Glossary

Sales and GTM terms, each with an example of how it shows up in a public post.

• B2B salesOne business selling a product or service to another business.
• BANTA four-question check for whether a prospect is ready to buy.
• Buyer personaA profile of the person who buys: role, goals, worries and the words they use.
• Client vs customerA customer buys a product; a client buys ongoing advice or service from someone they trust.
• Competitive intelligenceCollecting and using public information about competitors to win more deals.
• Consultative sellingSelling by understanding the buyer's problem first and recommending only what fits.
• Customer advocacyCustomers recommending you to others, through referrals, reviews and public replies.
• Dark socialSharing in private channels that analytics tools can't attribute, and the public traces it leaves.
• Hot leadA lead with a clear need and a reason to buy now.
• Ideal customer profileA description of the companies that get the most value from your product.
• Inbound salesSelling to people who reached out first, through search, content or a request.
• Inbound vs outboundInbound waits for buyers to come to you; outbound goes to them first.
• Intent-based marketingMarketing aimed at people and companies that show signs they are ready to buy, and the two kinds of intent it runs on.
• Intent dataSignals that a person or company is likely to buy, from page visits to public requests.
• Jobs to be doneThe idea that customers hire a product to make progress in a specific situation.
• Lead qualificationDeciding which leads deserve sales time, based on fit, need and timing.
• Lead scoringA points system that ranks leads by fit and interest so sales calls the best ones first.
• Lead sourceThe channel or event where a lead first came from.
• Lead vs prospectA lead has shown interest; a prospect has been checked and fits.
• MEDDICSix questions for qualifying a complex B2B deal, from metrics to champion.
• MQL vs SQLAn MQL has shown interest; an SQL is ready for a sales conversation.
• Outbound salesContacting prospects first, through email, calls or messages, rather than waiting for them.
• Pain pointsThe specific problems that push a customer to look for a solution.
• Personal sellingSelling face to face or one to one, where a person answers a buyer's questions directly.
• Product-led growthA growth model where people find, try and buy the product with little or no sales help.
• ProspectingFinding people who could buy from you and starting a conversation with them.
• SaaS salesSelling subscription software to businesses, where the sale continues after signup.
• Sales qualified leadA lead sales has confirmed fits, has a need and is ready for a sales conversation.
• SDRThe sales role that finds and qualifies prospects and books meetings.
• Sentiment analysisLabelling text as positive, negative or neutral, and why tone is not intent.
• Share of voiceYour brand's share of mentions, ads or search visibility compared with competitors.
• Social listeningTracking public conversations and acting on what people say they need.
• Social sellingFinding buyers on social platforms, helping them in public, then starting a conversation.
• Solution sellingSelling the fix for a buyer's specific problem rather than a product's features.
• Voice of customerCollecting what customers say they need, in their own words, and using it.
• Warm leadWarm leads have shown interest; cold leads fit but haven't engaged.
• Website visitor identificationMatching anonymous website visits to the company or person behind them, using IP lookups or identity data.
• Win-loss analysisA structured review of why deals were won or lost, drawn from what buyers say.