Beyond "Leads"
Why industrial-age language breaks in the AI era
The term "lead" represents everything wrong with traditional B2B—treating people as things to be processed rather than humans to be helped.
The Trap: When Asynchronous Conversion Assumes Isolation That No Longer Exists
The term "lead" entered business vocabulary during the industrial age, when selling resembled manufacturing: standardized processes, mechanical progression, people as objects to be processed through predetermined stages.
The 2006 SiriusDecisions Demand Waterfall codified this thinking into modern B2B practice. Marketing Qualified Leads. Sales Qualified Leads. Conversion funnels. The entire framework assumed people would research independently, progress through predetermined stages alone, and "convert" as isolated decision moments.
Everything Changed When AI Became Ubiquitous
People NEVER research alone anymore. They explore WITH Claude. They evaluate WITH ChatGPT. They draft implementation plans WITH AI assistants—all without ever entering your "funnel."
If you're not one of those entities engaged in synchronous relationship development, you're invisible.
How "Lead" Language Dehumanizes
People Became Objects
- • "Lead generation" reduced human curiosity to extractable resources
- • "Lead nurturing" implied people needed to be developed like crops
- • "Lead scoring" quantified human complexity into mechanical point systems
- • "Lead conversion" framed relationships as manufacturing outcomes
Asynchronous Thinking Became Default
- • Create content → Distribute → Wait for conversion signals
- • Track behavior → Accumulate points → Trigger engagement when "qualified"
- • Measure activity → Predict readiness → Engage reactively after thresholds
The Inversion: Who's Really Prospecting for Whom?
Traditional Framing
We prospect for customers. They are our "prospects"—potential opportunities we search for, qualify, and pursue.
This reveals extraction thinking.
Reality Inversion
They are prospecting for VALUE. We want to be the gold nugget they discover after sifting through noise.
We must be findable, valuable, and immediately helpful.
The Language Shift
The Value-First Alternative
We replace "lead" terminology with language that honors humanity
Signal
When referring to indicators of interest or need
Relationship
When describing ongoing connections and trust development
Natural Progression
When discussing how people move through value discovery
Partnership
When describing collaborative value creation
Our Core Beliefs
We reject the reduction of human beings to "leads."
We embrace synchronous, collaborative progression.
We recognize signals, not scores.
We honor human agency and decision-making.