Sales Glossary A-Z: 230 Sales Words You Should Know

A strategy that implies closing should be the motive behind each step of the salesperson.

A framework that ensures customized management of an account/customer throughout their lifecycle — onboarding to after-sales support. 

The average revenue obtained by a single customer/account

The period in which a debt is reduced or paid off by regular payments

The average product price in the given market

Also known as AP or just payables, it refers to a company’s short-term monetary obligations that have not yet been paid.

The monetary value yet to be collected/received from customers and subscribers of a service or product

B

A framework sales reps use to qualify a lead.

The minimal level at which an analysis, forecast, performance, or strategy is measured or compared

Bottom of Funnel

The final stage in a sales funnel where a lead is ready to buy or become a paid subscriber

Interpretation of data to make informed decisions

Showing interest in buying a product or service by interacting with buyer touch-points such as downloading documents, media consumption, and participating in events.

Verbal or non-verbal signals from a potential buyer

C

The growth rate of a company from the initial investment value to the end investment value

A sales model and methodology that is built to take control of the entire sales experience

Aka champion test, this approach determines the best way to engage a given market.

A methodology used to classify and deploy the sales team resources to focus on various distribution channels.

The percentage of subscribers or users who leave or cancel their subscription after a given period.

The completion of a transaction where the prospect is agreed to become a customer

A formal written statement that serves as a promise of activities to be carried out or not.

The cost it required to acquire a new and paid customer

A proactive approach, strategy, mindset, or department dedicated to optimizing business with existing customers and increasing the predictability of recurring revenue.

D

A state in the sales pipeline where a prospect has gone unresponsive

The turnaround time between onboarding a customer to getting paid for product usage

The process of removing duplicated data from the sales pipeline

Also termed as qualifying, it is a call or first touch made with a potential buyer, and evaluate whether they are a good fit.

The individual with the authority, qualification, or expertise to make a buying decision

E

A statistic employed to assess the operating performance of an enterprise

A sales technique used to make a prospect emotionally invested in a product or service

An attempt to keep a prospect or an audience interested on your product or service

An approach that focuses on providing better product or service experience for buyer by offering upgrades or improvements.

The successful or experience founder hired by a venture capitalist firm to deal diligence

F

A value proposition communicated to the prospect by the sales representative

The price that a potential buyer is interested to pay for a product, service or an asset

Attributes that are typical of prospective organizational customers which can be used to segment organizations into applicable or relevant markets  

The process of predicting estimated sales value and performance based on the historical data

The calculated steps taken in a sales process from acquisition to delivery

The projected recurring revenue for the next 12 months. An important measure to value SaaS companies in particular

G

A person or a software application that controls general or specified access to data or premium features of an application

A semi-autonomous unit of a global corporation that deals with a specified market, function, product or service at the global scale

A strategy or roadmap formulated to gain competitive advantage in a specified market

An electronic report card that tracks sales demos, calls, and reports

A standard lead qualifying framework that focuses on getting pre-qualified leads, qualifying, and successfully closing them.

Total sales made minus the cost of goods sold

H

The sum of all the profits made from past customers in a specific period.

The sole business opportunity of a company of specific offering

I

The potential buyer who showcases all the attributes that increase the probability of a sale

Interested buyers coming into the pipeline after a showcase interest by submitting forms, sending cold emails, and via other means of communication

The sale occurred due to a customer’s direct approach triggered by a strategic sales and marketing outbound strategy

One of the three cloud services (SaaS and PaaS) that offers pay-as-you-go storage, virtualization, and networking services.

The process of selling from office via phone or online, instead of stepping out and meeting clients for a sale

Interactive Voice Recording System

An automated voice interaction system that interacts with the callers

J

A Joe job is a type of spoof email sent out to a huge volume of spam emails while indicating the intended source rather than the original. It’s an unethical practice employed to make competitors lose customers.

K

The list of elite customers who are also regarded as whale spenders. Sales and customer success prioritize these accounts as churn from these can be detrimental for companies.

The predefined and measurable performance values that indicate whether an organization or an individual has reached the allocated targets.

The monetary benefits or extra commission rendered to the high-performing salespeople to keep them motivated

L

The term ‘land’ refers to the first sales from an account or customer, and ‘expand’ refers to the activity of upselling or expanding the service to produce significant income

The number of attempts made at a sale might lead to closure. This is a norm followed by salespeople based on their personal experiences.

Also known as the Law of Reaping and Sowing, it says that if a salesperson is willing to assist several people in getting what they need, he or she will also get what they need.  

The potential buyer or an organization that met the lead-qualification measures or exhibited interest

A marketing activity that’s focused on generating interest around a product or service via advertising, content marketing, referrals, and outbound marketing

Refers to the number of marketing activities and techniques focused on building long-term relationships with prospective buyers

The framework or method followed by an organization to assign a relative value to rank the leads and prioritize the engagement

The total revenue a customer brought in, in their lifetime with the company or before they churn

The psychological impact that forces sales reps to focus more on avoiding loss than obtaining equivalent gains.

A pricing strategy where a product or service’s price is fixed lower than its regular market value to encourage or attract more customers.

A ratio that indicates lifetime revenue from a customer versus the cost it occurred to acquire that account

The segment of leads that require minimal or least level of sales or marketing efforts to turn into paying customers.

M

A measure that indicates the amount of profit made on the sale of a product or service after accounting for all costs of it

The value added by the business to increase the selling price of a product for additional profit

A lead that is engaged with marketing content, and strongly indicates the possibility of a conversion.

The contractual agreement between two companies where one party carries out the stated sales, marketing, or support activities for the other party

The middle market segment of companies that either have 50-1000 employees or an annual revenue ranges between $10 million to $1 billion, depending on the industry type (as per American Business standards)

The prospects in the research stage are trying to know more about the product.

The process of observing and adopting a prospect’s language, and speech patterns to build rapport.

The product with sufficient or enough features to attract early adopters. It is done to evaluate product market fit and demand.

A Monday morning stand-up followed in some companies for the updates and to discuss goals for the rest of the week.

An approach followed by salespeople by connecting with multiple decision-makers at the buyer’s end.

N

An effective method used to make the prospect believe in your product or service by quoting a source they are familiar with. Also known as 3rd Person Selling.

The practice of mentioning names that the prospect is familiar with during a call. However, it may annoy the prospect upon excessive use of this practice.

An assessment conducted on the prospect, system, or organization to specify the entity’s inadequacies in order to bring them to the desired common ground.

The net asset value of an investment fund minus its liabilities, divided by the number of outstanding shares. 

A newly converted paying customer or a customer who has gone dark for a while but re-engaged only to turn into a paying customer.

Ascore to gauge the overall loyalty or satisfaction of a customer based on the likelihood  of them becoming brand advocates and bringing in referrals. 

Net X indicates the number of remaining days for the payment to be delivered.

Activities that are not related or that do not impacting sales directly. This includes spending too much time researching a profile, sending and excessive emails or checking voicemail checking.

O

Any phrase, stand, or position expressed by the prospect that reduces the prospect’s likelihood of becoming a paying customer.

A salesperson who goes above and beyond the agreed-upon tasks to meet their sales quota.

The counter-effort by the salesperson to ease an objection and reason with the prospect. 

Also referred to as” On Target Earnings,” it’s a standard sales pay framework that includes base salary and earned commissions. OTE is an estimate rather than a fixed amount.

The process of introducing the product to a new customer.

The accounts that require additional efforts to be closed, delivered, or resold.

The functional CRM that seamlessly integrates with sales, marketing, and support operations in a typical business day.

The lead shows an increased probability and likelihood of becoming a paid customer.

Enabling a process, method, framework, or activity to increase efficiency to get maximized output, impact, or benefit.

Salespeople directly reach out to the prospect, initiate conversation, and complete the conversion. 

P

The process of selling multiple products or services as a single offering.

The customer’s impediment or challenge, for which the seller essentially offers a solution.

A plan or approach a sales rep is expected to undergo to achieve optimal performance.

A visual representation of where your prospects are in the different stages of the sales process.

Selling a lightweight product with tons of integrations or apps (Ex., Salesforce, Slack, and Zapier).

The agreed-upon selling strategy or engagement approach with the highest success rate to be followed, customized, and repeated while dealing with a particular group of prospects, leads, and customers over a period of time.

The initial statement or phrase used by salespeople to begin  their sales call in order to establish a common pain point and solution ground.

A tool that analyzes and gives informed forecasting on future growth, pivot, and feasibility opportunities based on historical data, emerging trends, and statistical models.

The words or phrases used in a sales script to invoke urgency, pressure, and a sense of missing out on in the prospect’s mind to achieve  desired outcomes.

Comparing the product with a similar product, showing the distinctive features, savings, benefits, and value it offers. 

An act of searching, finding, and acquiring enlisted products or services by floating the requests in a pool of external suppliers, evaluating and finalizing the bidding prices.

The process involved in purchasing a product or service from another vendor.

A lead that meets all the predefined requisites of the product while indicating a high probability of becoming a paid customer.

The monetary profits made after deducting all the expenses and costs involved in making the product or service.

A Latin phrase that translates to ‘proportion’. In the sales context, it means the proportional allocation of expenses, income, and other components based on the actual amount of each.

The prototype, concept, and demonstration that stands as proof of the potential success of a business idea.

Giving prospects access to the product without obligation to get them used to it for free before becoming a paid customer.

The document issued by the buyer to indicate the corresponding product or service cost before buying it.

A tracker on the CRM that shows how often an opportunity to close a deal is pushed or postponed.

Q

An engaging or responsive customer who has learned about the product and is likely to move ahead in the sales pipeline.

A set of questionnaires designed to assist a prospect to clear their path in making purchasing decisions.

A fixed 3-month period in the financial calendar where a company retrospectives by comparing performance, earnings, and forecasting.

The predefined number of clients or customers a sales rep is expected to close over a given period.

R

The term is used to denote the state of complete productivity of the sales team, which in turn leads to exceeding the quota.

The prospective buyer’s information is provided by a 3rd party. The salesperson derives this information from the existing customer, lead, or prospect. 

An act of gratification extended toward the third-party source for referring to a new lead that had just turned into a paying customer.

A business team that focuses on building relationships with existing customers to shift the transaction-based paradigm into a long-term subscription.

The business document or process intended to collect text-based information about the customer’s business or vendors.

The proposal or bid submitted by vendors and service providers in order to be procured.

A business document that seeks quotation or pricing details of the product or services rendered.

A formal process that sends invitations to vendors in order to receive a proposal for the purchase of a product, service, or commodity.

A percentage metric used to indicate the efficiency or profitability of a business investment, calculated by dividing the return by the invested value.

The amount of money the business generates and manages over a specific period — monthly, quarterly, and annually.

The long-term customers who are repeated or retained over a long period of  time.

The contractual right granted to the holder allows the performance of pre-specified business transactions before offering them to third parties.

An essential sociological rule in sales that encourages a person to act or react positively toward the other individual or business with an expectation of being treated the same way.

S

A cloud-based software delivery model in which a software product or service is accessed based on a  subscription.

The process of using a framework, software, or a method to speed up the sales pipeline or to enhance or improve the sales team’s productivity. 

The process or activity followed to simplify, speed up, or streamline sales components or the entire process by leveraging software.

Refers to the salesperson who follows, observes, and derives inspiration from a sales thought leader.

The salesperson who knows the ins and outs of a product that they sell so that they have authority to direct or guide the customer.

The training program to improve sales-related behavior and skill development for salespeople.

A repeated sales process that includes predicting sales sequence stages in selling to each customer. Typically this includes finding prospects, booking meetings, conducting demo sessions, and onboarding customers.

A visual sales representation that indicates the stage of each potential buyer and the total number of leads across six stages — initial contact, lead qualification, demo, meeting, proposal, negotiation, and closing.

It’s the sum of all opportunities compared with the revenue target. In simple terms, it’s how many open opportunities one has to hit their revenue targets. Pipeline coverage is calculated by dividing the total pipeline ARR by targeted new ARR.

The departments that take care of sales compliances, contractual terms, service legal agreements keeping the best interests of business as objectives.

A framework or a process focused on a set of activities that improve, enhance, scale sales growth while aligning with the market insights, methodologies, and technology

A measure for sales unit or individual’s performance, payroll expenses, day-to-day activity, and efficiency of closing deals in time-frame.

A potential customer who has the authority to make decisions, and financial capacity to purchase the product or service on offer.

The process of finding potential buyers leveraging an array of engagement methods such as cold calling, emailing and advertising.

A contact or information of a potential buyer forwarded to Account Executives to explore closing opportunities.

Any activity of a sales team or individual with an objective to make a closure.

A set of engagement activities with orchestrated frequency driven by historical sales data to attract a prospect or an account.

The area of domain, sector or field a salesperson focuses on to make a sale.

The daily routine of a salesperson related to business activity to increase sales revenue.

An activity of data scraping and collecting data sources to derive insights and valuable information.

A method used to ease the stream of objections to help the prospect to make a decision.

Differentiating or classifying large markets into different categories based on factors such as demographics to engage better.

Sell the sizzle, not the steak — a sales notion that states that one should sell the benefits of the product instead of its features.

The operating costs do not directly relate to or contribute to the production of the product or service.

Or DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) is an internet security process that verifies and safeguards a network from fraud, impersonation, and phishing.

A service agreement between two internal or external teams that describes expectations, goals, quality, and availability.

The market segment or the part of TAM (total addressable market) that the business focuses on based on its reach, capabilities, and historical data.

A part of the Serviceable Available Market (SAM) that the business can approach realistically and capture in a given time.

Aka Share Sale Agreement is a finalized terms and conditions agreement on the sale of shares between a company, its shareholders, and investors. 

A detailed contract between a company’s shareholders and stakeholders to authorize and determine the operations standards.

Offering additional services or benefits to a prospective buyer who already uses your competitor’s products or services.

The readiness of a prospect that indicates their willingness to purchase your product or service by downloading your content, participating in an event, or expressing their interest to know more about your product or service.

The percentage of prospects who have signed up and then become paying customers.

The term that describes different teams working on a similar activity without coordination, and sharing information.

A safer method to access independent but multiple software systems with a single user ID and password.

The progressive alignment of sales and marketing teams to derive the best value from their independent activities.

A popular phrase that presses the need to be positive before dialing a cold call and smile during the conversation with a prospect to reassure trustworthiness and warmth.

Leveraging social media to instill trustworthiness, authority, and expertise of the sales rep by sharing content that the prospect can relate to and derive value before making the purchase.

A cloud-based software delivery and distribution model that can be accessed by customers via subscriptions.

An accounting practice that treats the expenses related to software development or procurement as a fixed asset.

An idea, technique, practice, strategy, or process that simplifies or solves a challenge to help an organization grow and scale.

A B2B sales method where a salesperson offers apt solutions to a prospective company’s or market’s challenges.

The set of phrases used by a sales rep during a call to overcome an objection thrown by the prospect.

An instant or quick incentive offered upon performing a specified task over a specified time period.

Four types of questions a prospect should ask to establish a customer-centric selling environment so that it increases the probability of getting closure.

A prospective customer who has surpassed the MQL stage and signals an excellent customer-fit score on the SQL criteria scale.

A person or an entity who shows true intent and interest in a company’s well-being and growth. 

A project document that shows all the parameters of work done by a freelancer, or vendor, including the scope, nature, activities, and cost.

A team or an individual who works on the basis of a commissions-only method.

An investment made by venture capitalists, angel investors, and corporations in growing startups.

A highly organized data that is easy to analyze, managed, and derive insights to make informed decisions.

An expert with proven authority in a particular field, domain, or sector.

An information storage system that protects data integrity and remains the source for specific data items.

T

The subset of the potential customers whom a company plans to reach out, nurture, engage and sell their product and services.

A set of questionnaire salespeople ask potential customers to determine their stand in the sales process.

A customer group classified based on various factors such as geographical location, designation, demographics, and buying authority.

Refers to the sales representative who focuses on the assigned geographical area with an objective to maximize the monetary value from that location.

A phrase used to describe that the longer it takes to close a deal, the faster it exterminates the chances of closing it.

A prospect who is qualified as an SQL in every manner but has no financial ability to purchase. In some cases, it lacks intent.

The terms or names among the highest ranking domain types in the Domain Name System of the Internet (DNSI).

The raw leads who are trying to learn more about various solutions for their problems. These leads usually engage with helpful content published by solution providers and later qualify as leads based on their lead score.

The total value the company can derive from a specific market — not revenue.

The total potential revenue a business can churn out from a targeted market.

A fund performance measure to calculate the ratio of distributed and undistributed investments against the invested capital value.

The number of touches the marketing team needs to transit a raw contact or prospect in to a viable and qualified lead.

Slices or portions of amount released against a security or debt in a sequence over a specific period.

A set of sequences or criteria that signals a contact’s readiness to move ahead in the buying process.

The time given to a sales agent or a freemium customer before they bring in value and profit respectively.

U

A billion dollors value milestone after which a startup becomes a unicorn.

A value proposition that is unique to the product or service and gives an advantage over the compitetion. It can be quality, pricing, or the unique concept of a product that sales and marketing teams leverage or highlight in their pitching and marketing efforts.

The application of economic principles and their impact on a business entity, be it an individual or a business.

Also referred to as hockey stick growth, it’s a business phrase used to describe the positive growth of sales performance.

A sales technique used on existing customers by introducing them to a more expensive upgrade or an add-on.

Refers to the user’s interaction with the product and the design makes them feel.

Refers to the screen, buttons, icons, and whole visual elements of the product.

V

The unique quality or nature of the product that positioned as an advantage for the prospects. Sales and marketing teams rely on the value proposition to convey why one has to prioritize their product over the competitors.

The messaging that includes valuable current and future offerings of the company for its market.

A marketing strategy that weighs the realistic value of the product before its release based on quality, concept, and speed. 

A marketing strategy that targets a specific group of customers with their niche-based offerings. |

A software solution that mimics a complete conventional computing environment for business teams.

The essential sales numbers and data that need to be tracked, measured, and monitored.

W

A call made to the qualified lead by a sales rep. Unlike the cold calls, salespeople would be familiar with the lead before dialing in for a warm call.

Email alternative for a warm call. The cadence might include a mix of both warm calls and emails.

The titleholder’s right to get shares from the issuing/offering company in a specific time frame.

An elaborated version of the sales pipeline that gives a calculative score for each stage.

Or simply referred to as a whale, it is the person or an entity that brings in significant revenue to the company.

Activities or behavior that is lawful. Also, refers to the activities which otherwise considered illegal for legal and protective purposes. For example, hacking.

A lawful product or service that can be bought or sold by any company and abides by the local Governing laws.

The framework that roughly represents the outcome of a sales or marketing activity. In terms of web or app development, this is one of the three significant models followed by most developers.

X

In the context of sales, X-factor is used to attribute the sales win to the characteristic qualities of a salesperson that evidently lead to the closure.

Y

Used to describe the current year’s growth rate difference compared to the previous year.

The result or outcome of a sales and marketing activity.

Z

A sales model inspired by the Eastern philosophy called Zen, an ancient school of Mahayana Buddhism.

A sales commission model that indicates that a sales rep has earned enough commission zeroing their total draw balance.