Getting a handle on sales terminologies is easy, once you grasp the meaning behind the sales terms and see them as part of the overall picture. 

Sale Terminology Focusing on the Customer

The customer-centric sale terminologies that every sales team should know thoroughly: 

Account

It’s another term for customer/client showing their detailed record with the business.

AIDA – Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action

This term outlines the four stages a customer goes through, before making the leap and becoming your customer. It is similar to the Sales Funnel but is more focused on the customer instead of sales.

Buying Intent

It indicates the potential prospect’s interest in buying from your business. The is measured using data insights such as website visits, content downloads, keyword searches, and social media engagement.

Buying Criteria

The information the buyer asks for through any medium (call, email, inquiry to a salesman) before making the buying decision, such as cost, quality, convenience, and value.

Decision Maker

The person who has the budget and authority to make the buying decision. In B2C sales, generally, an individual makes that decision whereas, in a B2B model, you need to go through a gatekeeper (front desk officer/secretary) to connect with the decision maker(s).

Pain Point

The customer’s main problem/issue that needs resolving and is looking for a solution.

Lead

An individual or business that indicates interest in your products/services and has the potential to turn into a customer.

Conversion

It happens when the prospect/customer takes the action you wanted by following your CTA (call-to-action); for example, Sign Up for Our Newsletter, Buy Now, & Book an Appointment.

Onboarding

This process ensures the new customer can use the product/service with ease, without further assistance. This is usually the case with new SaaS customers.

Sales Abbreviations Focusing on Cost & Revenue

ACV – Annual Contract Value

It identifies the average annual revenue per contract. Let’s say a customer has a 3-year contract for $30,000 with a business. The ACV is $10,000 per year.

ARR – Annual Recurring Revenue

Subscription and recurring businesses use this metric to identify how much revenue they make annually. Compared to ACV, which focuses on a single customer, ARR gives the total revenue generated from subscriptions throughout the year.

CAC – Customer Acquisition Cost

CAC means the amount you spend to get a customer covering marketing and sales costs, in comparison, to the amount the customer spends.

CLV – Customer Lifetime Value

This metric helps businesses predict the revenue they will receive through their relationship with the customer by evaluating the average customer lifespan and customer value. CLV also indicates how quickly businesses can recover their CAC and begin earning revenue.

MRR – Monthly Recurring Revenue

Small businesses prefer this method, especially, when they have month-to-month subscribers more than longer-term subscribers. It gives you a picture of how much revenue you have received through subscriptions (new, existing, lost).

Margin

It’s the amount the company makes after deducting all incurred costs from sales.

Mark-up

It’s the difference between the retail price and the cost price. This amount makes up for overhead costs along with profit for the business.

Sales Vocabulary Related to Business

B2B – Business to Business

The business’s primary customer/client is another business.

B2C – Business to Consumer

The business serves individual consumers through its products/services.

UVP – Unique Value Proposition

It identifies the unique aspects and benefits the business provides, setting it apart from its competitors.

Buyer Persona

It describes the business’s ideal customer based on factors such as characteristics, gender, and income, among other things.

Sales Jargon Revolving Around the Sales Force

ABC – Always Be Closing

It’s the motto sales reps live by, connecting with leads and prospects, and of course, closing the deals. At other times, especially, for inbound sales, it can mean, Always Be Connecting with prospects & customers.

Sales Cycle

This represents the steps, starting from the first point of contacting a prospect till closing the deal i.e. turning them into a customer.

Prospecting

When sales teams are researching potential customers, they are prospecting. From these, they will secure and nurture leads for the next step in their sales cycle.

Discovery Call

It’s when salespeople call leads to identify whether they fit the business’s buyer persona and will be worth investing further time and resources into.

Cold Calling

It’s calling prospects that have never interacted with the business before and don’t know about its products/services.

BANT – Budget, Authority, Need & Timeline

Sales teams use this framework to identify leads when focusing on small or medium businesses.

Social Selling

This happens when a sales rep approaches and acquires the customer through social messaging via social media.

Cross Selling

Selling similar products to the ones previously purchased by the customer is cross-selling.

Upselling

In sales lingo, upselling takes place when you convince the existing customer to buy a better and more expensive product or an upgraded version of the previous one.

Bluebird

The salesman vocabulary would be incomplete without this term. The bluebird is slang for lucrative sales that you come across out of the blues.

Quota

Quota is the given target number of deals, a sales rep is expected to achieve within a timeframe. It qualifies them for commission over their base salary.

Other sales marketing terms you are bound to come across include Smarketing – merging sales & marketing efforts to achieve business goals; Commission – incentive offered to encourage salespeople to sell more products/services; Customer Relationship Management (CRM) – a software that helps sales teams to store data about prospects and customers and identify opportunities and gaps for better sales.

The Last Word

It’s good to keep building your sales vocab and practicing with your peers and colleagues till you have brushed up your skills enough to use them with your superiors and customers. For example, when cold calling a prospect, you could throw in that your B2B company is the right fit for them as its UVP can effectively address their pain point. Sales terminology used in its proper context and sparingly can make you look professional while creating a long-lasting impression on all you come across in your field.