Here is an alphabetized glossary of key sales terms to support your sales conversations:​

1. Account executive - Sales representative responsible for managing major or key customer accounts.
2. Account management - Managing ongoing customer relationships and maximizing sales opportunities with existing accounts.
3. Action plan - Specific steps mapped out to achieve a sales goal or convert a prospect.
4. Advertising - Paid public promotion of a product or brand to create awareness and interest.
5. Appointment setting - Scheduling sales meetings, calls, or presentations between a sales rep and a prospect.
6. Attrition - The natural rate at which customers stop using a product or service over time. Average order value - The average amount that a customer spends per order. Higher AOVs boost sales revenues.
7. B2B - Business-to-business sales between companies rather than between a company and individual consumers.
8. Bait and switch - An unethical tactic of advertising a low-priced product to attract customers but trying to switch them to a higher priced option.
9. Bandwidth - The amount of time, resources and focus a salesperson has available to dedicate to selling.
10. Benchmark - A standard sales performance goal or quota used to evaluate reps. Benchmarks help forecast and measure results.
11. Call reluctance - Hesitancy or fear about making sales calls, usually due to rejection anxiety. Channel sales - Selling to customers indirectly through resellers, retailers, affiliates and distribution partners.
12. Churn rate - The rate at which customers stop subscribing to a service or purchasing from a company over a period of time.
13. Close - The final stage of the selling process when a prospect makes a commitment to buy the product or service.
14. Closing techniques - Strategies salespeople use to successfully convert prospects into buyers and finalize the sale.
15. Closing ratio - The number of deals closed compared to the number of prospects pitched. Higher ratios indicate better conversion rates.
16. Cold calling - Phoning prospective customers without an introduction or appointment to generate new leads.
17. Commission - Compensation given to salespeople based on a percentage of their sales.
18. Commissions motivate reps to sell more.
19. Competitive analysis - Research into competitors' offerings, pricing, and marketing to position against them more effectively.
20. Consultative selling - Collaborating with prospects to understand their needs and craft customized solutions. The salesperson acts as an expert consultant.
21. Consumer sales - Selling to individual customers rather than to businesses. Requires understanding consumer psychology.
22. Conversion rate - The percentage of prospects that become buyers. Higher conversion rates grow revenues.
23. Cross-selling - Selling complementary products to current customers to increase sales. For example, suggesting batteries with an electronic purchase.
24. Customer acquisition cost - The total cost involved in acquiring a new customer from initial marketing spend to final sale. Lower CACs improve profitability.
25. Customer lifetime value - Projected revenue a customer will generate during their entire relationship with a company. Higher CLVs indicate more valuable customers.
26. Customer relationship management (CRM) - Systems and processes used for recording interactions and managing relationships with prospects and customers. CRM systems store client data to help maximize sales opportunities.
27. Customer retention - Repeated sales and loyalty from existing customers. Customer retention costs less than acquiring new customers.
28. Customer service - Assistance provided to customers before, during and after purchase to enhance the buying experience and build loyalty.
29. Deal registration - Formal programs that reward sales reps who develop new customer opportunities with protection or commissions on the deal.
30. Demand generation - Marketing programs and campaigns aimed at identifying and cultivating new prospective buyers.
31. Distributor - A third-party company that purchases, stores and sells manufacturer's products to retailers or directly to customers.
32. Email marketing - Using email campaigns to advertise products and generate sales leads.
33. Forecast - An estimate or projection of expected sales results, typically for the upcoming weeks or months.
34. Growth hacking - Using innovative, data-driven marketing techniques to acquire customers and accelerate growth. Focuses on scalability.
35. Hunters - Sales reps who aggressively prospect for new business and acquire new accounts.
36. Inbound sales - When potential customers seek out a company and its sales team first to make a purchase. The opposite of outbound sales.
37. Industry knowledge - Understanding the products, customers, supply chain, competitive landscape and trends in one's target industry.
38. Inside sales - Sales activities conducted over the phone, email, online or via video calls rather than through field reps. Inside sales is lower cost.
39. Key account management - Strategic focus on the top set of major customers that drive a large portion of sales revenue.
40. Lead qualification - Vetting leads to evaluate if they are ready to buy or strong sales prospects based on characteristics like budget, need and timeline.
41. Lead scoring - Rating and prioritizing leads based on defined criteria to focus sales efforts on those most likely to convert to opportunities.
42. Lifetime value - The total revenue a customer is projected to generate during their relationship with a company. LTV helps determine acquisition investment and retention strategy.
43. Loss leader - Selling a product or service below cost to attract new customers with the aim of selling additional higher profit items in the future.
44. Margin - The profit made on a product or service after subtracting costs. Higher margins mean greater profitability.
45. Market segmentation - Dividing customers into groups that share common characteristics, priorities and buying behaviors. Segmentation enables more targeted marketing and sales approaches.
46. Market share - The percentage of total market sales that a company generates for a given product or service. Higher market share indicates greater competitiveness.
47. Merchandising - Marketing activities focused on showcasing and selling products in retail environments. Store displays, signage, demos and promotions are examples.
48. New business development - Initiatives for attracting new customers and expanding into new markets or segments.
49. Objection handling - Responding to customer concerns, doubts or reasons for not buying to overcome barriers to closing the sale.
50. Onboarding - Training and preparation provided to new sales hires to equip them to meet performance expectations.
51. Outbound sales - Sales reps proactively initiating contact with potential customers also known as cold calling. The opposite of inbound sales.
52. Owner - Sales reps responsible for developing their own leads and managing the sales process from end-to-end with minimal supervision.
53. Partnership - A formal collaborative relationship between companies that provides sales access or distribution for mutually beneficial revenue growth.
54. Persona - Detailed profiles representing key customer segments to understand their demographics, priorities, challenges and motivations to enable better targeting.
55. Pipeline - The number of prospective deals at various stages in the sales process from lead to close. Stronger pipelines signal future growth.
56. Presentations - Structured overviews of products, services and tailored solutions given by sales reps to persuade prospects.
57. Primary research - Collecting original sales data directly from the source through surveys, interviews, focus groups, field trials, and more.
58. Product knowledge - Understanding the features, advantages, benefits, pricing, options and applications for the products one sells. Enable reps to match solutions to needs.
59. Profit margin - The percentage of profit from each unit sold after accounting for all expenses. Wider margins mean greater profitability.
60. Prospect - A potential customer identified through lead generation efforts as likely to purchase. Prospects still need to be qualified before advancing in the sales process.
61. Prospecting - The process of identifying, contacting and vetting new potential customers also known as lead generation.
62. Qualified lead - A prospect that fits the ideal customer profile and has expressed interest, ability and readiness to make a purchase. Qualified leads justify investing sales time.
63. Quota - Minimum sales goals assigned to reps for a given period. Quotas motivate performance and help forecast revenues.
64. Referral - A new sales lead provided voluntarily by an existing satisfied customer to a friend or colleague. Referrals require less prospecting effort to gain.
65. Relationship selling - Building ongoing, loyal associations with customers rather than singular transactions. Focuses on mutual value over time.
66. Renewal - Extending an existing contract or subscription for continued sales. Renewals are more efficient than acquiring new customers.
67. Request for proposal (RFP) - Formal invitation for suppliers to bid on supplying products or services. Usually includes detailed specifications the offers must meet.
68. Sales cycle - The process a prospect goes through from initial awareness to becoming a customer. It includes stages like prospecting, developing, presenting, handling objections and closing.
69. Sales efficiency - Revenue generated by a sales rep per the time invested. Higher efficiency improves productivity and return on investment.
70. Sales funnel - Model of the customer journey from awareness to interest, consideration, evaluation and ultimately purchase. Used to identify profitable stages to invest in.
71. Sales process - The structured sequence of stages and best practices followed from lead to close to win new business.
72. Sales promotion - Marketing tactics like discounts, coupons, contests used to incentivize immediate sales.
73. Sales quota - Minimum sales volume or revenue that a rep is expected to generate within a given timeframe. Quotas are benchmarks for performance.
74. Sales strategy - The integrated plan of action designed to achieve sales objectives. Sales strategies drive resource allocation, hiring and growth initiatives.
75. Sales territory - Geographic region or segment of designated customers assigned to a sales team.