The
Glossary.

ABM

Account-Based Marketing, coordinated sales + marketing plays run against a finite named account list.

Accelerator

A comp-plan multiplier that pays a higher commission rate on bookings above quota.

Activation

The moment a new user completes the action that reliably predicts long-term retention.

Activation Rate

% of new signups who complete the defined activation event within a defined window.

ACV

Annual Contract Value, normalised annual revenue from a customer contract, excluding one-time fees.

Adoption

The extent to which a customer's users actually use the product's key features in their daily workflow.

AE

aka Account Executive

Account Executive, the quota-carrying rep who runs deals from qualified opportunity to close.

Agent

An AI system that plans, uses tools and takes actions autonomously toward a goal, not just generates text.

Agentforce

Salesforce's platform for building and deploying autonomous AI agents inside the CRM.

Agentic SDR

An AI agent that autonomously researches, personalises and sends outbound sequences with human oversight.

AI-Native

A product or company whose core value, workflow and pricing were designed around AI from day one, not retrofitted.

ARPA

Average Revenue Per Account, total recurring revenue divided by number of accounts.

ARR

Annual Recurring Revenue, the run-rate of contracted subscription revenue at a point in time.

ASC 606

The US GAAP standard governing revenue recognition from contracts with customers, in force since 2018.

Attainment

The percentage of quota a rep, segment or team achieved in a period.

BANT

Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline, IBM's 1960s qualification checklist, still the default for inbound SDR triage.

BDR

aka Business Development Representative

Business Development Rep, often synonymous with SDR; some orgs split BDR = outbound, SDR = inbound.

Best Case

Forecast category: deals that could realistically land if things break right. Historical close rate 50–70%.

Book of Business

The specific set of accounts a CSM or AE owns for retention and expansion.

Bookings

Signed contract value in a period. Not revenue; not cash. The leading indicator RevOps lives on.

Burn Multiple

Net burn ÷ net new ARR. How many dollars burned to add one dollar of ARR. Coined by David Sacks.

Buyer Journey

The stages a buyer moves through, awareness, consideration, evaluation, decision, post-purchase.

CAC

Customer Acquisition Cost, fully-loaded S&M spend divided by new customers acquired in the period.

CAC Payback

Months of gross profit required to recover the CAC of a new customer.

Capacity Model

Top-down bookings model: # of reps × ramp-adjusted productivity × attainment assumption × seasonality.

Cash Collections

The cash actually received from customers in a period, the number CFOs plan runway from.

Category Creation

The strategic move of defining a new market category and positioning your company as its default leader.

CDP

aka Customer Data Platform

Customer Data Platform, a unified store of first-party customer data, resolved to a single profile per person or account.

Challenger Sale

CEB's 2011 research: complex-sale winners Teach, Tailor and Take Control, they reframe the buyer's worldview.

Champion

An internal advocate inside the buying org who sells the deal when you are not in the room.

Channel Sales

aka Indirect Sales

Selling through third parties (resellers, VARs, MSPs, SIs) instead of, or alongside, direct sales.

Churn

The rate at which customers or revenue leave the business in a period.

Clawback

Commission recovered from a rep when a booked deal churns, downgrades or is refunded within a defined window.

Clay

GTM data platform that combines 50+ data providers and LLM enrichment for account and contact research.

Closed-Lost

Terminal opportunity stage, the deal did not close. Loss reason is the most-lied-about field in CRM.

Closed-Won

Terminal opportunity stage, signed order form, in bookings, comp payable.

Cohort Analysis

Grouping customers by signup period and measuring retention, expansion or LTV over time.

Commit

Forecast category: deals a rep is personally staking their number on. Historical close rate 90%+.

Comp Plan

The written document governing how a rep is paid, base, variable, rate, accelerators, SPIFFs and clawbacks.

Content Marketing

Creating written, video and audio content that attracts, educates and converts a target audience over time.

Contraction ARR

ARR lost from existing customers via downgrades, seat reductions or plan changes, short of full churn.

Copilot

An AI assistant that suggests, drafts and summarises inside a human workflow, the human stays in the loop.

CPA

aka Cost Per Acquisition

Cost Per Acquisition, paid spend divided by paying customers acquired. The bottom-of-funnel efficiency metric.

CPL

aka Cost Per Lead

Cost Per Lead, paid spend divided by leads generated. The top-of-funnel efficiency metric.

CPQ

aka Configure Price Quote

Configure, Price, Quote, software that produces a valid, priced quote from a product catalogue and rules engine.

CRM

aka Customer Relationship Management

Customer Relationship Management, the system of record for accounts, contacts, opportunities and activities.

Cross-sell

Selling an additional product or SKU into an existing customer.

CSAT

Customer Satisfaction Score, post-interaction 1–5 or 1–7 survey, reported as % top-box.

CSM

aka Customer Success Manager

Customer Success Manager, post-sale owner of adoption, retention and (often) expansion.

CTR

aka Click-Through Rate

Click-Through Rate, clicks divided by impressions. The primary engagement metric for ads and email.

CVR

aka Conversion Rate

Conversion Rate, completed actions divided by total sessions or clicks.

Dark Funnel

aka Dark Social

The un-attributable buyer research that happens off your properties, podcasts, Slack groups, LinkedIn, ChatGPT.

Data Warehouse

The central analytical database (Snowflake, BigQuery, Databricks, Redshift) where all business data is consolidated.

Deal Desk

Cross-functional team (finance, legal, product, RevOps) that reviews and approves non-standard deal terms.

Deal Review

A manager-led inspection of an open opportunity against a qualification framework and MAP.

Decelerator

A comp-plan modifier that pays a lower rate below a threshold, protecting the business from paying full commission on weak performance.

Deferred Revenue

aka Unearned Revenue

Cash collected for services not yet delivered, sitting on the balance sheet as a liability until earned.

Demand Gen

aka Demand Generation

The marketing discipline of creating and capturing buyer intent, paid, content, events, community.

Demo

A tailored product walkthrough tied back to the specific pain uncovered in discovery. Not a feature tour.

Discovery Call

The first substantive sales conversation, where qualification, pain and process are established, not product pitched.

DSO

aka Days Sales Outstanding

Days Sales Outstanding, average days to collect cash after invoicing. A working-capital efficiency metric.

EBR

aka Executive Business Review

Executive Business Review, a senior-level version of the QBR aligning C-suites on outcomes and strategic direction.

Economic Buyer

The single person with discretionary authority to release the funds for the purchase.

Embedding

A dense numeric vector representation of text, image or audio, the input format for semantic search and RAG.

Event Marketing

The discipline of planning, sponsoring or hosting in-person and virtual events to drive brand, pipeline and community.

Expansion ARR

Incremental ARR from existing customers via upsell, cross-sell, seat expansion or usage growth.

Field Marketing

Regional, in-person marketing (dinners, roadshows, executive events) run in tight coordination with the local sales team.

Fine-Tuning

Additional training of a base model on domain-specific data to specialise its behaviour.

First-Party Data

Data you collect directly from your own audiences and customers via your own properties and product.

Forecast

aka Sales Forecast · Revenue Forecast

The bookings number leadership commits to the board for the current period, a range, a confidence, and the judgment behind it.

Free Trial

A time-boxed evaluation of the paid product, typically 14 or 30 days, with or without a credit card upfront.

Freemium

A pricing model with a permanently free tier alongside paid tiers that unlock capacity, features or support.

Funnel

The visual model of prospects narrowing from awareness → interest → consideration → intent → purchase.

Gap Selling

Keenan's framework: sell the gap between the buyer's current state and future state, quantified in business impact.

Gross Margin

Revenue minus cost of revenue (hosting, support, payment processing, PS delivery), as a % of revenue.

GRR

Gross Revenue Retention, retention excluding any expansion revenue. Caps at 100%.

GTM

Go-To-Market, the full system of how a company acquires, sells to, and expands customers.

GTM Fit

The second fit: a repeatable, scalable motion for acquiring and expanding the customers who love the product.

Guardrails

The layer of policies, filters and validators that constrain LLM outputs to safe, on-brand, on-topic responses.

Hallucination

When an LLM generates plausible-sounding but factually wrong output, the fundamental risk of generative AI.

Health Score

A composite metric CSMs use to predict which customers are at risk of churn or ready for expansion.

HubSpot

The SMB and mid-market CRM incumbent, built around an inbound marketing philosophy and a multi-Hub product suite.

Hybrid Pricing

A pricing model combining a seat-based platform fee with usage-based charges for consumption components.

ICP

Ideal Customer Profile, the tightly-defined firmographic + behavioural profile of the accounts you win, keep and expand.

Identity Resolution

The process of stitching multiple signals (emails, cookies, device IDs, IP) into a single canonical person or account.

Intent Data

Third-party behavioural signals (Bombora, 6sense, G2) that indicate an account is researching a category.

Jobs to Be Done

aka JTBD

Clay Christensen's framework: customers 'hire' a product to do a specific job in their life or work.

Land and Expand

GTM motion: win a small initial footprint, then grow ACV inside the account via seats, products or use cases.

Lead Routing

Automated assignment of new leads to the right rep based on territory, segment, account ownership and load.

Lead Scoring

Ranking inbound leads by fit (firmographic) and intent (behavioural) to prioritise SDR outreach.

LLM

aka Large Language Model

Large Language Model, the transformer-based foundation model behind ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and every 2024+ AI product.

Logo Retention

% of customer accounts retained over a period, regardless of ACV, the count-based view of churn.

LTV

Lifetime Value, the gross-profit-weighted expected revenue from a customer over their lifetime.

Magic Number

Net new ARR in a quarter divided by S&M spend in the prior quarter. A payback proxy.

Marketing Waterfall

SiriusDecisions' funnel model: Inquiry → MQL → SAL → SQL → Opp → Closed. Conversion at each gate.

Marketplace

Cloud provider (AWS, Azure, GCP) or SaaS platform (Salesforce AppExchange) storefronts for third-party software.

MDF

aka Market Development Funds · Co-op Funds

Market Development Funds, co-op marketing dollars vendors give partners to drive joint pipeline.

MEDDIC

aka MEDDPICC · MEDDICC

A B2B qualification framework: Metrics, Economic buyer, Decision criteria, Decision process, Identify pain, Champion.

Model Context Protocol

aka MCP

An open standard (introduced by Anthropic in late 2024) for connecting AI models to tools, data and services.

MQL

aka Marketing Qualified Lead

Marketing Qualified Lead, an inbound lead that has met a fit + intent threshold and is ready for SDR outreach.

MRR

Monthly Recurring Revenue, the monthly-normalised version of ARR.

MSA

aka Master Services Agreement

Master Services Agreement, the umbrella legal contract governing all commercial engagements between two parties.

Mutual Action Plan

aka MAP · Close Plan

A shared, dated checklist of steps and owners, buyer and seller, from now to signature and go-live.

Net Terms

The number of days a customer has to pay an invoice after receipt, e.g. Net 30, Net 60, Net 90.

Next Best Action

aka NBA

AI-generated recommendation of the single highest-value action a rep should take on a deal right now.

No Decision

The most common loss reason in B2B: the buyer doesn't pick a competitor, they just don't buy anything.

NPS

aka Net Promoter Score

Net Promoter Score, % promoters (9–10) minus % detractors (0–6) on the 'would you recommend' question.

NRR

aka Net Dollar Retention · NDR

Net Revenue Retention, % of recurring revenue retained from existing customers over 12 months, including expansion, minus churn and contraction.

Objection Handling

The rep skill of surfacing, acknowledging and resolving buyer concerns without becoming defensive.

Onboarding

The structured post-sale process that gets a new customer from signature to first outcome.

Opportunity

aka Opp

A qualified potential deal in the CRM, has a name, amount, close date, stage and owner.

Order Form

The commercial signature document that references the MSA and specifies products, quantities, term and price.

OTE

aka On-Target Earnings

On-Target Earnings, total comp a rep earns at 100% quota attainment (base + variable).

Outbound

The GTM motion where sellers or SDRs initiate contact with accounts that have not raised a hand.

Packaging

How product features are grouped into tiers, editions or add-ons that customers buy.

Parallel Dialer

Software that dials 3–10 numbers simultaneously and connects the rep only when a human answers.

Persona

A named archetype representing a specific role in the buying committee, champion, user, EB, etc.

PIP

aka Performance Improvement Plan

Performance Improvement Plan, the formal 30–90 day plan a rep enters when attainment falls below threshold.

Pipeline Coverage

Open pipeline in a period divided by the quota for that period. The health check every RevOps team runs on Mondays.

Playbook

A codified set of steps a rep or CSM runs against a specific scenario, deal type or customer signal.

PLG

aka Product-Led Growth

Product-Led Growth, a GTM motion where the product itself is the primary acquisition and expansion driver.

PLG 2026

Shorthand for the post-ZIRP evolution of PLG: usage-based pricing, product-qualified accounts, and hybrid sales-assist motions.

POC / Pilot

aka Proof of Concept · Pilot

A time-boxed, success-criteria-bound trial of the product against the buyer's real data or workflow.

Positioning

The deliberate choice of what your product is, who it's for, and what it's better than. April Dunford's discipline.

PPC

aka Pay-Per-Click

Pay-Per-Click advertising, primarily Google Ads and Bing, where the advertiser is charged per click.

PQL

aka Product Qualified Lead

Product Qualified Lead, a user or account that has taken product actions predictive of buying intent.

Pricing Page

The public web page that communicates tiers, prices and value. The most inspected page in most SaaS websites.

Private Offer

A cloud marketplace deal with custom pricing, term and terms negotiated 1:1 with a specific customer.

Product-Market Fit

aka PMF

The point where the market is pulling the product out of the company faster than the team can ship.

Prompt Engineering

The craft of designing model inputs (system prompts, few-shot examples, output schemas) to elicit reliable outputs.

QBR

aka Quarterly Business Review

Quarterly Business Review, a strategic customer or internal review of the last quarter and the plan for the next.

Quota

The annualised bookings or ARR target a rep is expected to deliver, the number their comp is built around.

Quote-to-Cash

aka Q2C

The end-to-end process from generating a quote to collecting the cash, quote, contract, order, invoice, revenue.

RAG

aka Retrieval-Augmented Generation

Retrieval-Augmented Generation, grounding an LLM's response in retrieved documents to reduce hallucination.

Ramp

The productivity curve of a new rep from hire to full quota, typically 3–9 months depending on ACV.

Referral Loop

A programmatic incentive that turns satisfied customers into a repeatable acquisition channel.

Reseller

A partner that resells the vendor's product to end customers, taking a margin on each transaction.

Retargeting

Serving ads to users who previously visited your site or engaged with your content.

Revenue Intelligence

Software category (Gong, Clari, Chorus) that captures every rep interaction and mines it for coaching, forecasting and risk.

Revenue Leakage

Contracted revenue that never becomes cash, lost to un-billed usage, missed renewals, discounts or clerical error.

Revenue Orchestration

Software category (Default, Distribute, LeanData, Chili Piper) that automates handoffs, routing and workflows across the revenue stack.

Revenue Recognition

aka Rev Rec

The accounting process of recording revenue in the period it is earned, not the period it is billed or collected.

Reverse ETL

Moving modelled data from the warehouse back into operational tools (CRM, marketing, product) for activation.

Reverse Trial

New signups get the paid tier free for 14–30 days, then drop to freemium if they don't convert. Best of both worlds.

RevOps

Revenue Operations, the function unifying sales, marketing and CS ops around one pipeline and system of record.

Round Robin

Fair-share distribution of unassigned leads across eligible reps, one at a time.

Rule of 40

Growth rate + free cash flow margin should sum to at least 40 for a healthy SaaS business.

SaaS Quick Ratio

(New MRR + Expansion MRR) / (Churned MRR + Contraction MRR). Growth efficiency vs. leakage.

SAL

aka Sales Accepted Lead

Sales Accepted Lead, the AE has confirmed the SQL meets the ICP and is worth working.

Sales Cycle

Median days from opportunity created to close-won.

Sales Enablement

The function that equips reps with the training, content, tooling and process to sell effectively.

Sales Engineer

aka SE · Solutions Consultant

Technical pre-sales partner to the AE, owns demo, POC, technical validation and architecture Qs.

Sales Kickoff

aka SKO

The annual all-hands sales conference that resets strategy, comp, product and territory for the year.

Salesforce

The dominant enterprise CRM platform, founded 1999. The default system of record above ~$50M ARR.

Sandler Selling

A submarine-model methodology built around upfront contracts, pain funnel and 'no' being an acceptable answer.

SDR

aka Sales Development Representative

Sales Development Rep, outbound-focused rep who prospects new accounts and books meetings for AEs.

Seat-Based Pricing

Pricing per named user or active seat. The default SaaS pricing model since 1999.

SEM

aka Search Engine Marketing · Paid Search

Search Engine Marketing, paid ads on search results, primarily Google Ads.

SEO

aka Search Engine Optimisation

Search Engine Optimisation, earning organic ranking on Google (and increasingly LLM answers) for target queries.

Sequence

aka Cadence

A multi-touch, multi-channel outbound cadence executed by an SDR, email, call, LinkedIn, over ~2–3 weeks.

Signal-Based Selling

Triggering outbound sales motions from real-time buying signals (job change, funding, tech stack shift, product usage) rather than fixed cadences.

SOW

aka Statement of Work

Statement of Work, a scoped services engagement (implementation, integration, consulting) under an MSA.

SPIFF

aka Special Performance Incentive

A short-term bonus incentive on top of comp plan, usually for a specific product, quarter or behaviour.

SPIN Selling

Situation, Problem, Implication, Need-payoff, Neil Rackham's question-based framework for consultative discovery.

SQL

aka Sales Qualified Lead

Sales Qualified Lead, an MQL that an SDR has contacted, qualified and accepted for AE handoff.

Stage Gate

Explicit exit criteria a deal must satisfy to move from one pipeline stage to the next.

TAM

Total Addressable Market, the total revenue opportunity if you had 100% market share.

TCV

aka Total Contract Value

Total Contract Value, full multi-year contract value including one-time fees, services and expected overages.

Territory

The defined slice of the market (geography, industry, size, named accounts) a rep is responsible for.

Third-Party Data

Data purchased or licensed from external providers (data brokers, intent networks, enrichment vendors).

Thought Leadership

Original, opinionated content from named executives that shapes how a market thinks about a category.

Time to Value

aka TTV

Days from contract signature (or signup) to the customer realising the first meaningful outcome.

Tool Use

An LLM's ability to call external functions, APIs or MCP servers as part of its reasoning loop.

Upsell

Moving an existing customer to a higher tier, more seats or a bigger contract.

Usage-Based Pricing

aka UBP · Consumption Pricing

Pricing that scales with a consumption metric (API calls, events, tokens, GB) rather than seats.

Vector Database

A database that stores and searches high-dimensional embeddings, the retrieval layer of every RAG pipeline.

Viral Coefficient

aka K-Factor

The number of new users each existing user brings in, on average. Sustained growth requires k > 1.

Webinar

A live or on-demand online presentation, typically 30–60 minutes, used to educate prospects and generate MQLs.

Wedge

The narrow initial use case or persona a company enters the market through, before expanding to the broader vision.

Win Rate

% of qualified opportunities that close-won in a period.