Lead management involves regularly providing a sales team, whether internal or external, with high-quality leads ready to be contacted directly for a sales pitch. This process typically takes place between the prospecting and sales phases. It is often handled by marketing teams, who pass the most promising leads on to the sales teams. The key stages of lead management include lead generation, qualification, scoring, nurturing, and allocation. These activities can be outsourced to a provider but are generally managed internally.

If a sale falls through, a lead can be set aside or returned to the nurturing process for later reassessment. To gain a deeper understanding of lead management, specific resources on the subject are available. Various visual representations of the lead management stages exist to facilitate understanding and implementation of this essential process in the fields of marketing and sales.