Sales and marketing
Sales and marketing
20 Sales vocabulary terms
This glossary will help me learn some salesperson terms that I don't understand.
- ABC
- "Always Be Closing." An antiquated sales strategy that basically says everything a sales rep does throughout the sales process is in pursuit toward the singular goal of closing a deal. The implication is that, if a sales rep doesn't close the deal, then everything they did regarding that opportunity was a failure. In the inbound methodology, the preferred ABCs of selling are: Always Be Connecting.
- Ad Network
- A service that offers online ad space for sale to advertisers. This space can represent inventory from hundreds and thousands of websites. A general rule is that some inventory is more valuable than others, so it costs advertisers more. Think of buying a TV ad placement during “the big game” versus during a mop infomercial at 3 am. Depending on the ad network, the payment structure may be based on cost per thousand impressions (CPM), cost per click (CPC), or cost per acquisition (CPA).
- fr: Réseau publicitaire
- AIDA
- An acronym used in Sales that stands for Attention/Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action. They are the four steps of the now somewhat-outdated Purchase Funnel (although most agree the funnel is much more complex than what is represented in this traditional model), wherein customers travel from awareness to purchase.
- Bad Leads
- Leads that are unlikely to become paying customers and a sales rep's worst nightmare,because they are a waste of time. A tough challenge for most marketers is how you separate good, high-quality leads from the people who are just poking around your site.
- fr: Mauvais prospects
- BIMI
- Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) is an emerging security technology that helps authenticate your email marketing and builds trust with your customers.
- Bluebird Sales
- A "bluebird" is a sale that came seemingly from nowhere or with unexpected ease. A sales rep might say, "Fortunately, a bluebird flew right in at the end of the quarter, helping me reach my goal."
- fr: Ventes Bluebird
- Buying Criteria
- All the information a consumer needs to make a buying decision. It can be written or unwritten, and often answers questions like, "what is it?; "why should I buy it?"; "what is the price?"; "why do I need it?" and so on.
- fr: Critères d'achat
- Churn Rate
- A metric that measures how many customers you retain and at what value. To calculate churn rate, take the number of customers you lost during a certain time frame, and divide that by the total number of customers you had at the very beginning of that time frame.
- fr: Taux de désabonnement
- Closed-Lost
- When a sales rep closes a deal in which the buyer does not purchase the product or service.
- fr: Fermé-Perdu
- Closed-Won
- When a sales rep closes a deal in which the buyer purchases the product or service.
- fr: Gagné
- Commission
- The payment a sales rep gets when they successfully sell something; usually a percentage of sales revenue. If you want more info on sales compensation
- Conversion Path
- The "events" on a company's website that help companies capture leads. In its most basic form, it'll consist of a call-to-action (typically a button that describes an offer) that leads to a landing page with a lead capture form, which redirects to a thank-you page where a content offer resides
- fr: Chemin de conversion
- Decision-Maker
- The person who, or role that, makes the final decision of a sale. They are often "guarded" by a gatekeeper.
- fr: Décideur
- Dropshipping
- An e-commerce model where the seller doesn’t own any inventory or handle any of the shipping responsibilities. When a customer makes a purchase, the seller processes the order and transfers it to a third-party supplier—like a wholesaler or manufacturer, for example—who prepares and ships the order.
- Feature
- A function of a product that can solve for a potential buyer's need or pain point; usually a distinguishing characteristic that helps boost appeal.
- fr: Caractéristique
- Key Success Factors
- The 5 elements that determine whether or not a company will be effective in capturing its target audience. The key success factors are strategic focus, people, operations, marketing, and finances. These factors are also known as strategic posture or competitive emphasis.
- KPI
- Key performance indicators (KPIs) are quantifiable measures that help businesses evaluate their progress toward achieving important objectives. Although different businesses use different metrics, KPIs are always central to understanding how your company is performing and how you can improve that performance.
- Leads
- A person who has shown interest at your company's product or service. “Lead” is a term used more often in the sale of business-to-business (B2B) products and services than retail or consumer packaged goods. Leads can come from website users who complete a contact form, trade show attendees who provide contact information in person, or lists you purchase from another company such as a list broker.
- fr: Prospect
- Product Lifecycle
- The stages a product goes through during its time on the market. There are 4 stages: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. The stage your product is in helps inform your marketing objectives and promotional mix. For example, raising awareness of a new product may be more important than raising awareness of a mature product.
- Soft Bounce
- An email that is rejected by an email server for a temporary reason. An email may soft bounce if a mailbox is full, the recipient email server is down or offline, or the email message is too large.