Terms by topic
AI and sales roles
AI agentSoftware that works toward a goal over several steps, choosing which tools to use, instead of answering one prompt at a time.AI appointment setterAI that turns interest from a prospect into a booked meeting, usually by following up and sharing a booking link.AI call agentAn AI agent that joins a live call, talks with the person from a brief, and reports what it found out afterwards.AI marketing agentAn AI agent that runs marketing work such as finding leads, outreach, social posting and content, rather than answering one prompt at a time.AI SDRAn AI agent that does a sales development rep's job: finds prospects, writes first messages and follow-ups, and moves interested people to a meeting.BDR (business development representative)A salesperson who generates new pipeline, often through outbound prospecting. Many companies use the title interchangeably with SDR.SDR (sales development representative)A salesperson who finds and qualifies new prospects and books meetings for account executives, instead of closing deals.
Prospecting and data
Buyer personaA short profile of a typical buyer: their role, goals, problems and how they make purchase decisions, based on real research.Buying signalsActions or events that suggest someone may be ready to buy, such as a new role, new funding, hiring for a problem you solve or asking about it in public.ICP (ideal customer profile)A description of the type of company that gets the most value from your product and is most likely to buy and stay.Intent dataData that shows a company or person is researching a problem or product, so you can reach them while they're looking.Lead enrichmentAdding missing details to a lead record, like job title, company size, verified email or LinkedIn URL, from outside data sources.Lead listA list of people or companies who fit your target customer profile, with the contact details and context needed to reach out.Signal-based sellingReaching out because of a specific, recent buying signal instead of working through a static list.TAM (total addressable market)The total revenue available if every possible customer bought your product. Usually paired with SAM and SOM to size a market.Trigger eventA change at a company or in a person's role, like new funding or a new job, that makes them more likely to need what you sell.Waterfall enrichmentChecking several data providers one after another for a missing field, stopping at the first valid result, to fill more records.Website visitor identificationTools that match anonymous website visits to the companies, and sometimes the people, behind them.
Qualification
BANTA qualification checklist: does the buyer have the budget, authority, need and timeline to buy from you?Lead qualificationDeciding whether a lead is worth sales time, based on fit, need, timing and ability to buy.Lead scoringRanking leads by how well they fit and how likely they are to buy, so the best ones get attention first.MEDDICA qualification framework for complex B2B deals: metrics, economic buyer, decision criteria, decision process, pain and champion.MQL (marketing qualified lead)A lead that marketing judges ready for sales follow-up, based on fit and engagement, before sales has qualified it.Speed to leadHow fast you respond after a prospect reaches out, from form fill or demo request to your first real reply.SQL (sales qualified lead)A lead that sales has vetted, usually through a conversation, and confirmed as a real opportunity worth pursuing.
Outreach and email
Bounce rate (email)The share of sent emails returned as undeliverable, split into permanent hard bounces and temporary soft bounces.Cold emailA one-to-one business email to someone you have no prior relationship with, usually to start a sales conversation.Domain warm-upBuilding a new sending domain's reputation by starting with low email volume and raising it gradually.Email deliverabilityWhether your emails land in the inbox instead of spam or getting blocked, based on authentication, reputation and list quality.Human in the loopA setup where a person reviews or approves what an AI does before it takes effect, such as a message before it is sent.Inbound salesSelling to people who reach out first, through a form, demo request, chat or trial, so you respond and qualify.Multichannel outreachReaching the same prospect on more than one channel, such as email, LinkedIn and X, as part of one sequence.Outbound salesSelling by reaching out first to people who haven't contacted you, through cold email, calls or social messages.Reply rateThe share of people who respond to your outreach: replies divided by messages delivered, shown as a percentage.Sales sequence (cadence)A planned series of outreach steps, like emails, LinkedIn touches and calls, sent over days until a prospect replies.SPF, DKIM and DMARCThree email authentication standards that prove a message comes from your domain and tell receivers what to do if it doesn't.
Social selling
Engagement rateA social media metric: interactions such as likes, comments, shares and clicks, divided by impressions, reach or followers.Founder-led salesThe stage when a company's founders do the selling themselves, before hiring a sales team.Social sellingUsing LinkedIn, X and other networks to find prospects, build credibility and start sales conversations through posts and messages.
Pipeline and CRM
Account-based marketing (ABM)A B2B strategy that picks specific target companies first, then builds marketing and outreach around each one.CRM (customer relationship management)Software that keeps every contact, company, deal and conversation in one place, so a team knows who to talk to and what's next.Go-to-market (GTM)The plan for how a company reaches the right buyers and turns them into customers: who, what problem, what price, which channels.Lead nurturingStaying in useful contact with buyers who aren't ready yet, so you're the obvious choice when they are.Multi-threadingBuilding relationships with several people at a target account, so a deal doesn't depend on a single contact.Sales pipelineA stage-by-stage view of every open deal, showing what each is worth and where it's stuck, from first contact to closed.Win-loss analysisStudying why deals were won or lost, usually by asking the buyers, to improve how you sell.
Meetings and calls
AI notetakerSoftware that records a meeting, transcribes it and writes a summary with decisions and action items, so nobody takes notes by hand.Conversation intelligenceSoftware that records, transcribes and analyzes sales conversations to surface objections, next steps and patterns across calls.Discovery callAn early sales conversation to learn a prospect's problem, goals and buying process before pitching anything.Show rate (and no-show rate)The share of booked meetings that actually happen. No-show rate is the share where the prospect didn't turn up.
Content and search
Answer engine optimization (AEO)Shaping your content so AI assistants and AI search results quote it and cite your site.Competitive intelligenceCollecting and analyzing public information about competitors to make better product, positioning and sales decisions.Content calendarA schedule of what content a team will publish, where and when, with an owner and status for each piece.Search intentThe goal behind a search query: whether the person wants to learn, find a specific site, compare options or buy.Topic cluster (pillar page)A pillar page on a broad subject plus linked pages that each go deep on one subtopic, so a site covers the topic fully.
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From terms to booked calls.
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