Reference
Sales Glossary
41 essential sales terms with clear definitions, aligned with industry standards from Gartner, Salesforce, and leading sales training organizations.
- ACV (Annual Contract Value)
- The normalized annual revenue from a customer contract, used to compare deal sizes across multi-year agreements.
- AE (Account Executive)
- A sales professional who owns the full sales cycle from discovery through close for assigned accounts or territories.
- ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue)
- Predictable, recurring revenue normalized to a one-year period — the primary metric for SaaS businesses.
- BANT
- Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline — a classic lead qualification framework for assessing sales readiness.
- BATNA
- Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement — your strongest walk-away option in a negotiation, coined by the Harvard Negotiation Project.
- BDR (Business Development Rep)
- An outbound-focused sales role responsible for prospecting and booking qualified meetings for AEs.
- Challenger Sale
- A sales methodology where reps teach, tailor, and take control — based on Gartner/CEB research of 6,000 sales professionals.
- Champion
- An internal advocate within the prospect organization who actively sells on your behalf — a key MEDDIC qualification criterion.
- Churn Rate
- The percentage of customers who cancel or don't renew within a given period — critical for account management KPIs.
- Closing
- The final stage of the sales process where the buyer commits to purchase — in complex sales, closing techniques matter less than discovery quality.
- Consultative Selling
- An approach focused on understanding customer needs and providing tailored solutions rather than product-pushing.
- CRM
- Customer Relationship Management system — software for tracking contacts, deals, activities, and pipeline (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot).
- Discovery Call
- An initial sales conversation focused on understanding the buyer's situation, problems, and goals before presenting solutions.
- Economic Buyer
- The person with final budget authority and veto power over a purchase decision — a critical MEDDIC element.
- Forecast
- A prediction of expected revenue based on pipeline analysis, typically categorized as commit, best case, and pipeline.
- GTM (Go-to-Market)
- The strategy and plan for launching products or entering markets, encompassing sales, marketing, and customer success.
- ICP (Ideal Customer Profile)
- A description of the company type most likely to buy, benefit from, and renew your product.
- Implication Questions
- SPIN Selling question type that explores the consequences and ripple effects of a buyer's problems.
- Inbound Sales
- Selling to prospects who initiate contact through marketing channels — demos, trials, content downloads.
- MEDDIC
- Metrics, Economic Buyer, Decision Criteria, Decision Process, Identify Pain, Champion — enterprise qualification framework from PTC.
- MEDDPICC
- MEDDIC extended with Paper Process and Competition — the standard for SaaS enterprise qualification.
- Multi-Threading
- Building relationships with multiple stakeholders in an account to reduce single-threaded deal risk.
- NRR (Net Revenue Retention)
- Revenue retained from existing customers including expansion, minus churn — a key SaaS health metric.
- Objection Handling
- The skill of addressing buyer concerns about price, timing, competition, or fit without damaging trust.
- OTE (On-Target Earnings)
- Total compensation when a sales rep hits 100% of quota — base salary plus variable commission.
- Outbound Sales
- Proactively reaching prospects through cold calls, emails, and social selling rather than waiting for inbound interest.
- Pain Funnel
- Sandler Selling System discovery sequence that moves from surface problems to emotional impact.
- Pipeline
- All active sales opportunities at various stages — managed through CRM with weighted forecasting.
- Pipeline Coverage
- The ratio of total pipeline value to quota — typically 3–5x for enterprise sales teams.
- POC (Proof of Concept)
- A structured trial or pilot demonstrating product value before full purchase commitment.
- Quota
- The revenue or activity target assigned to a sales rep for a given period — usually quarterly or annual.
- Sales Cycle
- The average time from first contact to closed deal — varies from minutes (B2C) to 12+ months (enterprise).
- SDR (Sales Development Rep)
- Entry-level sales role focused on prospecting, qualifying, and booking meetings for account executives.
- Social Proof
- Cialdini's persuasion principle — people follow others' actions, especially under uncertainty. Applied via case studies and references.
- Social Selling
- Using social networks (especially LinkedIn) to research prospects, build relationships, and share relevant content.
- SPIN Selling
- Situation, Problem, Implication, Need-Payoff — Neil Rackham's research-backed discovery framework from 35,000+ sales call analysis.
- SQL (Sales Qualified Lead)
- A lead that has been vetted and meets criteria to enter the active sales pipeline.
- Upfront Contract
- Sandler technique setting mutual expectations at the start of each sales interaction — agenda, time, outcomes.
- Value-Based Selling
- Pricing and selling based on the economic value delivered to the customer rather than cost-plus or competitor matching.
- Win Rate
- The percentage of qualified opportunities that result in closed-won deals — a core sales efficiency metric.
- ZOPA
- Zone of Possible Agreement — the range where both buyer and seller can reach a mutually acceptable deal.