“sales lead”一般称为销售线索或潜在客户，就如同企业去参展或刊登广告所得到的有兴趣有潜在可能的客户资料一样，它是促成商品（或服务）销售的一个重要环节。企业一般会通过发布广告、商演、直接邮件联系、第三方以及其他营销努力而获得销售线索或潜在客户。

投资百科中对其的英文释义如下：

A sales lead is a person or business who may eventually become a client. Sales lead also refers to the data that identifies an entity as a potential buyer of a product or service. A sales lead is not really a sales "prospect" per se because a business would need to examine and qualify the potential new client further to determine their intent and interest.

以下为相关双语示例：

According to the new agreement, the Group will receive a standard rate service fee on the gross license revenue in connection with any of sales lead provided to MSI by the Group.

根据新协议，本集团将就本集团向MSI提供之任何潜在客户而按特许权总收益收取标准费率作服务费。