Why do people not understand that lead generation is a key part of sales

Not recognizing the need for lead generation comes from a naive view of selling. Sales is not simply a transactional process where a buyer, who has spent the time to understand all the options, investigated each thoroughly, then makes a completely rational decision. Rather, it is a messy process, where many decision makers in a company, each with superficial knowledge of the options, make a subjective decision based on a brief and rarely complete trial, in a situation of having little time available. The final tie-breaker is trust, and sometimes it can be the biggest factor. Lead generation efforts are essential to complete these fully.