Reference
CRM Glossary
Clear definitions of 51+ sales, marketing, and CRM terms in plain language.
A
- Account
- A company or organization record in your CRM that represents a current or potential customer. Accounts group related contacts, deals, and activities under one business entity.
- Activity
- Any tracked interaction with a contact or account such as a phone call, email, meeting, or note. Activities create a timeline of engagement that helps reps pick up where they left off.
- Automation
- Rules or workflows that perform actions automatically when certain conditions are met. Examples include sending a follow-up email when a deal enters a new stage or assigning a lead based on territory.
B
- B2B
- Business-to-business. A sales model where one company sells products or services to another company rather than to individual consumers.
- B2C
- Business-to-consumer. A sales model where a company sells directly to individual end users or consumers.
- Bounce Rate
- The percentage of emails that could not be delivered to the recipient's inbox. Hard bounces indicate permanent delivery failures such as invalid addresses, while soft bounces are temporary issues like a full inbox.
C
- Campaign
- A coordinated series of marketing messages sent to a targeted list of contacts. Campaigns can include email sequences, drip series, or one-time blasts and are tracked for opens, clicks, and conversions.
- Churn Rate
- The percentage of customers who cancel or stop using your product during a given time period. A low churn rate indicates strong customer retention.
- CLV
- Customer Lifetime Value. The total revenue a business can expect from a single customer account over the entire duration of the relationship. CLV helps prioritize high-value accounts.
- Cold Call
- An unsolicited phone call to a prospect who has not previously expressed interest in your product or service. Cold calls are often the first touchpoint in outbound sales.
- Contact
- An individual person record in your CRM. Contacts typically belong to an account (company) and have associated activities, deals, and communication history.
- Conversion Rate
- The percentage of prospects who complete a desired action such as signing up for a trial, requesting a demo, or closing a deal. Conversion rates measure the effectiveness of each stage of your sales process.
- CRM
- Customer Relationship Management. Software that helps businesses manage interactions with current and potential customers, track deals through a sales pipeline, and maintain a centralized record of all customer data.
- Custom Field
- A user-defined data field added to a CRM record type (contact, company, deal) to capture information specific to your business. Custom fields extend the default schema without code changes.
D
- Dashboard
- A visual overview of key metrics and KPIs displayed in charts, graphs, and summary cards. Dashboards give managers real-time insight into pipeline health, team performance, and revenue forecasts.
- Deal
- A potential sale being tracked through your pipeline. Deals (also called opportunities) have a value, an expected close date, and move through stages from qualification to closed-won or closed-lost.
- Drip Campaign
- An automated sequence of emails sent to contacts over time based on triggers or a fixed schedule. Drip campaigns nurture leads by delivering relevant content at each stage of the buying journey.
E
- Email Marketing
- The practice of sending targeted emails to a list of contacts to promote products, share updates, or nurture leads. Email marketing is measured by open rates, click-through rates, and conversions.
- Engagement
- The degree to which a contact interacts with your communications and content. High engagement (opens, clicks, replies) signals buying intent and helps prioritize follow-up.
F
- Forecast
- A prediction of future revenue based on the deals currently in your pipeline, their stages, and win probabilities. Forecasts help sales leaders plan headcount, set quotas, and report to stakeholders.
- Funnel
- A visual model of the buyer journey from initial awareness to closed deal. Each stage of the funnel narrows as prospects drop off, helping identify where your sales process needs improvement.
G
- GDPR
- General Data Protection Regulation. A European Union privacy law that governs how businesses collect, store, and process personal data. GDPR grants individuals rights to access, correct, and delete their data.
I
- Integration
- A connection between your CRM and an external tool (email provider, calendar, accounting software, etc.) that syncs data automatically. Integrations reduce manual data entry and keep systems in sync.
K
- KPI
- Key Performance Indicator. A measurable value that shows how effectively a team or individual is achieving a business objective. Common sales KPIs include revenue, win rate, average deal size, and sales cycle length.
L
- Lead
- A person or company that has shown interest in your product but has not yet been qualified as a sales opportunity. Leads enter the top of the funnel and are nurtured until they become qualified prospects.
- Lead Scoring
- A method of ranking leads based on their likelihood to convert. Scores are calculated from demographic data (job title, company size) and behavioral signals (website visits, email opens, form submissions).
- Lifecycle Stage
- The current phase of a contact's relationship with your business such as subscriber, lead, MQL, SQL, opportunity, customer, or evangelist. Lifecycle stages help tailor messaging and prioritize outreach.
M
- MQL
- Marketing Qualified Lead. A lead that has been vetted by the marketing team based on engagement criteria (e.g., downloaded a whitepaper, attended a webinar) and is ready to be passed to sales for further qualification.
N
- Nurture
- The process of building relationships with prospects through targeted content and consistent follow-up, even when they are not ready to buy. Nurturing keeps your brand top-of-mind until the prospect is sales-ready.
O
- Opportunity
- A qualified prospect with a real chance of becoming a customer. Opportunities are tracked through pipeline stages and have an associated value and expected close date. Often used interchangeably with "deal."
P
- Pipeline
- A visual representation of all active deals organized by stage. Pipelines help sales teams see where each deal stands, forecast revenue, and identify bottlenecks in the sales process.
- Pipeline Stage
- A step in the sales process that a deal moves through, such as "Discovery," "Proposal Sent," or "Negotiation." Each stage represents progress toward closing and often has an associated win probability.
- Prospect
- A potential customer who has been identified and qualified as a good fit for your product or service. Prospects have moved beyond the lead stage and are actively engaged in the sales process.
Q
- Qualification
- The process of evaluating whether a lead is a good fit for your product based on criteria like budget, authority, need, and timeline (BANT). Qualification prevents reps from wasting time on low-probability deals.
- Quote
- A formal document sent to a prospect detailing the products or services offered, quantities, prices, discounts, and terms. Quotes are often generated directly from deal records in the CRM.
R
- Revenue
- The total income generated from sales of products or services. In a CRM context, revenue is tracked at the deal, account, and organizational level to measure business performance.
- ROI
- Return on Investment. A metric that measures the profitability of an investment by comparing the gain to the cost. In sales and marketing, ROI evaluates the effectiveness of campaigns, tools, and strategies.
S
- Sales Cycle
- The average time it takes to move a deal from first contact to closed-won. Shorter sales cycles improve cash flow and indicate an efficient sales process.
- Sales Pipeline
- The set of stages and deals that represent your sales process from prospecting to closing. Managing the sales pipeline involves moving deals forward, removing stale opportunities, and maintaining accurate forecasts.
- Segmentation
- The practice of dividing your contacts or accounts into groups based on shared characteristics such as industry, deal size, engagement level, or geography. Segments enable targeted outreach and personalized messaging.
- SLA
- Service Level Agreement. A commitment between a service provider and a customer that defines expected response times, resolution times, and availability. In CRM, SLAs are often applied to support tickets.
- SQL
- Sales Qualified Lead. A lead that has been vetted by the sales team and meets the criteria for active pursuit. SQLs have a confirmed need, budget, and timeline and are ready for a demo or proposal.
T
- Tag
- A label applied to contacts, companies, or deals for flexible categorization. Tags are freeform and allow for quick filtering and segmentation without needing custom fields.
- Template
- A reusable email, quote, or document layout with placeholders for personalized data. Templates save time and ensure consistency in outbound communication.
- Territory
- A defined geographic region, industry vertical, or account segment assigned to a specific sales rep or team. Territory management ensures balanced workloads and clear ownership of accounts.
- Ticket
- A customer support request tracked in a help desk or CRM system. Tickets have a subject, description, priority, status, and assigned agent. They move through a resolution workflow until closed.
- Touchpoint
- Any interaction between a prospect or customer and your business, including emails, calls, meetings, website visits, and social media engagement. Tracking touchpoints provides a complete view of the customer journey.
U
- Upsell
- A sales technique where you offer a customer a more expensive product, premium tier, or add-on feature to increase the total deal value. Upselling is most effective when the additional offering solves a real need.
W
- Webhook
- An automated HTTP callback triggered when a specific event occurs in your CRM (e.g., deal closed, contact created). Webhooks push real-time data to external systems without polling.
- Win Rate
- The percentage of deals that close as won out of the total deals that reached a decision stage. Win rate is a key indicator of sales effectiveness and is used to calibrate pipeline forecasts.
- Workflow
- A defined sequence of automated steps triggered by an event or condition. Workflows can update records, send notifications, create tasks, and route data between systems without manual intervention.
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