prospects actively searching for a service to find and contact the company.

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Online Directories/Yellow Pages: Listing a business in early online directories (like Yahoo! Directory or early versions of online Yellow Pages) allowed
Search Engines (Very Basic SEO): Google AdWords launched in October 2000, canada phone number list marking the beginning of widespread paid search. Organic search (SEO) was very rudimentary; companies might optimize for basic keywords, but the sophistication of today's SEO was far off. However, if someone searched for a product/service and found your site, and then contacted you, that was an inbound lead.
Key Characteristics of Inbound Sales Leads in 2000:

Self-Initiated Contact: The defining feature was that the prospect reached out to the company, rather than the company reaching out to them.
Higher Intent: Inbound leads generally had a higher level of interest and intent to purchase, as they had taken the initiative to seek information.
Human Qualification: Once an inbound inquiry was received (via phone, mail, or basic web form), the qualification process was almost entirely manual, relying on a salesperson's ability to engage and ask qualifying questions (e.g., Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline).
Less Scalable Automation: There were very few tools to automate the nurturing of inbound leads. Follow-up was typically done manually via phone calls, faxes, or personalized emails.
While the term "inbound marketing" and its associated digital methodologies were not yet widespread in 2000, the underlying principle of attracting interested prospects through valuable information and easy access points was certainly in play.