What is a sales lead in 2010?

Sorry - I don't have an answer. But maybe you can help?
In my recent post the end of lead management Andy Rudin suggested we may need to redefine what a sales lead actually is today.

In the past:
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Sales Inquiries (leads) where generated through all kind of ways to inspire people to ask for more information. Leads came in through Fax, post cards, phone calls, letters, Internet registration pages... This kicked of a lead qualification process...

Today:
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Information about anything is abundant.There is no need to ask anybody to send something. And if you require to do so the consumer must assume it is not available and therefor doesn't bother to ask. Yet there is still a need for information - but the way to acquire information has changed.

Prospect Identification:
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Identifying prospects is still the key to "new" leads. So the question is what is the definition of LEAD? Is it "a situation that can be identified as worth to invest sales resources" - well that sounds rather complicated.
Andy Rudin posed a good question: "could lead be redefined as a person who is talking about something that my company could solve?"

Dear Sales Experts,
please help us - how do you define LEAD in this new world?

Axel
http://xeesm.com/AxelS