal of a lead researcher is to enhance the work of your sales team and fill your pipeline with potential clients.

The quality of your contact lists defines the effectiveness of your outbound prospecting. Bought contact lists miss a lot of things a researcher doesn’t. At CIENCE, every lead researcher’s work is based on a client’s buyer persona and ICP . This is how our team knows what companies need your product, as well as which decision-maker will be the most suitable contact point.

Key Responsibilities

• Research contact information for sales leads;
• Work with various online tools and databases to enrich leads;
• Record all lead details in a database.

Read about Data Researcher's daily activities at CIENCE.

How Do I Improve My Lead Researchers’ Performance?

• Craft your buyer persona and ICP carefully You should compose these profiles for each sales and marketing campaign you conduct. One mistake in crafting your ICP can result in a failed campaign. At first sight, your leads may seem totally fine. But if one of the main requirements of your ICP is set wrong, it will lead your campaign in the wrong direction. Unsorted contact lists will waste your money because your SDRs will spend colossal amounts of time knocking on doors that will never open.
• Set Key Performance Indicator (KPI) criteria clearly The accuracy of leads is the KPI for lead researchers. Each inaccurate lead allows you to pinpoint the mistakes your researchers make, why they make it, and how it can be fixed.
• Reward your lead researchers for perfect contact lists Lead research is hard work that requires people to be attentive and tedium-resistant. To lift up the spirits and boost the productivity of your workers, implement a bonus system. This will reward lead researchers that composed lists free of inaccurate contacts.
• Outsource Outsourcing is an efficient option to increase your team’s productivity. Adding another pair of hands to your team won’t hurt, plus it’s cheaper than the in-house option. For instance, the average salary of a lead researcher per year is almost twice as high as hiring CIENCE as an outsource option.

A lead researcher delivers accurate and highly-targeted lead lists for your company. This work is the starting point of the lead generation process. Your lead researchers’ work should be based on a buyer persona and an ICP.

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What Is the Difference between a Lead Author and Co-author?

At first glance, the status of a “lead author” would seem to be fairly straightforward. If most of the work of a particular study is done by only one researcher then his name should come first in the citation. However, unless an agreement is reached among all authors defining what “the most work” means, misunderstandings will inevitably ensue and could lead to a conflict of interest. This situation can quickly deteriorate further to even academic misconduct if the list of authors doesn’t accurately reflect the extent of involvement for each author.

Definition of a “Lead Author” and “Co-Author”

The definition of a lead author and co-author are commonly considered as follows:

• Lead Author:  He/She is also called as the first author and is the one who carries out the research as well as writes and edits the manuscript.
• Co-Author:  He/She is the one who collaborates with the lead author and makes significant contribution to the manuscript. A co-author also shares responsibility and accountability of the research outcome.

Assigning Authorship

One of the most significant issues in involving multiple authors in a research paper is the tendency to not be able to equally attribute each facet of the project to a specific researcher. For example, deference to seniority should not automatically equate to lead authorship status, but very often it does. The second assumption is that having a supervisor or senior author listed will improve both recognition and the chances of publication in a prestigious journal.

Related: Made a decision on the lead and co-author for your research paper? Check out this post for some orders and rules of authorship now!

At the other end, it is often assumed that junior researchers and staff members are grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the team and do not expect to be acknowledged as authors. As they often do much of the legwork for large projects, this assumption is highly disrespectful.

4 Major Criteria to “Qualify” for Authorship Status

Operating on assumptions seriously undermines the importance of correct authorship status since such a designation carries with it academic, financial, and career implications. If the team has never worked together before and is committed to avoiding conflict over this issue, there are several good sources for general rules or codes of conduct that can be used to establish rules to which everyone can agree to comply. For example, the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors ( ICMJE ) criteria for authorship that should be met are as follows:

• Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work
• Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content
• Final approval of the work to be published
• Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Such rules may not help to resolve ego issues where individual team members expect recognition based on what they bring to the team, but by keeping the topic focused on workload and accountability; these rules carry the clear message that authorship is earned not granted.

How Does Co-authorship Work?

• The key to co-authoring is substantial contribution of multiple people authoring the manuscript.
• Co-authoring is made easier with document sharing.
• All authors must have editable access to the manuscript and must be aware of all the revisions that are made till the paper is published.
• Generally, in cases of co-authorship, the Article Processing Cost is divided equally among all authors.
• Ethical guidelines that regulate authorship must be duly followed.

Avoiding Conflict

No matter how many hierarchical ranks exist in your department, it is wise not to transfer the same bureaucratic headaches to your authorship team. There can be only one “lead author”, and the aim should be to recognize the remaining members as “co-authors” who agree, in advance, to what tasks they will each be responsible for. Any issues about the perceived fairness of such designations can then be addressed in advance rather than fighting over performance failure prior to publication.

Role and Responsibilities of Lead Author and Co-Author

The confusion of deciding on authorship is very common among researchers. How have you dealt with this confusion? What kind of conflicts arise when deciding on authorship? Let us know in the comments section below!

You can also visit our  Q&A forum  for frequently asked questions related to different aspects of research writing and publishing answered by our team that comprises subject-matter experts, eminent researchers, and publication experts.

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What They Do

What does a Research Scientist Lead do?

A research scientist lead is a professional who oversees and conducts scientific research. They are responsible for developing and applying advanced bioinformatics tools, inventing new technologies, and managing DNA sequencing facilities. They also play a crucial role in product development, statistical analysis, and designing experiments. Additionally, they are involved in business development, software development, and cost savings measures. Uniquely, they may also be responsible for managing clinical trials and prototyping, as well as contributing to the creation of technical reports and contracts.

• Responsibilities
• Skills And Traits
• Comparisions
• Types of Research Scientist Lead

Research scientist lead responsibilities

A research scientist lead plays a crucial role in managing and conducting research projects. They develop and apply advanced bioinformatics tools, conduct analysis for regulatory compliance, and elucidate the structure of drug degradants. Lisa Cuchara Ph.D., Professor of Biomedical Sciences at Quinnipiac University, emphasizes the importance of critical thinking and communication skills for a research scientist lead. She states, "Critical thinking is timeless and priceless. Also being a good steward towards science and being willing and able to communicate not just with peers. but also with the public. is important."

Here are examples of responsibilities from real research scientist lead resumes:

• Manage pediatric dose development project, technology transfer project and alternate API supplier qualification project on budget and on schedule
• Develop, validate and implement robust methods for pharmacokinetic, immunogenicity (ADA) and immunodepletion ELISAs, and cell based-bioassays.

Research scientist lead skills and personality traits

We calculated that 18 % of Research Scientist Leads are proficient in Research Projects , R , and Artificial Intelligence .

We break down the percentage of Research Scientist Leads that have these skills listed on their resume here:

Involved extensively with AFRL program management in the planning, execution, and completion of research projects/programs.

Identified systematic errors in electronic medical record using a combination of SQL queries and R visualizations.

Team Leader and Technical Leader for conducting Research on Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Service Robotics.

Worked extensively with data analysis/interpretation and presentation.

Design of experiments and statistical analysis to assess products and results.

Demonstrated our technologies to potential customers, understanding their requirements and ultimately proposed solutions as a part of business development team.

Common skills that a research scientist lead uses to do their job include "research projects," "r," and "artificial intelligence." You can find details on the most important research scientist lead responsibilities below.

Communication skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a research scientist lead to have is communication skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "medical scientists must be able to explain their research in nontechnical ways." Research scientist leads often use communication skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "facilitated communication and interaction amongst functional representatives as delegated by the principal investigator for research projects. "

Observation skills. Many research scientist lead duties rely on observation skills. "medical scientists conduct experiments that require monitoring samples and other health-related data.," so a research scientist lead will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways research scientist lead responsibilities rely on observation skills: "monitored field of expertise, including literature and technology development, and communicates relevant observations regarding cell culture and technology advantages. "

All research scientist lead skills

The three companies that hire the most research scientist leads are:

• Google 5 research scientist leads jobs
• St. Jude Children's Research Hospital 4 research scientist leads jobs
• Kimberly-Clark 3 research scientist leads jobs

Choose from 10+ customizable research scientist lead resume templates

Compare different research scientist leads

Research scientist lead vs. doctoral fellow.

A doctoral fellow is a physician that has completed studies and receives a fellowship to cover his/her or her expenses while completing his/her or her medical dissertation. A doctor fellow undergoes this fellowship to get additional training for their chosen sub-specialty. During the fellowship period, a fellow can act as an attending physician or consultant physician with other physicians' direct supervision in the sub-specialty field.

While similarities exist, there are also some differences between research scientist leads and doctoral fellow. For instance, research scientist lead responsibilities require skills such as "artificial intelligence," "business development," "clinical studies," and "fda." Whereas a doctoral fellow is skilled in "patients," "cell culture," "cell biology," and "immunology." This is part of what separates the two careers.

Research scientist lead vs. Fellow

A fellow's responsibility will depend on the organization or industry where one belongs. However, most of the time, a fellow's duty will revolve around conducting research and analysis, presiding discussions and attending dialogues, handle lectures while complying with the guidelines or tasks set by supervisors, and assist in various projects and activities. Furthermore, a fellow must adhere to the institution or organization's policies and regulations at all times, meet all the requirements and outputs involved, and coordinate with every person in the workforce.

While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that research scientist lead responsibilities requires skills like "artificial intelligence," "business development," "clinical studies," and "technical guidance." But a fellow might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "patients," "professional development," "veterans," and "mathematics."

Research scientist lead vs. Postdoctoral associate

A postdoctoral associate is responsible for researching to support scientific claims and theories by collecting evidence and information to answer scientific questions. Postdoctoral associates must have excellent communication skills , both oral and written, to interact with people and document investigation findings. They also utilize laboratory tools and equipment for scientific researches, conduct field investigations, and interview participants. A postdoctoral associate designs comprehensive research models to discuss results with the panel and the team efficiently and accurately.

Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from research scientist lead resumes include skills like "artificial intelligence," "business development," "clinical studies," and "fda," whereas a postdoctoral associate is more likely to list skills in "patients," "tip," "biomedical," and "crispr. "

Research scientist lead vs. Postdoctoral scholar

A Postdoctoral Scholar is responsible for supporting an educational research group to conduct studies and gather relevant data to support study claims and scientific evidence. They review initial findings, perform field investigations, and interview the target respondents for data and statistical analysis. They also coordinate with the whole team for efficient research methods, ensuring adherence to budget limitations and required timetables. A Postdoctoral Scholar must have excellent communication skills , both oral and written, to document reports and discuss results with the research team.

Types of research scientist lead

• Research Scientist
• Doctoral Fellow
• PHD Researcher
• Research And Development Scientist

Staff Scientist

Updated June 25, 2024

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The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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Lead Researcher job description

A Lead Researcher identifies and qualifies sales leads through online research and verification calls, supporting sales teams in securing new deals by providing accurate and actionable information.

HR content specialist at Workable, delivering in-depth, data-driven articles to offer insights into industry and tech trends.

Use this Lead Researcher job description template to advertise open roles for your company. Be sure to modify requirements and duties based on the unique needs of the role you’re hiring for.

What is a Lead Researcher?

A Lead Researcher is a professional tasked with the identification and qualification of potential sales leads. This role involves extensive online research and direct communication to verify the accuracy of gathered information. The goal is to ensure that the sales team receives high-quality leads that can be converted into new deals.

The Lead Researcher plays a crucial part in the sales process by laying the groundwork for successful sales pitches and strategies.

What does a Lead Researcher do?

A Lead Researcher meticulously sifts through various online resources and employs verification techniques, including phone calls, to gather and confirm data about potential leads. This role requires a blend of analytical skills, creativity in research methods, and effective communication to ensure the information is accurate and useful.

The researcher works closely with the sales team, providing them with Qualified Sales Leads (QSL) that have a higher probability of conversion into successful deals.

This involves not just initial research but also continuous updating and refining of lead information to align with the sales team’s evolving needs and targets. The Lead Researcher’s contributions are vital for the sales team’s efficiency and success in securing new business opportunities.

Lead Researcher responsibilities include:

• Researching outbound leads.
• Passing Qualified Sales Leads (QSL) to the sales team.
• Verifying information through online research and phone calls.
• Cooperating with global teams, mainly Sales.

Want to generate a unique job description?

Looking for a job.

We are seeking a dynamic Lead Researcher to join our team, playing a pivotal role in our sales process. In this position, you’ll be tasked with identifying, researching, and qualifying sales leads to support our ambitious growth targets.

Your work will involve detailed online research and direct verification to ensure the accuracy and relevance of the information provided to our sales team. This role is crucial for the development of new business opportunities and requires a blend of research skills, creativity, and persistence.

Join us and contribute to our continued success by empowering our sales efforts with high-quality leads.

Responsibilities

• Conduct detailed online research to identify potential sales leads.
• Qualify leads by verifying information through online sources and direct phone calls.
• Pass Qualified Sales Leads (QSL) to the sales team to facilitate new deals.
• Work closely with the global team, especially the Sales team, to ensure the flow of actionable and accurate lead information.
• Employ creative and efficient research strategies to continuously improve the quality of leads.

Requirements and skills

• Fluent in English, with excellent communication skills for both research and verification purposes.
• Naturally active, communicative, and able to work effectively in a global team environment.
• Persistent, efficient, and creative in research approaches to consistently deliver high-quality leads.
• Previous experience in online research or a similar role is highly advantageous.

Post this Lead Researcher job to over 200 job boards at once.

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by Durrington Research School on the 10th December 2020

Most roles within a school are fairly well established and, if people aspire to them, they have some idea of what they involve. You might know that you would like to be a head of department, a pastoral lead, assistant head with a focus on CPD or on behaviour or you might have ambitions for the job at the top as Headteacher. Whilst the actual details of what each of these roles really entails may come as something as a shock (who knew that being a head of department involved so much admin?!) you would probably be able to have a rough guess at the job description. In the last few years a new role has been added to these more established ones, that of research lead. I have been a research lead at Heathfield Community College for the last three years, having done much of the role more informally for a couple of years beforehand, and the two most common questions I get asked are 1 ) what on earth is a research lead and 2 ) how can I become one? I will try to answer those questions here. What on earth is a research lead? The short answer to this question is ​ ‘ whatever you want it to be’, the long answer is probably more useful. Broadly, a research lead is someone who provides a link between the school and the world of educational research. The world of educational research, and of research from other fields that may relate to education, is vast and findings are usually more complex than a headline would have you believe. The research leads role is often to be a research-literate and research-informed individual who can lay their hands on relevant material and probably recontextualize it for busy teachers or school leaders. This could involve helping to inform decisions on the content of CPD sessions or on running those sessions. It could also involve producing literature reviews to help inform school policies or their evaluation. As a result, the research lead often needs to work closely with members of the senior leadership team so that they can be directed to work on upcoming school priorities. Another role for the research lead can be in helping to make the teaching in the school more research-informed so that they can make their own professional judgements based on the evidence we have to sit alongside their own experience. I would suggest the role isn’t (and doesn’t become) one where a person tries to dictate the pedagogy of the school. We might try to help inform people through writing or contribution to an in-house blog (our one, Heathfield TeachShare can be found here ), setting up a journal club where teachers can meet and discuss research, or by drip-feeding interesting and useful pieces of research-informed teaching through staff briefing sessions. It could also involve working with individual teachers or small groups to help identify and potentially solve issues arising. For example, someone may come to you with a question on the research around effective homework setting or closing the gender gap in their subject. This might not be something you have a ready answer to, but you may be the person best placed to find the answer (see below). A research lead may also be involved in carrying out aspects of educational research within the school. Sometimes these are funded projects through organisations such as the Educational Endowment Foundation or through local authorities; other times they are small pieces of practitioner enquiry designed to test whether a change in school is leading to a desired outcome. Perhaps the school is thinking of changing its policy around the type of homework set and wants to know what impact it has had, or they want to know if a new behaviour policy is leading to increased focus in class, a research lead may help to design and carry out a trial to help with this kind of evaluation. How can I become one? It is possible that the above paragraphs have convinced you that the role of research lead is one steeped in glory and accolades and you want in, so, what next? Firstly, look for opportunities within your existing school structures. Do you already have a group of teachers looking at pedagogy or working groups leading on different areas of school life that you could join? Do you have a school blog that you could contribute to? If not, could you start one? Who contributes to CPD sessions? Could it be you? Second, look to make the role a formal one. Approach your school leadership with a clear outline of what you think the role of research lead could entail and, importantly, how it will help with the priorities for the school. Think carefully about what you would need for the role. If you are setting out a bold programme of actions that you plan to take, you will need time to do this in. Be honest about that and don’t pretend you can do it around your existing responsibilities in the time you already have. One of the things I have needed most as a research lead is a network. As I have mentioned, the field of research is vast, and it helps to have other people to call on if you are looking for something outside of your existing areas of expertise. Look for like-minded people on Twitter (the number of people with ​ ‘ research lead’ in their twitter bio grows by the day) and reach out to them. Get in contact with your local Research School and let them know that you exist and see how you may be able to partner up and support each other. Look for opportunities for training. Research Schools run training sessions for research leads, or for those who want to be research leads. I am running remote sessions through Term 3  and Term 4  and you can find out more and sign up here. These sessions can help you to find out where to find and evaluate sources of research and how to implement them in schools. Conclusion If you are interested in educational research and, more importantly, in how this research can inform what happens in schools, then becoming a research lead could be a great move. When the role is done well, by both the research lead and their managers, it means someone has the time and space to think carefully about difficult decisions and areas of school policy. It means that there is someone in the school that teachers know they can go to for advice and support and who has the networks and expertise to point them in the right direction. It also means there is someone who can help to empower teachers by giving them access to the information they need to make their own decisions about what will work best for their classes and empower school leaders in the same way. I guess the only question left is a rhetorical one; why wouldn’t you have a research lead? Mark Enser is head of geography and research lead at Heathfield Community College and an ELE with Durrington Research School. His latest book, Powerful Geography: Curriculum with purpose in practice is out soon. He tweets @EnserMark

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Definition of lead

 (Entry 1 of 5)

transitive verb

intransitive verb

Definition of lead  (Entry 2 of 5)

Definition of lead  (Entry 3 of 5)

Definition of lead  (Entry 4 of 5)

Definition of lead  (Entry 5 of 5)

Did you know?

When to Use Lead or Led

There is some persistent confusion about lead and led . Or, we should say, there is confusion about the leads and led . Lead is both a noun and a verb, as most people know. There are several unrelated nouns spelled lead : one most commonly refers to a metal (as in, "The paint was made with lead"), and the other most commonly refers to a position of advantage (as in, "Our team was in the lead"). The verb lead is pronounced /LEED/, with a long e ; the noun that refers to a position or advantage is also pronounced /LEED/, with a long e ; the noun that refers to the metal, however, is pronounced /LED/, with a short e . To this moderately convoluted situation, add the past tense and past participle of the verb lead , which is led and pronounced like the metal noun lead with a short e . The homophonic confusion leads to homographic confusion, and you will therefore occasionally see lead in constructions where led is called for (as in, “She lead the ducklings to safety” instead of “She led the ducklings to safety”). The correct past and past participle of lead is spelled led . If you aren’t sure whether to use led or lead as the verb in your sentence, try reading it aloud to yourself. If the verb is pronounced /LED/, use led .

• marshall
• supereminent

guide , lead , steer , pilot , engineer mean to direct in a course or show the way to be followed.

guide implies intimate knowledge of the way and of all its difficulties and dangers.

lead implies showing the way and often keeping those that follow under control and in order.

steer implies an ability to keep to a course and stresses the capacity of maneuvering correctly.

pilot suggests guidance over a dangerous or complicated course.

engineer implies finding ways to avoid or overcome difficulties in achieving an end or carrying out a plan.

Examples of lead in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'lead.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Verb (1), Noun (1), and Adjective

Middle English leden , from Old English lǣdan ; akin to Old High German leiten to lead, Old English līthan to go

Noun (2) and Verb (2)

Middle English leed , from Old English lēad ; akin to Middle High German lōt lead

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a(1)

1828, in the meaning defined above

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing lead

• extension lead
• follow someone's lead
• gain the lead
• get the lead out
• go down like a lead balloon
• go over like a lead balloon
• have / hold the lead
• in the lead

lead acetate

• lead a charmed life
• lead a double life
• lead anywhere
• lead arsenate
• lead by example
• lead carbonate
• lead chromate
• lead dioxide
• lead - free
• lead monoxide
• lead nowhere
• lead one down the garden path
• lead one's own life
• lead one up the garden path
• lead pencil
• lead - pipe
• lead poisoning
• lead (someone) a merry chase
• lead (someone) a (merry) dance
• lead someone (around) by the nose
• lead (someone) down / up the garden path
• lead sulfide
• lead the / one's eye to
• lead the pack / field
• lead the way
• lead the world
• lead to believe
• lead to the altar
• sing / play lead
• take the lead
• tetraethyl lead

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Cite this entry.

“Lead.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lead. Accessed 10 Jul. 2024.

Kids Definition

Kids definition of lead.

Kids Definition of lead  (Entry 2 of 5)

Kids Definition of lead  (Entry 3 of 5)

Kids Definition of lead  (Entry 4 of 5)

Kids Definition of lead  (Entry 5 of 5)

Old English lǣdan "to lead"

Old English lēad "the metal lead"

Medical Definition

Medical definition of lead.

 (Entry 1 of 2)

Medical Definition of lead  (Entry 2 of 2)

Legal Definition

Legal definition of lead.

Legal Definition of lead  (Entry 2 of 2)

More from Merriam-Webster on lead

Nglish: Translation of lead for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of lead for Arabic Speakers

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about lead

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What Is a Lead: Types & Lead Management Stages

Written by: Victoria Taylor

A lead is a business or person who is interested in your brand or an unqualified contact who could potentially become your next paying customer.

More leads equal more opportunities for revenue, so their importance can’t be overstated.

But lead management can be tricky; it requires a delicate dance between marketing and sales, which can make the struggle to attract, nurture and convert leads frustrating for your team.

The best place to start is taking an honest look at the type of leads your sales team needs and creating a lead management system that moves your leads from “maybe” to “yes” by successfully completing a purchase.

In this article, we'll walk you through what a lead is, key types to note, how to identify these and an extensive look at how to create a lead management process.

Table of Contents

What is a lead, the importance of leads, types of leads, how to classify & qualify leads, five stages of lead management.

• FAQ About Leads
• A lead in business, marketing or sales is a person or company that is interested in your product or service. They can potentially become a prospect or a paying customer.
• Leads are essential for business. They provide an opportunity to gain consistent revenue, loyal customers and brand equity.
• There are various types of leads based on their level of engagement or position in the sales cycle: cold leads, warm leads, hot leads, marketing qualified leads (MQL, sales qualified leads (SQL), sales accepted leads (SAL) and information qualified lead (IQL).
• To classify or qualify a lead based on its type, you should build a buyer persona, track behavioral habits and use lead scoring.
• There are five stages of lead management: lead generation, lead qualification, lead nurturing, lead scoring and routing and measuring success.
• Visme is an all-in-one content creation platform that provides lead forms , templates for lead magnets and AI-powered tools, among others, all to streamline your lead management process.

A lead is a person or business that shows interest in your products or services. Leads can come from various sources such as a website, social media engagement, events, referrals or consultations, to name a few.

A lead is usually gathered or captured with a lead magnet , and then it’s up to you to convert them into a qualified lead and then into a paying customer.

But not all leads will become customers. Some might not make it through your sales or marketing funnel. This can be due to their lack of interest or a poorly optimized lead generation and management process. But we’ll dive further into that later.

Leads vs. Prospects: What’s the Difference?

Now that we know what a lead is, how does it differ from a prospect?

Well, where a lead is a potential customer, a prospect is a qualified lead. This means that a prospect has a higher likelihood of being converted to a customer.

The transition from lead to prospect happens when a lead is determined to have strong alignment with your specific lead criteria and has both an interest and the ability to purchase your product.

In a traditional lead generation process, leads are usually gathered in the marketing funnel , then, once qualified, they’re passed on to the sales team as prospects to begin the sales cycle . The sales cycle is a series of steps that you go through to pursue a prospect to make a purchase.

Leads are a vital part of any establishment's sales or marketing success. Capturing quality leads equals profits. Without leads, you’re left with little to no consistent earnings from recurring or new customers to keep your business up and running.

Today, business is far more competitive than it's ever been. The “build it and they will come” model no longer works. In fact, Ruler Analytics found that 91% of marketers say that lead generation is their most important goal because generating quality leads translates to sales for their company.

Managing leads provide companies with a chance to nurture relationships, understand customer needs and measure the effectiveness of their lead generation and management strategies.

By focusing on effectively generating and converting leads, you can improve your marketing and sales funnel, conversion rates and, ultimately, revenue.

As you build out your lead generation and management stages, you’ll begin to attract various types of leads. Leads are categorized based on their level of engagement, where they’ve been captured or found and their readiness to make a purchase.

Here’s a list of the most common types of leads you’ll encounter:

• Cold Leads: These are leads that have minimal interest or aren’t very familiar with your product or services. They’re cold because they’re essentially new leads that have just discovered your company.
• Warm Leads (also known as prospects):have shown interest in considering a purchase or in knowing more about your company or product.
• Hot Leads: At this stage, these types of leads are actively seeking information, are highly interested and close to making a purchase decision. They’re hot because they’re so close to the purchasing stage.
• Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL): These leads have been qualified by marketing for lead nurturing . They are then handed to sales as prospects after meeting specific criteria or showing interest in marketing efforts.
• Sales Qualified Leads (SQL): These are leads that sales have determined are likely to convert into a customer based on their interactions and behavior during the sales process . Sales qualified leads (SQL) are also further classified as B2C or B2B sales leads.
• Sales Accepted Leads (SAL): This lead has been evaluated and accepted by the sales team to have a high chance of being a good prospect.
• Information Qualified Lead (IQL): This type of lead has provided specific information about themselves (i.e role or industry), often through form submissions or interactions with chatbots or customer support.

Lead qualification is the process of classifying and qualifying a lead. The lead is assessed on whether it’s a suitable prospect or worth pursuing based on the information collected through lead scoring and nurturing.

From there, leads are usually classified into three main types, MQLs, SQLs or SALs, as mentioned in the section above.

Next to lead generation, you’ll have to learn how to properly qualify leads as they come your way.

Not only does this give you a clear picture of who is most likely to make a purchase, but it also saves you time and resources, helping you to focus on how to effectively close more deals.

In this section, we'll show you five ways to classify and qualify leads in your funnel:

1. Build a Buyer Persona

How do you know that you’ve got a good lead or if it’s the kind of lead your business needs? It starts with understanding who your ideal customer is.

By creating a buyer persona based on your ideal customer, you'll be able to quickly identify who is the perfect match for your products and services.

This can also reduce your customer churn rate, as you’re likely to gain prospects that will stay longer rather than going out the door faster than they came in.

A buyer persona is a research-based representation of your ideal customer who will be the most interested in your products or services. You can use market research and real data from your existing customers.

You can also use this to tailor your marketing and sales efforts to attract and convert leads that align with the characteristics of your ideal customers. If your team already has a buyer persona, be sure to keep it updated annually to match your strategy efforts and growth.

If you don’t have one, don't worry. Visme has a wide library of buyer and customer persona templates you can customize, like this project management software customer persona template below:

Add your brand colors, logos and fonts to your buyer persona manually, or let our AI-powered Brand Wizard do the work for you. Simply add your website URL, and the wizard will not only create a brand kit for you but also suggest templates that match your brand.

2. Track Behavioral Metrics

Behavioral metrics are actions taken by your leads or customers that can measure interest, user experience or conversions. These can be downloads, shares, website visits, clicks or automatic triggers, to name a few.

Behavioral metrics are usually tracked with analytic tools (i.e Google Analytics), heatmaps, UTM codes, sign-ups, demo booking, discount code usage or other forms of digital and physical engagement.

By tracking behavioral metrics, you can get a practical sense of how to classify leads. But to effectively track behavioral metrics, you’ll need to set up behavioral KPIs (key performance indicators).

By setting behavioral KPIs, you can build out a more intentional lead funnel with the appropriate triggers, tools and content. This, in turn, aids you in knowing how to quickly differentiate cold, warm and hot leads from a bird’s eye view. Some behavioral KPIs you can to classify leads include:

• Engagement Score: Tracking clicks, session duration and the frequency at which they visit a specific page or feature.
• Freemium to Premium Conversion Rate: Transitioning from trial to paid subscription, indicating a higher likelihood of conversion.
• Email Automation Triggers: How far along in the email marketing funnel the lead is and a high engagement rate with the content, triggers or clicks.
• Time to Value (TTV): The time it takes a potential lead to understand the value of your products/services.
• Demo Booking: By booking a time and successfully showing up at the demo, the lead shows interest in understanding the product.
• Product Activation Rate: How features are adopted and which features are most frequently used by leads during trials or demos to understand their preferences.
• Decision-Maker Identification: Determining if the lead has buying or decision-making power or if additional stakeholders are required.

With Visme, you can track analytics when you publish and share content with potential leads. Access the number of views, unique visits, average time the user spent on the project or specific pages, if it was viewed completely and so much more.

Matt Swiren,

Manager of Partnership Marketing

The Denver Broncos used Visme’s analytics to get a better understanding of what pages are being looked at and what holds the highest value to their partners. This empowers them to make more thoughtful and data-focused decisions that give them the power to construct better sales approaches, conversations and relationships.

3. Use Lead Scoring

Lead scoring is the process of ranking leads with numerical values based on the likelihood that they'll be converted into customers.

By doing this, sales is able to objectively prioritize their resources on leads that are likely to convert. It also fosters better collaboration between sales and marketing teams, as both have clear initiatives they can work towards.

Studies show lead scoring is a revenue driver. According to a Lenskold Group report , 68% of marketers consider lead scoring a leading revenue generation contributor.

Yet, Clover Mortgage found that around 67% of lost sales are a result of sales reps not properly qualifying potential customers before taking them through the full sales process, and just 44% of companies use lead scoring systems.

What does this mean for you? Lead scoring is simply not a method your team should be skipping or underutilizing.

Quick Guide to Creating a Lead Scoring System

Lead scoring isn’t as tedious a task as you might think. While it may take some time and brainstorming, once it’s in progress, you simply need to monitor it. All it takes is a few simple steps. If you’re short on time, take a look at our easy to follow MQL to SQL with lead scoring guide below:

If you’ve got time, here’s a more detailed walk-through on how to create a lead scoring system:

1. Start by assigning scores or values to the behavioral metrics we highlighted earlier. For example, a lead visiting the pricing page may receive a higher score than one who only downloads a free lead magnet.

2. Next, set a threshold that differentiates levels of readiness. Leads with a specific score that are deemed MQLs should be passed on to sales for further engagement. Do the same for SQLs that can be turned into prospects.

3. Integrate your lead scoring system in your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform. This helps you automate or track the process and creates seamless communication between marketing and sales.

4. Align marketing and sales to know when to establish a hand-off when a lead is ready to move from MQL to SQL or SAL. Be sure to use an automated system that can set up triggers to instantly hand over leads. You can also create clear guidelines on when to manually hand off leads.

5. Regularly review and refine your lead scoring system. It’s not a set-it-and-forget-it process. Your lead scoring should evolve with your customer behavior, industry, product improvements and company goals.

One of the most important factors for lead scoring success is ensuring that everyone on your team is not only on the same page but collaborating along each stage of the process.

Visme not only offers collaborative features that allow your team to work in, control and share projects within a single workspace, but you can create workflows where you can assign tasks, set due dates and track real-time progress with your marketing and sales team.

Not to mention, Visme also integrates seamlessly with CRMs like HubSpot, Salesforce, Zapier and more to save time spent jumping from tool to tool. Helping your team to qualify, hand off or even educate leads effortlessly without losing momentum.

What is lead management? It’s a framework that will guide leads from interest to valued customers with personalization, data-driven insights, and precision. It’s the roadmap guiding your leads to the purchase finish line.

Whether your company is focused on B2C or B2B lead generation , this is just a fraction of what’s needed to attract and retain quality leads. In the grand scheme of things, you must have a proper lead management system.

When both planned and executed correctly, you’ll create a process that’s built to help sustain the lead-to-customer pipeline without burning out your team, wasting resources, and worse, missing out on a good lead because of a lack of planning.

1. Lead Generation

Every lead management system begins with lead generation. After all, managing leads effectively is what really nudges them to the conversion stage.

Lead generation is where we’ll be attracting leads through various methods, like lead magnets, discounts or webinars. Using lead generating channels like email marketing, social media, content marketing, SEO, events or your website.

Here’s what a traditional lead generation to conversion process looks like:

So, how do we master a beast like lead generation? After all, it’s not one size-fits-all. Not all lead generation ideas are suited to your needs. That’s why it’s crucial for you to map out the path that works best for your product, audience or industry.

Here are a few ways to start generating leads, regardless of where your company currently stands.

Understand Your Target Audience

We discussed this earlier when it came to classifying and qualifying leads. This simple but sometimes overlooked step can be a time saver or a time waster. Not only should you know your target audience, but you should learn ahead of time if you could be serving more than one type of target audience.

One of the best places to start is by defining an ideal customer profile (ICP). An ICP helps you identify, target and prioritize prospects most valuable to your business.

ICPs are commonly used in sales, who typically get handed off leads to turn into SQLs and then prospects. If marketing passes on leads that don’t match your sales ICP , this provides poor leads and conversions.

Quickly create an ICP template for your team to customize, brainstorm and keep on hand as a company training material. You can use templates like the one below.

If you don’t feel like using a template, use Visme’s AI Document Generator instead. With a single prompt, generate ready-to-use ICP templates and more in just a few seconds. Prompt and customize it with your own visual assets. You can also create new visuals using the AI image generator or upload your own!

But wait, what’s the difference between an ICP and a buyer persona?

An ICP represents the ideal business that you’d like to sell to. It outlines the characteristics, demographics, or pain points of an ideal business that are most likely to benefit from your products or services.

Whereas a buyer persona provides a more individualized perspective of your ideal customer, diving deeper into specific characteristics, preferences and behaviors of decision-makers within your ideal business. It also helps humanize your target audience.

While they are different, it’s always encouraged to use the two together. Once you’ve created your ICP, it will help guide the creation of your buyer persona.

Create a Lead Magnet

A lead magnet is an incentive marketers use to attract potential customers in exchange for contact information or purchase.

You can use a myriad of methods and tools to generate leads, the most popular being a lead magnet. But not all lead magenta are the same. Some tend to outperform others.

So what makes a good lead magnet?

It should resonate with the customer, provide value, drive interest, be easy to consume or access, be visually appealing and aligned with their wants and needs. But you’ll also need to provide a lead magnet based on where your lead is in the marketing or sales funnel.

For example, where a cold lead might just want access to an ebook on industry updates, a warm lead might want to join a webinar to learn more about your product features. Both serve the same purpose, but they cater to the type of lead.

If you need help brainstorming some good lead magnet ideas or even creating copy for them, use Visme’s AI Writer. Simply enter a prompt and watch as it quickly generates copy or suggestions for you to choose from. Once you’re satisfied with the results, the AI Writer can also proofread or edit as you add your final touches to the copy.

For more tips on great lead magnet ideas, take a look at the list below. You can use them based on where your leads are in the marketing funnel.

Top-of-Funnel (Tofu) Lead Magnets:

• Whitepapers
• Forms & Surveys

Middle-of-Funnel (Mofu) Lead Magnets:

• Product Demos

Bottom-of-Funnel (Bofu) Lead Magnets:

• Free Trials
• Free Consultations
• Discounts & Deals
• Limited Time Offers

Lead Magnet Templates

Cheatsheet Lead Magnet

Gift Guide Lead Magnet

Worksheet Lead Magnet

Branding Workbook Lead Magnet

Ideas Lead Magnet Template

State of the Industry Lead Magnet

Create your lead magnet View more templates

Take your lead magnets from boring to eye-catching with Visme’s professionally designed templates and initiative design features. Add your own visual assets or tap into Visme’s library of professionally made icons and high-resolution stock photos and videos .

Make your lead magnets interactive with hotspots, popups and clickable tables. Add dynamic fields so you can update essential information and access all your lead magnets with just one click.

Or add engaging data visualizations like charts and graphs to your reports or demo videos to grab your leads attention and show off your stats. With Visme, the possibilities are endless. And the best part? No coding or designer needed.

Distribute Your Lead Magnet

Once you’ve created your lead magnet, it’s time to distribute it. There are multiple ways to distribute your lead magnet using:

• A Website : Place lead magnets with calls-to-action (CTAs), strategically placed pop ups forms , and create compelling landing pages. Don’t forget to A/B which placement or method works best.
• Content Marketing: High quality content not only aids in luring people to your lead magnet but builds trust and authority with those new to your brand. In fact, the Content Marketing Institute found content marketing generates three times as many leads as traditional outbound marketing but costs 62% less.
• Social Media Platforms: Share lead magnets through social media posts and targeted advertising where your target audience is most likely to find you on their down time.
• Email Marketing: Use your email list to share lead magnets to drive potential customers further down the funnel or help classify and qualify them.

One tried and tested method of distributing lead magnets and generating leads is using lead capture forms . They’re so popular that 84% of marketers rely on form submissions for lead generation.

But with 84% of marketers, which could include your competitors, using lead forms to generate leads, how do you stand out and grab your leads attention?

Try Visme Forms . These interactive forms come with animated characters to help boost your conversions and decrease your form abandonment rate.

After testing Visme forms on an organic traffic of 500,000 website visitors using a split test against traditional forms, we found that next to doubling our newsletter sign up, adding animated characters to our lead magnets resulted in:

• Increased lead conversion rates up to 40%.
• Increased form start rates up to 34%.
• Reduced form abandonment rates by up to 10%.
• Reduced estimated cost per acquisition by up to 28%.

Unlike other form builders, you don’t need coding skills to access the look and feel of a custom-designed form. You can create newsletter sign ups, email collectors, registration forms and more, all proven to convert at a higher rate.

Choose from a wide range of our expertly designed form templates , and customize our animated characters and forms to match your brand. Plus, our form builder is specifically crafted to ensure that load times on your website won’t be impacted. All this, along with real-time analytics to track your leads and their effectiveness.

Plus, if you’re already using popular platforms like MailChimp, HubSpot, Google Sheets or Zapier, Visme Forms and its design platform seamlessly integrate with them.

2. Lead Qualification

A recent ViB report discovered that the two biggest challenges marketers are facing this year are improving lead quality and conversion rates (54%) and generating more leads (41%).

Previously we discussed that in order to improve your conversion, you’ll first need to ensure that you're able to properly qualify leads before they’re passed on to the sales team.

While others might see lead qualification as a bottleneck, it’s not. It’s a practical solution to find gaps in your lead generation.

Overall, it provides a better understanding of your ideal sales ICP opportunities to optimize your sales and marketing funnel or product development.

Lead Qualification Frameworks

Now we know that leads can be qualified as MQLs, SQLs, SALs or IQLs. But before you get to that stage, there are a few lead qualifying frameworks you can use.

Lead qualification frameworks help you to create a set criteria for identifying leads and influencing your lead scoring. All your leads aren’t going to be the same person or company; they’ll have different positions, niches, needs and pain points, so having a framework in place helps to generalize these gritty details.

Here are six lead qualification methods your sales team can use based on the product, services or industry you cater to:

1. BANT (Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline):

• Budget : Evaluate whether the lead has the financial resources or buying-power to invest in the product or service.
• Authority : Determine if the lead has the decision-making authority within their organization.
• Need : Assess the lead's specific needs and whether the product or service can address them.
• Timeline : Understand the lead's timeframe for making a purchase decision. Is it over a long or urgent period of time?

2. MEDDIC (Metrics, Economic Buyer, Decision Criteria, Decision Process, Identify Pain, Champion):

• Metrics : What are the key performance indicators and metrics your product or service offers that align with the lead's objectives?
• Economic Buyer : Identify if the lead has authority to make financial decisions.
• Decision Criteria : Understand the criteria or determining factors the lead uses to make decisions.
• Decision Process: Map out the steps and individuals involved in the lead's decision-making process.
• Identify Pain: Determine the challenges or pain points the lead is looking to address.
• Champion: Identify an internal advocate or champion within the lead's organization that is in favor of your product or service.

3. GPCTBA/C&I (Goals, Plans, Challenges, Timeline, Budget, Authority, Negative Consequences & Positive Implications):

• Goals : Understand the lead's overarching goals (company, professional or teamwise).
• Plans : Assess the strategies and plans the lead has in place to achieve their goals.
• Challenges : Identify the challenges or pain points the lead is currently facing.
• Timeline : Determine the lead's timeframe for implementing a solution.
• Budget : Note the financial resources available for the proposed solution.
• Authority : Confirm the decision-making authority within the organization or change of command needed.
• Negative Consequences & Positive Implications: Explore the potential risks or benefits associated with the lead's decision. Provide a practical perspective on what your product or service can achieve.

4. ANUM (Authority, Need, Urgency, Money):

• Authority : Determine if the lead has purchasing and decision-making authority.
• Need : Evaluate the lead's specific needs and pain points.
• Urgency : Understand the timeline or urgency for the lead's decision making.
• Money : Evaluate the lead's budget and financial capacity.

5. CHAMP (Challenges, Authority, Money, Prioritization):

• Challenges : Identify the key challenges or pain points the lead is experiencing.
• Authority : Confirm the lead's decision-making authority.
• Money : Estimate the financial resources available for their solution.
• Prioritization : Understand how the lead prioritizes their needs and objectives.

6. FAINT (Funds, Authority, Interest, Need, Timing):

• Funds : Evaluate the lead's financial capacity and budget.
• Interest : Rate the lead's level of interest in the product or service.
• Need : Understand the specific needs or challenges the lead is looking to address.
• Timing : Determine the lead's timeline for making a decision.

3. Lead Nurturing

Lead nurturing is the act of fostering meaningful relationships with leads at each stage of their journey through the sales funnel using offers, resources or personalized experiences to successfully secure a purchase.

According to the Annuitas Group , nurtured leads usually make 47% larger purchases than their non-nurtured counterparts. And companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales-ready leads at 33% lower cost per lead.

This means that lead nurturing cuts down the time and cost it takes to turn a lead into a prospect, and can lead to bigger purchases.

Lead nurturing, similar to lead generation, needs a strategy and can also be automated to make the process easier for you and your team and ensure that no lead is left behind.

There are various types of lead nurturing strategies you can use, based on your goals. Here are some strategies you can quickly and easily implement to start nurturing your leads:

• Example: A Shopping Cart Abandonment Email Campaign
• Example: Segment leads that have visited a webinar vs leads that have not.
• Example: A case study of how a client improved their productivity with your product.
• Example: A retargeted ad on social media for an item a customer abandoned in a shopping cart.

When it comes to lead nurturing, we know that time is a crucial asset for marketing and sales, especially when managing clients, chasing prospects and completing other tasks. So wouldn’t you want a tool that helps them not only manage but gain more time?

Visme goes beyond simply providing templates; it’s an all-in-one content creation platform that gives your marketing and sales team the confidence to maintain brand integrity, create and store content for lead nurturing and streamlining tasks, all without the need for a professional design or relying heavily on your design team.

But don’t take our word for it. GaggleAMP used Visme to lower their content creation time across their sales and customer success departments by almost 95%.

Michelle Brammer,

Director of Marketing

Especially as a small, 100% bootstrapped company, this is a big win for GaggleAMP. So, interested to see what Visme can do for you?

4. Lead Scoring & Routing

While nurturing your leads, you need to design a lead score system. This can be done manually or automatically using a CRM or lead scoring tools integrated with your current sales tools. Automation is preferred, as it can assign workflows and triggers that can work in favor of your lead nurturing.

When placing lead scores, be sure that there are thresholds or cutoff points to categorize each lead. This makes prepping for follow-ups smoother and allows the sales to move faster once a lead has reached the highest threshold.

Your lead qualification and scoring should go hand-in-hand to ensure a cohesive lead management process. If not, you’ll end up creating confusion and tracking leads that have little to no potential of converting. Always ensure they are aligned!

There are a few main types of lead scoring methods you can use to scour and route a lead to their place in the lead funnel, described below:

• Purchase Intent: This is used to score leads based on behavioral signals that indicate they are highly considering making a purchase within a specific timeframe. These signals may include actions such as visiting a specific page multiple times, abandoning their cart, or interacting with retargeting ads.
• Firmographic or Demographic Model: This model utilizes segmentation techniques to understand, target, and score leads based on their demographic and firmographic information. It qualifies leads based on specific or shared traits and behaviors.
• Online Behavioral Model: Similar to the engagement model of lead scoring, this approach scores leads based on their actions across digital platforms, utilizing first or third-party apps. This involves tracking clicks, social media engagement, or email open rates to gauge a lead's position in the sales funnel.
• Negative Scoring Attributes : Unlike other models that predict the likelihood of a customer buying, this lead scoring method focuses on the likelihood that they would be dissatisfied with your product or service. It helps to identify potential sources of dissatisfaction and recognize leads unlikely to convert into successful prospects or loyal customers.
• Logistic Regression Model: This model uses historical data from past lead conversions, attributes, and behaviors to predict the probability of a lead converting into a customer. It offers transparency and interpretability, guiding you to key factors influencing your lead conversion.
• Predictive Lead Scoring: It uses machine learning algorithms to forecast the likelihood of lead conversion based on historical data patterns and trends. Unlike traditional rule-based scoring methods, it is more flexible and adaptable, making it suitable for dynamic and fast-paced industries or company environments.

5. Lead Conversion & Measuring Success

We’re almost at the lead funnel finish line. Now that your lead has made it through your entire lead management process, there are three possible outcomes. Your lead will either be handed off to sales as an SQL, SAL or IQL, leave your lead funnel due to a competitor or external factors or still need to be nurtured for further scoring.

How high or low each result is will give you a clear idea of your lead management success. Even if you have a high chance of success with leads, reviewing your lead management success and process is still encouraged to ensure it’s optimized to its fullest.

Here’s a quick run-through on how to measure the success of of your lead management system:

• Conversion Rates : Track the percentage of leads that go through the sales funnel and ultimately convert into customers. This proves the effectiveness of your lead nurturing and qualification.
• Lead Velocity: Monitor the rate at which leads move through the sales pipeline. This can highlight bottlenecks or lack of filters in your lead management process.
• Sales Cycle Length: Measure the average time it takes for leads to convert into customers. A shorter sales cycle is a sign of good lead management.
• Lead Quality: Review the quality of leads generated and how they align with your target customer profile, ensuring that the lead management system delivers high-value prospects to the sales team.
• Customer Lifetime Value: Evaluate the long-term value generated by leads converted through the system, as this will impact your revenue growth and customer retention.

By taking time to review these, you’ll not only be focused on generating leads but ensuring that the prospects converted are long-standing clients rather than just short-lived purchases going through a revolving door.

FAQs About Leads

Q. what are leads in a business.

Leads are potential customers or contacts who have shown interest or might be interested in your products or services, providing an opportunity for conversion and revenue generation.

Q. What is a lead in marketing?

In marketing, a lead refers to a prospect or individual who is curious about your brand by engaging with your marketing materials. For example, signing up for a lead magnet, clicking an ad campaign, attending a webinar or subscribing to your newsletter.

Q. What is a lead in sales?

In sales, a lead is a potential customer, also known as a Sales Qualified Lead (SQL), who is in the early stages of the sales cycle. Sales leads typically require further nurturing and qualification before they’re ready to make a purchase.

Q. What is the best source for leads?

The best source for leads all depends on your target audience, company goals and industry. However, a mixture of inbound and outbound marketing has been proven to be the best strategy across industries to generate leads.

Q. What is the fastest way to generate leads?

The fastest way to generate leads varies and is influenced by your business model or industry. However, using lead magnets, providing offers or discounts, hosting events (virtual or in person) as well as targeted ads have been proven to drive quick and effective results.

Q. What is the difference between a lead and an opportunity?

A lead is a potential customer or prospect interested in your products or services but who may not be fully qualified or ready to purchase. An opportunity, on the other hand, is a lead that has been further qualified and is considered more likely to convert into a sale.

Q. What are the five major stages of lead management?

There are five steps to consider when managing leads: generating leads, qualifying their fit, nurturing them, scoring their potential, guiding them through the sales funnel and reviewing success metrics for conversions.

Elevate Your Lead Management with the Power of Visme

Now you have a clear idea on what a lead is, the main types of leads and how to effectively manage them to drive better conversions for sales. Keep this article bookmarked to refresh your memory or review the tips we shared throughout.

We know that lead management and generation can be challenging, but it’s not impossible. With the right content for educating leads, addressing pain points and building out each stage of your sales funnel, you can create a seamless sale.

Try Visme. From lead generation with Visme Forms to AI content creation with Visme AI Designer , you can use powerful design and content management features to attract, nurture and convert your leads.

Visme empowers thousands of marketing, sales and customer success teams that need an agile tool that works with them, not against them. Click here to see what Visme can do for your team.

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About the Author

Victoria Taylor is a seasoned content marketing expert with a specialization in SaaS and eCommerce. She has a passion for crafting compelling narratives that engage audiences and strategies that drive real engagement. Always keeping up with trends and testing new software, she brings a wealth of knowledge and a fresh perspective to all her clients.

• Published May 15, 2024
• 20 Minute Read

What Is Leadership?

The Definition of Leadership: It’s a Social Process

Leadership is often described by what a leader does or the capabilities they have. Yet while the skills and behaviors of individual leaders are important, the true meaning of leadership is about what people do together . Said another way, everyone in an organization contributes to leadership.

So, what is leadership, really?

Based on our decades of pioneering research and experience, we define leadership as a social process that enables individuals to work together to achieve results that they could never achieve working alone.

Understanding how leadership works as a social process is important for several reasons:

• This definition of leadership avoids putting the entire weight of leadership on a few individuals — or limiting the leadership potential of others. Each person can discover and build upon their own leadership potential.
• This view of leadership is both realistic and adaptive — because the truth is, leadership doesn’t take place in isolation. It reflects, responds to, and shapes many different relationships, cultures, and systems.
• It’s also practical. When we define leadership as something that happens through the interactions among people with shared work, we have many opportunities to amplify leadership potential. Plus, in a group, a multitude of skills, perspectives, and expertise work together, making the whole greater than the sum of its parts. Any individual weaknesses are overshadowed by the strengths of others, and the team or group thrives — accomplishing more together than any one individual could ever do alone.

Management vs. Leadership: What’s the Difference?

The terms management and leadership are often used interchangeably, but there are distinct differences, so understanding the definition of leadership vs. management can be helpful. The key difference between them:

• Management is the process of planning and control, while
• Leadership is the process of people working to achieve something together.

Both management and leadership are important for accomplishing goals or making change happen, and depending on your role, you will need to draw on aspects of both to be effective.

What Do Managers Focus On?

Management roles and responsibilities involve planning, organizing, getting things done, and solving problems. Effective managers deploy resources and work through others to gain efficiency, quality, and accomplish goals. The focus is on day-to-day operations and tasks, and ensuring employees meet expectations for what they do and how they do it. A good manager delegates tasks effectively; ensures the team meets any deadlines and targets; manages resources; and addresses conflicts efficiently.

What Do Leaders Focus On?

Leadership roles and responsibilities are broader, and involve influencing, inspiring, and bringing out the best in others. Leaders see the big picture, help others connect the dots, and fill in gaps. Effective leaders motivate and influence teams to work towards achieving a common goal, and invest in the whole — the collective people and systems needed to succeed. They set a clear vision, encourage innovation, and support personal and professional growth in others.

Whether you’re currently leading people and projects, a team or department, or an entire organization, your role will involve aspects of both leadership and management, as both are important. And when facing a new challenge, goal, or situation, remember the definition of leadership as a collective process, and consider what’s most needed in the moment: leadership vs. management.

With that clarity, you can learn or apply the skills, behaviors, and capabilities most likely to solve a problem or support the desired shared outcome — and guide others to play their part, too.

Defining Leadership By Its Outcomes — Direction, Alignment, and Commitment

At CCL, our research distills leadership down to 3 essential elements: direction, alignment, and commitment, or DAC, in our widely-recognized DAC model for leadership .

This leadership definition moves beyond a focus on leaders, followers, and shared goals, and instead puts the emphasis on the shared outcomes of leadership. If all 3 elements – direction, alignment, and commitment — are present, then we know that leadership is happening.

The actions, interactions, reactions, and exchanges of multiple people produce DAC together. And while organizational leaders play a vital role in setting the tone and making space for DAC to thrive, everyone is involved in creating DAC.

When you understand how essential direction, alignment, and commitment are for what leadership is, you can see why we define leadership as a social process — not a solo effort.

Our definition of leadership puts focus on what effective leadership does . It recognizes that everyone can learn, grow, and contribute to shared direction, alignment, and commitment. And it creates space for many different leadership styles, individual personalities, and cultures.

But what exactly do we mean when we say that leadership is the result of DAC?

Agreement Within the Group on Overall Goals

Direction is a shared answer to the question, where are we going? It’s an agreement on what a team or organization wants to achieve together and serves as a guide for setting shared goals.

With a collective sense of clear direction, everyone’s time and energy go where they matter most. People know what to say yes and no to, and where to spend resources. They can see how their individual efforts fit into larger objectives.

Setting direction is an essential part of what leadership is, because it requires much more than just announcing a business target or even articulating a vision; it’s about purpose-driven leadership that creates clarity and inspires and motivates others.

Coordinated Work Within the Group

While direction is where we’re going, alignment is how we get there.

With alignment, each person understands their role and how it fits with the work of their colleagues. Overall, there’s a sense of coordination and synchronization. Confusion and miscommunication are reduced. Efficiencies are created, resulting in fewer redundant tasks, duplication of efforts, and multiple checks and cross-checks.

Creating and maintaining alignment can be especially challenging today among remote or hybrid teams, with members in different locations and time zones. It can be frustrating to try to collaborate with others because teammates are in a different place and time of day — leaving people feeling left out, unable to contribute, and confused about their role and what’s going on.

Effective leadership always requires a focus on both relationships and tasks, but that’s particularly true when leading in a hybrid work environment or with remote team members. Intentionally building trust and fostering coordination and interdependence can ultimately create greater alignment.

A Feeling of Mutual Responsibility for the Group

Commitment is a willingness to make the success of the collective a personal priority, where individuals know that their own successes are connected to those of others. People can trust that everyone will make the effort needed to ensure the group is successful, with a balance of give and take.

When a culture of resistance or minimal effort is replaced by a sense of “being in it together,” managers don’t need to monitor activities so closely, or follow up many times on the same item. Team members are willing to give a little extra to ensure their group’s success, versus just doing enough to get by. With an increased sense of accountability and a shared ownership mentality , change is supported, shared goals are achieved, and cultural transformation is possible.

But commitment cannot be enforced; it must be fostered. The most effective managers understand that leadership means respecting differences, and seek to understand the experiences of their employees and build belonging at work , creating spaces where people feel their perspectives and contributions are valued.

How a Better Definition of Leadership Can Improve It

A shared view of the importance and meaning of leadership can actually help to improve the quality and consistency of it. With clarity on what leadership means, you can assess what’s going well and what isn’t — and take steps to improve how you work with others and accomplish what matters most.

So now that you know what leadership is and how to recognize when it’s happening, what can you do to improve it?

Fuel the Social Process of Leadership: Start by Diagnosing Leadership Challenges

If progress is stagnant in your organization or team, or in a community effort, think about leadership as an outcome that you want to achieve through direction, alignment, and commitment. This can quickly help you diagnose where you need to focus your attention to regain momentum. Some specific steps to follow are outlined below.

1. Watch for signs that DAC is weak.

How can you diagnose unclear direction, lack of alignment, or low commitment? Here are a few key signs:

• A lack of agreement on priorities or resource allocation
• People feel as if they are being pulled in different directions
• People are stuck, the same things are repeatedly problems or frustrations
• Team members are unclear about how their tasks fit into the larger work of the group
• Deadlines are missed, rework and duplication of effort are common
• Groups or functions compete against each other
• Only the easy things get done, there’s a persistent gap between effort needed and effort given
• People put their own interests first, a sense of “what’s in it for me?” dominates
• Inconsistencies between what people say and what they do

2. Bring in multiple viewpoints.

Go beyond your own perspective to engage your team and learn how others view the current levels of DAC. Hold a candid conversation about the outcomes of leadership in your group, team, or organization to get a more accurate picture of what’s going on and understand the current issues and challenges. Be intentional about first creating psychological safety so that group members feel free to share openly what they think is going well and what’s not.

• Try to gauge whether others agree on what you’re trying to accomplish together. Ask if everybody is clear about how their task fits into the work of the group. Do they think their contributions are valued?
• Have colleagues, partners, or direct reports take our quick and complimentary DAC assessment . Hold one-on-one meetings and focused conversations to share perspectives on what is going well, and where improvement would make a meaningful difference.
• Sometimes, getting everyone’s mind out of the present and into the future is helpful. For instance, if the team was performing better 6 months from now, what would start happening? What would stop?

Based on what you learn, you can identify needed changes.

3. Take simple actions to address issues that emerge.

Every team, project, and situation will involve different leadership challenges, so how you address issues will require different skills, actions, and behaviors.

For example, you may realize that your group has clear direction and strong commitment, but the processes and the systems and the way the organization is set up is chaotic. That means that Alignment is the area that needs the most work, and so the collective effort should focus on improving how work is accomplished. In other situations, it might be low levels of shared Commitment and/or Direction that are the biggest pain points to address.

While there are no quick fixes or single solutions, you can make progress on improving DAC levels with small changes such as these:

• Expand your network. Involve a more diverse group of people as you plan or make decisions, communicate more broadly, and build in connection points with people, groups, or functions whose work or interests are related to yours. Taking a network perspective enables leaders to get more tasks accomplished through influence and the power of their relationships.
• Go beyond surface-level relationships. Try to understand what really motivates your team members, what information each person needs to make sense of the goal, and encourage leadership purpose to help each individual connect the larger objectives to their own work.
• Improve interactions within the group. You might change the frequency or format of meetings or updates, streamline a key process, or consider establishing team norms or setting up a team charter to turn the team’s values into agreed-upon behaviors and operating agreements, if those weren’t in place already.
• Hold candid conversations. Give greater effort to building trust, rapport, and a deeper understanding of the group’s perspectives. Ask for feedback, ideas, and concerns. Hold open discussions about changes that are needed and why, and use active listening skills to learn others’ views.
• Help your team manage priorities and competing demands. Consider more frequent check-ins, clearer accountability structures, and focus on helping to address or remove roadblocks for others, which will help the team make progress and also demonstrates compassionate leadership .

Investing in Leadership at All Levels

When everybody at an organization understands what leadership is and how to support DAC as part of their role, more leadership happens. The results of more leadership include:

• Increased agreement on group and organizational priorities;
• Clarity on how individual tasks fit into the work of the larger team; and
• Individuals who prioritize the success of the collective.

Implications of This Relational Definition of Leadership

This more relational understanding of the meaning of leadership has important implications for leadership development. As our research has noted, it underscores the importance of not focusing on development solely for individuals in positions of authority or who have been deemed “high-potential,” but rather, the importance of building leadership capacity for the collective — teams, workgroups, and organizations.

But effective leadership across all levels doesn’t come automatically; knowing how to contribute to the leadership outcomes of direction, alignment, and commitment must be learned and practiced. This requires an intentional investment in growing leadership at all levels.

We can begin by honoring the unique starting point of individual leaders, helping them grow their self-awareness and leadership skillsets and mindsets. We can also work to foster an increased understanding of the meaning of leadership within teams and groups — ultimately creating a profound ripple effect across entire organizations and communities.

Amplifying Leadership Potential With Development

Providing the right learning at the right time for all talent — from individual contributors to frontline managers, and from team and cross-functional leaders through senior executives — is the key that unlocks organizational performance, engagement, and retention. Some key steps to amplify leadership potential across your organization:

1. Encourage good leadership and make development accessible.

The most effective leaders consistently show the characteristics of a good leader such as integrity, self-awareness, courage, respect, compassion, and resilience. When individuals learn and improve these essential leadership qualities, and more, the social process of leadership becomes smoother and more effective.

But just knowing what good leadership looks like isn’t enough. In our decades of research and hands-on experience, we’ve found that people are more committed and engaged when they have a clear career path, ample professional and personal leadership development opportunities, and the support they need to become the best possible version of themselves. Leadership development prepares individuals to navigate change and builds collective capacity to solve pressing problems.

Unfortunately, access to opportunities for growth and development isn’t always available. Our  research on emerging leaders  found that 60% of young professionals worldwide feel that access to opportunities for leadership development is inequitable.

Fully supporting emerging leaders can include actions such as working against systemic exclusion from the past and providing more equitable access to opportunities in the present. A variety of leadership programs, courses, and tools can fit together like puzzle pieces to tailor your organization’s large-scale training and retention initiatives and make leadership development more accessible to all.

2. Grow teams together.

When building high-performing teams , remember to focus on more than just star power. Of course, having the right people with the right leadership capabilities is important, and each person should know why they’re on the team. That’s key. But that’s just one of the 4 components of team effectiveness, and the only one that considers individual people, or the level of talent and ability within a team. As the other 3 aspects of our research framework on team effectiveness emphasize, an effective team supports direction, alignment, and commitment, reflecting that what leadership is about, really, is people working together to produce collective results.

And instead of only having individuals move through leadership development independently, picture the power of teams growing together . By establishing strong direction, alignment, and commitment, team members will all work together more seamlessly, improve outputs, and expand potential for impact.

3. Scale for organization-wide impact.

Imagine the impact that would result in your organization if there was a shared understanding of the definition of leadership, and a leadership vision, language, and behaviors were all linked to critical business needs. What if direction, alignment, and commitment were strong and vibrant, rather than an unfamiliar way to define leadership?

By implementing and scaling leadership development enterprise-wide, organizations broaden access to learning, provide equitable access to opportunities for growth and development , create new capabilities across the enterprise, and foster the social processes needed for effective leadership. In fact, organizational investments in leadership development have been repeatedly shown to:

• Improve bottom-line financial performance.  Superior human capital management is an extremely powerful predictor of an organization’s ability to outperform its competition.
• Attract and retain talent, strengthening the leadership pipeline.  As a result, employee retention is 20 times greater at companies with a focus on leadership development.
• Drive strategy execution and facilitate organizational alignment.  Done right, leadership development unquestionably delivers impact and fosters alignment.
• Increase organizational agility and change readiness.  When facing an unpredictable business environment, 86% of companies with strategic leadership development programs are able to respond rapidly, compared with 52% of companies with less mature leadership programs.

While it can be a challenge to deliver high-impact development opportunities at all leader levels and to large populations, organizations can still enjoy the many benefits of leadership development by supplementing their own in-house training resources and teams with content and support from outside experts and proven leadership development providers.

4. Create a ripple effect in society.

As individuals, teams, and organizations come to understand the meaning of leadership and how to create greater direction, alignment, and commitment, their leadership potential is expanded, and the impact can ripple outward — making a difference not only in their lives, but also in the lives they touch.

That’s why we say that systemic societal or community problems cannot be solved by individuals alone. Given their size and complexity, confronting so-called “wicked problems” takes many people working together to uncover the roots of the issues and find sustainable solutions.

This reality truly underscores that when we embrace a more relational and collective definition of leadership, we open up the possibility of transformational change for everyone — from individuals and teams to entire organizations, and even larger communities and society.

What Does Leadership Mean to You?

Now that you know the research-based definition of leadership involves the outcomes of direction, alignment, and commitment, and that DAC enables people to achieve more together than they ever could working alone, you can decide what effective leadership means to you and the mission and goals of your organization, group, or community.

When you see areas of strength and what’s holding you back, you can take targeted and intentional action to develop your capacity to lead — and help others do the same. The result? More people reaching their potential, making faster progress, and finding better solutions — together.

Ready to Take the Next Step?

Get our latest research, tips, and insights on leadership by signing up for our newsletters .

Frequently Asked Questions About the Meaning of Leadership

• What truly defines leadership? Our research has defined leadership as a social process that enables people to work together to achieve results they could never achieve working alone. Leadership is less about one strong, charismatic, or extraordinary individual, and more about a group of people and the ways they interact together. This definition of leadership puts the emphasis on the outcomes that leadership creates — a shared sense of direction, alignment, and commitment within a group or team.
• What are the functions of leadership? The function of leadership is to create direction + alignment + commitment (DAC) within a group of people. The group needs agreement about its direction and what they are trying to accomplish together; they must have alignment for effective coordination of the work; and members with commitment feel a mutual responsibility for the group. If these 3 outcomes are strong, then we know leadership is present.
• What is leadership NOT? Many definitions of leadership put the focus on the skills or behaviors of individual leaders and the response of followers. But leadership is not about positional power, having a title, being in charge, or merely having followers. Leadership is also different from management, although both are important. And it’s not even about the characteristics, capabilities, or skills of just one person. Rather, leadership is a social process among everyone in an organization, and the outcomes of leadership are direction, alignment, and commitment.
• What are the differences between leadership and management? Though the terms are often used interchangeably, there are distinct differences. As you examine how your organization is functioning, keep this in mind: management is the process of planning and control, while leadership is the process of people working to achieve something together. In many roles and organizations, it’s important to effectively combine leadership and management skills.
• What is leadership development? Leadership development is the intentional effort to expand, strengthen, or foster leadership. Effective leadership starts with self-awareness, and no 2 leaders are the same. That’s why at the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL), we take an highly individualized approach to leadership development, honoring each person’s unique starting point as we foster self-understanding and growth. We go beyond skill development to and facilitate new and deeper ways of thinking, with evidence-based methods and hands-on leadership programs and solutions tailored to address the challenges faced and competencies needed most at each level of the organization and stage in a career journey.
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With over 30 years of experience at CCL, Cindy has contributed to many aspects of CCL’s work: research, publication, product development, program evaluation, coaching, and management. She designs and manages R&D projects, coaches action learning teams, writes for multiple audiences, and is a frequent speaker at professional conferences.

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What to explore next.

This introduction to our leadership philosophy explains how direction, alignment, and commitment (the elements of our DAC framework) are key in how leadership works, connecting exponential potential with collective progress.

Our society is usually quick to identify a bad leader, but how do you identify a good one? We’ve found that great leaders consistently possess these 12 core leadership traits.

Leadership development at scale creates competitive advantage for organizations. Download our paper to learn what research has found are the direct and indirect benefits of leadership development.

Organizations that prioritize soft skill development create stronger cultures. Learn the specific people skills our research has found are needed at each leader level, and how to develop them.

Our research explored how much organizations invest in leadership development. Learn 5 factors HR executives say are part of a successful and effective leadership development strategy.

Related Solutions

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Equip your leaders, teams, and entire organization for the future with our trusted leadership services and leadership development solutions.

Leadership requires building direction, alignment, and commitment (DAC). Train your team on our DAC framework for more effective leadership.

At the Center for Creative Leadership, our drive to create a ripple effect of positive change underpins everything we do. For 50+ years, we've pioneered leadership development solutions for everyone from frontline workers to global CEOs. Consistently ranked among the world's top providers of executive education, our research-based programs and solutions inspire individuals in organizations across the world — including 2/3 of the Fortune 1000 — to ignite remarkable transformations.

Human Subjects Office

Medical terms in lay language.

Please use these descriptions in place of medical jargon in consent documents, recruitment materials and other study documents. Note: These terms are not the only acceptable plain language alternatives for these vocabulary words.

This glossary of terms is derived from a list copyrighted by the University of Kentucky, Office of Research Integrity (1990).

For clinical research-specific definitions, see also the Clinical Research Glossary developed by the Multi-Regional Clinical Trials (MRCT) Center of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard  and the Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium (CDISC) .

Alternative Lay Language for Medical Terms for use in Informed Consent Documents

A   B   C   D   E   F   G   H   I  J  K   L   M   N   O   P   Q   R   S   T   U   V   W  X  Y  Z

ABDOMEN/ABDOMINAL body cavity below diaphragm that contains stomach, intestines, liver and other organs ABSORB take up fluids, take in ACIDOSIS condition when blood contains more acid than normal ACUITY clearness, keenness, esp. of vision and airways ACUTE new, recent, sudden, urgent ADENOPATHY swollen lymph nodes (glands) ADJUVANT helpful, assisting, aiding, supportive ADJUVANT TREATMENT added treatment (usually to a standard treatment) ANTIBIOTIC drug that kills bacteria and other germs ANTIMICROBIAL drug that kills bacteria and other germs ANTIRETROVIRAL drug that works against the growth of certain viruses ADVERSE EFFECT side effect, bad reaction, unwanted response ALLERGIC REACTION rash, hives, swelling, trouble breathing AMBULATE/AMBULATION/AMBULATORY walk, able to walk ANAPHYLAXIS serious, potentially life-threatening allergic reaction ANEMIA decreased red blood cells; low red cell blood count ANESTHETIC a drug or agent used to decrease the feeling of pain, or eliminate the feeling of pain by putting you to sleep ANGINA pain resulting from not enough blood flowing to the heart ANGINA PECTORIS pain resulting from not enough blood flowing to the heart ANOREXIA disorder in which person will not eat; lack of appetite ANTECUBITAL related to the inner side of the forearm ANTIBODY protein made in the body in response to foreign substance ANTICONVULSANT drug used to prevent seizures ANTILIPEMIC a drug that lowers fat levels in the blood ANTITUSSIVE a drug used to relieve coughing ARRHYTHMIA abnormal heartbeat; any change from the normal heartbeat ASPIRATION fluid entering the lungs, such as after vomiting ASSAY lab test ASSESS to learn about, measure, evaluate, look at ASTHMA lung disease associated with tightening of air passages, making breathing difficult ASYMPTOMATIC without symptoms AXILLA armpit

BENIGN not malignant, without serious consequences BID twice a day BINDING/BOUND carried by, to make stick together, transported BIOAVAILABILITY the extent to which a drug or other substance becomes available to the body BLOOD PROFILE series of blood tests BOLUS a large amount given all at once BONE MASS the amount of calcium and other minerals in a given amount of bone BRADYARRHYTHMIAS slow, irregular heartbeats BRADYCARDIA slow heartbeat BRONCHOSPASM breathing distress caused by narrowing of the airways

CARCINOGENIC cancer-causing CARCINOMA type of cancer CARDIAC related to the heart CARDIOVERSION return to normal heartbeat by electric shock CATHETER a tube for withdrawing or giving fluids CATHETER a tube placed near the spinal cord and used for anesthesia (indwelling epidural) during surgery CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM (CNS) brain and spinal cord CEREBRAL TRAUMA damage to the brain CESSATION stopping CHD coronary heart disease CHEMOTHERAPY treatment of disease, usually cancer, by chemical agents CHRONIC continuing for a long time, ongoing CLINICAL pertaining to medical care CLINICAL TRIAL an experiment involving human subjects COMA unconscious state COMPLETE RESPONSE total disappearance of disease CONGENITAL present before birth CONJUNCTIVITIS redness and irritation of the thin membrane that covers the eye CONSOLIDATION PHASE treatment phase intended to make a remission permanent (follows induction phase) CONTROLLED TRIAL research study in which the experimental treatment or procedure is compared to a standard (control) treatment or procedure COOPERATIVE GROUP association of multiple institutions to perform clinical trials CORONARY related to the blood vessels that supply the heart, or to the heart itself CT SCAN (CAT) computerized series of x-rays (computerized tomography) CULTURE test for infection, or for organisms that could cause infection CUMULATIVE added together from the beginning CUTANEOUS relating to the skin CVA stroke (cerebrovascular accident)

DERMATOLOGIC pertaining to the skin DIASTOLIC lower number in a blood pressure reading DISTAL toward the end, away from the center of the body DIURETIC "water pill" or drug that causes increase in urination DOPPLER device using sound waves to diagnose or test DOUBLE BLIND study in which neither investigators nor subjects know what drug or treatment the subject is receiving DYSFUNCTION state of improper function DYSPLASIA abnormal cells

ECHOCARDIOGRAM sound wave test of the heart EDEMA excess fluid collecting in tissue EEG electric brain wave tracing (electroencephalogram) EFFICACY effectiveness ELECTROCARDIOGRAM electrical tracing of the heartbeat (ECG or EKG) ELECTROLYTE IMBALANCE an imbalance of minerals in the blood EMESIS vomiting EMPIRIC based on experience ENDOSCOPIC EXAMINATION viewing an  internal part of the body with a lighted tube  ENTERAL by way of the intestines EPIDURAL outside the spinal cord ERADICATE get rid of (such as disease) Page 2 of 7 EVALUATED, ASSESSED examined for a medical condition EXPEDITED REVIEW rapid review of a protocol by the IRB Chair without full committee approval, permitted with certain low-risk research studies EXTERNAL outside the body EXTRAVASATE to leak outside of a planned area, such as out of a blood vessel

FDA U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the branch of federal government that approves new drugs FIBROUS having many fibers, such as scar tissue FIBRILLATION irregular beat of the heart or other muscle

GENERAL ANESTHESIA pain prevention by giving drugs to cause loss of consciousness, as during surgery GESTATIONAL pertaining to pregnancy

HEMATOCRIT amount of red blood cells in the blood HEMATOMA a bruise, a black and blue mark HEMODYNAMIC MEASURING blood flow HEMOLYSIS breakdown in red blood cells HEPARIN LOCK needle placed in the arm with blood thinner to keep the blood from clotting HEPATOMA cancer or tumor of the liver HERITABLE DISEASE can be transmitted to one’s offspring, resulting in damage to future children HISTOPATHOLOGIC pertaining to the disease status of body tissues or cells HOLTER MONITOR a portable machine for recording heart beats HYPERCALCEMIA high blood calcium level HYPERKALEMIA high blood potassium level HYPERNATREMIA high blood sodium level HYPERTENSION high blood pressure HYPOCALCEMIA low blood calcium level HYPOKALEMIA low blood potassium level HYPONATREMIA low blood sodium level HYPOTENSION low blood pressure HYPOXEMIA a decrease of oxygen in the blood HYPOXIA a decrease of oxygen reaching body tissues HYSTERECTOMY surgical removal of the uterus, ovaries (female sex glands), or both uterus and ovaries

IATROGENIC caused by a physician or by treatment IDE investigational device exemption, the license to test an unapproved new medical device IDIOPATHIC of unknown cause IMMUNITY defense against, protection from IMMUNOGLOBIN a protein that makes antibodies IMMUNOSUPPRESSIVE drug which works against the body's immune (protective) response, often used in transplantation and diseases caused by immune system malfunction IMMUNOTHERAPY giving of drugs to help the body's immune (protective) system; usually used to destroy cancer cells IMPAIRED FUNCTION abnormal function IMPLANTED placed in the body IND investigational new drug, the license to test an unapproved new drug INDUCTION PHASE beginning phase or stage of a treatment INDURATION hardening INDWELLING remaining in a given location, such as a catheter INFARCT death of tissue due to lack of blood supply INFECTIOUS DISEASE transmitted from one person to the next INFLAMMATION swelling that is generally painful, red, and warm INFUSION slow injection of a substance into the body, usually into the blood by means of a catheter INGESTION eating; taking by mouth INTERFERON drug which acts against viruses; antiviral agent INTERMITTENT occurring (regularly or irregularly) between two time points; repeatedly stopping, then starting again INTERNAL within the body INTERIOR inside of the body INTRAMUSCULAR into the muscle; within the muscle INTRAPERITONEAL into the abdominal cavity INTRATHECAL into the spinal fluid INTRAVENOUS (IV) through the vein INTRAVESICAL in the bladder INTUBATE the placement of a tube into the airway INVASIVE PROCEDURE puncturing, opening, or cutting the skin INVESTIGATIONAL NEW DRUG (IND) a new drug that has not been approved by the FDA INVESTIGATIONAL METHOD a treatment method which has not been proven to be beneficial or has not been accepted as standard care ISCHEMIA decreased oxygen in a tissue (usually because of decreased blood flow)

LAPAROTOMY surgical procedure in which an incision is made in the abdominal wall to enable a doctor to look at the organs inside LESION wound or injury; a diseased patch of skin LETHARGY sleepiness, tiredness LEUKOPENIA low white blood cell count LIPID fat LIPID CONTENT fat content in the blood LIPID PROFILE (PANEL) fat and cholesterol levels in the blood LOCAL ANESTHESIA creation of insensitivity to pain in a small, local area of the body, usually by injection of numbing drugs LOCALIZED restricted to one area, limited to one area LUMEN the cavity of an organ or tube (e.g., blood vessel) LYMPHANGIOGRAPHY an x-ray of the lymph nodes or tissues after injecting dye into lymph vessels (e.g., in feet) LYMPHOCYTE a type of white blood cell important in immunity (protection) against infection LYMPHOMA a cancer of the lymph nodes (or tissues)

MALAISE a vague feeling of bodily discomfort, feeling badly MALFUNCTION condition in which something is not functioning properly MALIGNANCY cancer or other progressively enlarging and spreading tumor, usually fatal if not successfully treated MEDULLABLASTOMA a type of brain tumor MEGALOBLASTOSIS change in red blood cells METABOLIZE process of breaking down substances in the cells to obtain energy METASTASIS spread of cancer cells from one part of the body to another METRONIDAZOLE drug used to treat infections caused by parasites (invading organisms that take up living in the body) or other causes of anaerobic infection (not requiring oxygen to survive) MI myocardial infarction, heart attack MINIMAL slight MINIMIZE reduce as much as possible Page 4 of 7 MONITOR check on; keep track of; watch carefully MOBILITY ease of movement MORBIDITY undesired result or complication MORTALITY death MOTILITY the ability to move MRI magnetic resonance imaging, diagnostic pictures of the inside of the body, created using magnetic rather than x-ray energy MUCOSA, MUCOUS MEMBRANE moist lining of digestive, respiratory, reproductive, and urinary tracts MYALGIA muscle aches MYOCARDIAL pertaining to the heart muscle MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION heart attack

NASOGASTRIC TUBE placed in the nose, reaching to the stomach NCI the National Cancer Institute NECROSIS death of tissue NEOPLASIA/NEOPLASM tumor, may be benign or malignant NEUROBLASTOMA a cancer of nerve tissue NEUROLOGICAL pertaining to the nervous system NEUTROPENIA decrease in the main part of the white blood cells NIH the National Institutes of Health NONINVASIVE not breaking, cutting, or entering the skin NOSOCOMIAL acquired in the hospital

OCCLUSION closing; blockage; obstruction ONCOLOGY the study of tumors or cancer OPHTHALMIC pertaining to the eye OPTIMAL best, most favorable or desirable ORAL ADMINISTRATION by mouth ORTHOPEDIC pertaining to the bones OSTEOPETROSIS rare bone disorder characterized by dense bone OSTEOPOROSIS softening of the bones OVARIES female sex glands

PARENTERAL given by injection PATENCY condition of being open PATHOGENESIS development of a disease or unhealthy condition PERCUTANEOUS through the skin PERIPHERAL not central PER OS (PO) by mouth PHARMACOKINETICS the study of the way the body absorbs, distributes, and gets rid of a drug PHASE I first phase of study of a new drug in humans to determine action, safety, and proper dosing PHASE II second phase of study of a new drug in humans, intended to gather information about safety and effectiveness of the drug for certain uses PHASE III large-scale studies to confirm and expand information on safety and effectiveness of new drug for certain uses, and to study common side effects PHASE IV studies done after the drug is approved by the FDA, especially to compare it to standard care or to try it for new uses PHLEBITIS irritation or inflammation of the vein PLACEBO an inactive substance; a pill/liquid that contains no medicine PLACEBO EFFECT improvement seen with giving subjects a placebo, though it contains no active drug/treatment PLATELETS small particles in the blood that help with clotting POTENTIAL possible POTENTIATE increase or multiply the effect of a drug or toxin (poison) by giving another drug or toxin at the same time (sometimes an unintentional result) POTENTIATOR an agent that helps another agent work better PRENATAL before birth PROPHYLAXIS a drug given to prevent disease or infection PER OS (PO) by mouth PRN as needed PROGNOSIS outlook, probable outcomes PRONE lying on the stomach PROSPECTIVE STUDY following patients forward in time PROSTHESIS artificial part, most often limbs, such as arms or legs PROTOCOL plan of study PROXIMAL closer to the center of the body, away from the end PULMONARY pertaining to the lungs

QD every day; daily QID four times a day

RADIATION THERAPY x-ray or cobalt treatment RANDOM by chance (like the flip of a coin) RANDOMIZATION chance selection RBC red blood cell RECOMBINANT formation of new combinations of genes RECONSTITUTION putting back together the original parts or elements RECUR happen again REFRACTORY not responding to treatment REGENERATION re-growth of a structure or of lost tissue REGIMEN pattern of giving treatment RELAPSE the return of a disease REMISSION disappearance of evidence of cancer or other disease RENAL pertaining to the kidneys REPLICABLE possible to duplicate RESECT remove or cut out surgically RETROSPECTIVE STUDY looking back over past experience

SARCOMA a type of cancer SEDATIVE a drug to calm or make less anxious SEMINOMA a type of testicular cancer (found in the male sex glands) SEQUENTIALLY in a row, in order SOMNOLENCE sleepiness SPIROMETER an instrument to measure the amount of air taken into and exhaled from the lungs STAGING an evaluation of the extent of the disease STANDARD OF CARE a treatment plan that the majority of the medical community would accept as appropriate STENOSIS narrowing of a duct, tube, or one of the blood vessels in the heart STOMATITIS mouth sores, inflammation of the mouth STRATIFY arrange in groups for analysis of results (e.g., stratify by age, sex, etc.) STUPOR stunned state in which it is difficult to get a response or the attention of the subject SUBCLAVIAN under the collarbone SUBCUTANEOUS under the skin SUPINE lying on the back SUPPORTIVE CARE general medical care aimed at symptoms, not intended to improve or cure underlying disease SYMPTOMATIC having symptoms SYNDROME a condition characterized by a set of symptoms SYSTOLIC top number in blood pressure; pressure during active contraction of the heart

TERATOGENIC capable of causing malformations in a fetus (developing baby still inside the mother’s body) TESTES/TESTICLES male sex glands THROMBOSIS clotting THROMBUS blood clot TID three times a day TITRATION a method for deciding on the strength of a drug or solution; gradually increasing the dose T-LYMPHOCYTES type of white blood cells TOPICAL on the surface TOPICAL ANESTHETIC applied to a certain area of the skin and reducing pain only in the area to which applied TOXICITY side effects or undesirable effects of a drug or treatment TRANSDERMAL through the skin TRANSIENTLY temporarily TRAUMA injury; wound TREADMILL walking machine used to test heart function

UPTAKE absorbing and taking in of a substance by living tissue

VALVULOPLASTY plastic repair of a valve, especially a heart valve VARICES enlarged veins VASOSPASM narrowing of the blood vessels VECTOR a carrier that can transmit disease-causing microorganisms (germs and viruses) VENIPUNCTURE needle stick, blood draw, entering the skin with a needle VERTICAL TRANSMISSION spread of disease

WBC white blood cell

• Patient Care & Health Information
• Diseases & Conditions

Menopause is the time that marks the end of your menstrual cycles. It's diagnosed after you've gone 12 months without a menstrual period. Menopause can happen in your 40s or 50s, but the average age is 51 in the United States.

Menopause is a natural biological process. But the physical symptoms, such as hot flashes, and emotional symptoms of menopause may disrupt your sleep, lower your energy or affect emotional health. There are many effective treatments available, from lifestyle adjustments to hormone therapy.

Products & Services

• A Book: The New Rules of Menopause
• Assortment Women's Health Products from Mayo Clinic Store

In the months or years leading up to menopause (perimenopause), you might experience these signs and symptoms:

• Irregular periods
• Vaginal dryness
• Hot flashes
• Night sweats
• Sleep problems
• Mood changes
• Weight gain and slowed metabolism
• Thinning hair and dry skin
• Loss of breast fullness

Signs and symptoms, including changes in menstruation can vary among women. Most likely, you'll experience some irregularity in your periods before they end.

Skipping periods during perimenopause is common and expected. Often, menstrual periods will skip a month and return, or skip several months and then start monthly cycles again for a few months. Periods also tend to happen on shorter cycles, so they are closer together. Despite irregular periods, pregnancy is possible. If you've skipped a period but aren't sure you've started the menopausal transition, consider a pregnancy test.

When to see a doctor

Keep up with regular visits with your doctor for preventive health care and any medical concerns. Continue getting these appointments during and after menopause.

Preventive health care as you age may include recommended health screening tests, such as colonoscopy, mammography and triglyceride screening. Your doctor might recommend other tests and exams, too, including thyroid testing if suggested by your history, and breast and pelvic exams.

Always seek medical advice if you have bleeding from your vagina after menopause.

More Information

• Bleeding after menopause: A concern?
• Vaginal dryness after menopause: How to treat it?

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Menopause can result from:

Naturally declining reproductive hormones. As you approach your late 30s, your ovaries start making less estrogen and progesterone — the hormones that regulate menstruation — and your fertility declines.

In your 40s, your menstrual periods may become longer or shorter, heavier or lighter, and more or less frequent, until eventually — on average, by age 51 — your ovaries stop releasing eggs, and you have no more periods.

Surgery that removes the ovaries (oophorectomy). Your ovaries produce hormones, including estrogen and progesterone, that regulate the menstrual cycle. Surgery to remove your ovaries causes immediate menopause. Your periods stop, and you're likely to have hot flashes and experience other menopausal signs and symptoms. Signs and symptoms can be severe, as hormonal changes occur abruptly rather than gradually over several years.

Surgery that removes your uterus but not your ovaries (hysterectomy) usually doesn't cause immediate menopause. Although you no longer have periods, your ovaries still release eggs and produce estrogen and progesterone.

• Chemotherapy and radiation therapy. These cancer therapies can induce menopause, causing symptoms such as hot flashes during or shortly after the course of treatment. The halt to menstruation (and fertility) is not always permanent following chemotherapy, so birth control measures may still be desired. Radiation therapy only affects ovarian function if radiation is directed at the ovaries. Radiation therapy to other parts of the body, such as breast tissue or the head and neck, won't affect menopause.
• Primary ovarian insufficiency. About 1% of women experience menopause before age 40 (premature menopause). Premature menopause may result from the failure of your ovaries to produce normal levels of reproductive hormones (primary ovarian insufficiency), which can stem from genetic factors or autoimmune disease. But often no cause of premature menopause can be found. For these women, hormone therapy is typically recommended at least until the natural age of menopause in order to protect the brain, heart and bones.

Complications

After menopause, your risk of certain medical conditions increases. Examples include:

• Heart and blood vessel (cardiovascular) disease. When your estrogen levels decline, your risk of cardiovascular disease increases. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in women as well as in men. So it's important to get regular exercise, eat a healthy diet and maintain a normal weight. Ask your doctor for advice on how to protect your heart, such as how to reduce your cholesterol or blood pressure if it's too high.
• Osteoporosis. This condition causes bones to become brittle and weak, leading to an increased risk of fractures. During the first few years after menopause, you may lose bone density at a rapid rate, increasing your risk of osteoporosis. Postmenopausal women with osteoporosis are especially susceptible to fractures of their spine, hips and wrists.

Urinary incontinence. As the tissues of your vagina and urethra lose elasticity, you may experience frequent, sudden, strong urges to urinate, followed by an involuntary loss of urine (urge incontinence), or the loss of urine with coughing, laughing or lifting (stress incontinence). You may have urinary tract infections more often.

Strengthening pelvic floor muscles with Kegel exercises and using a topical vaginal estrogen may help relieve symptoms of incontinence. Hormone therapy may also be an effective treatment option for menopausal urinary tract and vaginal changes that can result in urinary incontinence.

Sexual function. Vaginal dryness from decreased moisture production and loss of elasticity can cause discomfort and slight bleeding during sexual intercourse. Also, decreased sensation may reduce your desire for sexual activity (libido).

Water-based vaginal moisturizers and lubricants may help. If a vaginal lubricant isn't enough, many women benefit from the use of local vaginal estrogen treatment, available as a vaginal cream, tablet or ring.

• Weight gain. Many women gain weight during the menopausal transition and after menopause because metabolism slows. You may need to eat less and exercise more, just to maintain your current weight.
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• FDA approves novel drug to treat moderate to severe hot flashes caused by menopause. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-novel-drug-treat-moderate-severe-hot-flashes-caused-menopause. Accessed May 16, 2023.
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