"An acronym used in Sales that stands for Attention/Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action.
AIDA
"An acronym used in Sales that stands for Attention/Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action.
BANT
An acronym used in sales for lead qualification that stands for Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline.
Bottom of the Funnel (BOFU)
A stage of the buying process leads reach when they're just about to close into new customers. They've identified a problem, have shopped around for possible solutions, and are very close to buying.
Buyer Persona
A semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer based on market research and real data about your existing customers. While it helps inbound marketers like you define their target audience, it can also help sales reps qualify leads. Learn more about developing buyer personas here.
Discovery Call
The first call a sales rep makes to a prospect, with the goal of asking them questions and qualifying them for the next step.
Flywheel
The flywheel is a new way of conceptualizing the sales process, replacing the funnel where customers are thought of as an output. The flywheel demonstrates that awareness, engagement, and delight can happen at any point during the customer journey and that the best way to achieve growth is to apply force and remove friction in each stage.
Forecasting
Estimating future sales performance for a forecast period based on historical data. Forecasted performance can vary widely from actual sales results, but helps sales reps plan their upcoming days, weeks, and months, and helps high-level employees set standards for expenses, profit, and growth.
Loss Leader
Used in retail to refer to a product sold at a low price (either at break-even or at a loss) for the purpose of attracting customers into the store.
Mark-Up
The amount added to the cost price of goods to cover overhead and profit.
Net Promoter Score (NPS)
A customer satisfaction metric that measures, on a scale of 0-10, the degree to which people would recommend your company to others.
Pain Point
A prospect's pain point, or need, is the most important thing for a sales rep to identify in the selling process. Without knowing a prospect's pain points, they can't possibly offer benefits to help resolve those pain points.
Pipeline
The step-by-step process sales reps go through to convert a prospect into a customer.
Sound Bite
A series of words or phrases sales reps use to respond to and overcome a customer objection.
Top of the Funnel (TOFU)
The very first stage of the buying process. Leads at this stage are identifying a problem they have and are looking for more information.