Published 26 October 2026. A practical operating model with examples and checks that show whether it is working. Examples are illustrative unless stated otherwise.
- 01Map lead sources
- 02Grow Seeds
- 03Cast Nets
- 04Throw Spears
- 05Compare by type
Different lead types need different handling and different expectations. Mixing them in one funnel hides what is really working.
Three kinds of leads
Aaron Ross groups leads into three types. Seeds grow from relationships: happy customers, referrals, partners and reviews. Nets catch many people at once: content, SEO, webinars and paid campaigns. Spears are targeted outbound: chosen accounts contacted directly by email, LinkedIn or phone.
The value of the framework is that each type has its own speed, cost and conversion pattern. Seeds convert well but grow slowly. Nets scale but bring many unqualified enquiries. Spears are controllable and fast, but only as good as the targeting behind them.
Seeds: referrals, partners and review sites
Seeds are often left to chance. A systematic version asks happy customers for introductions at the right moment, keeps partners informed about who you help, and makes sure your profiles on review platforms such as G2 or Capterra are complete and current, because buyers check them before they reply to anyone.
Agents help by spotting the moments that matter: a project milestone, a renewal or a strong satisfaction score can trigger a drafted referral request for the account manager to approve. Leads that arrive from partners or review sites should be tagged as such in the CRM so their conversion can be measured separately.
Nets: content, SEO and inbound response
Nets work when content answers the questions your buyers already search for, and when every enquiry gets a fast, relevant response. The common failure is not traffic but follow-up: forms land in a shared inbox and wait.
Here agents enrich each enquiry, score it against the ICP and route it to the right person with a suggested reply. Low-fit enquiries receive a helpful answer and go to nurturing instead of consuming sales time.
Spears: outbound by email, LinkedIn and phone
Spears are where predictability is easiest to build because you choose the accounts and the timing. A good spear campaign combines a precise list, a trigger-based first message and a short multichannel sequence. Cold calling still earns its place, especially for senior buyers and markets where email is crowded, as long as the call opens with relevance rather than a script.
Agents research the accounts, prepare call notes and draft messages; people approve, call and run the conversations.
How to balance the three
Early-stage companies usually depend on Seeds without knowing it. Adding Spears gives control over growth within weeks; Nets take months to compound but lower the cost per lead over time. A reasonable plan is to build a Spear engine first for near-term pipeline, systematise Seeds in parallel, and invest steadily in Nets through content and SEO.
Measure each type on its own terms
- Seeds: introductions requested, introductions made, meeting rate, win rate.
- Nets: qualified enquiries, response time, enquiry-to-meeting rate, cost per qualified lead.
- Spears: contacts reached, reply rate, reply-to-meeting rate, meetings held.
Reporting all leads as one number makes a weak channel look fine and hides a strong one. Tag the source on every lead from day one.
Your implementation checklist
- Tag every lead as Seed, Net or Spear
- Schedule referral requests at milestones
- Keep review-site profiles current
- Answer inbound enquiries within the hour
- Run one focused outbound segment at a time
What to measure: Meetings held and pipeline created per lead type each month, plus cost and time spent per type.