Awareness Buying Stage

A Subject Matter Expert (SME) is an individual with profound knowledge and authority in a particular area, topic, or industry.

Consultative selling is a sales approach where a salesperson acts as an advisor, focusing on understanding and solving a customer's specific needs.

Smarketing is the process of aligning your sales and marketing teams. This integration focuses on shared goals to improve lead quality and drive revenue.

Integration testing is a software testing phase where individual modules are combined and tested together to verify their interaction.

Objection handling in sales is the process of responding to a prospect's concerns about a product or service to move the deal forward.

Employee engagement is the emotional commitment an employee has to their organization, motivating them to contribute to the company's success.

A Digital Sales Room is a private online space where sellers share all relevant content with buyers to streamline the sales cycle.

Learn about business continuity, including understanding key components, steps to ensure continuity, common challenges, & best practices.

The purchase stage is when a buyer has decided on a solution and is ready to buy. They're comparing vendors to make a final choice.

Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) is a business model where companies sell products directly to customers, bypassing traditional retail middlemen.

Average Revenue per Account (ARPA) is the average revenue generated from each customer account, usually measured on a monthly or annual basis.

Subscription models are a business strategy where customers pay a recurring fee at regular intervals for access to a product or service.

Lightning Components is a UI framework for building dynamic web apps for mobile and desktop devices on the Salesforce Lightning Platform.

A vertical market is a niche where businesses cater to a specific industry or group of customers with specialized needs, not the mass market.

CRM data is the information businesses use to manage customer relationships. It covers contact details, purchase history, and communication logs.

A positioning statement is a concise description of your target market and how your product or service uniquely fills their needs.

On-Target Earnings (OTE) is a salesperson's total potential pay, combining base salary and commission for hitting their sales quota.

After-sales service is the support provided to customers after they've purchased a product. It includes things like warranties, training, or repairs.

AppExchange is Salesforce's cloud marketplace, offering a vast ecosystem of apps and expert services to extend Salesforce functionality.

User interaction is any action a user takes within a digital interface, like clicking a button, scrolling a page, or filling out a form.

A hard sell is an aggressive sales technique that uses high-pressure tactics to push a customer into making an immediate purchase decision.

Sales rep training is the process of equipping your sales team with the skills, knowledge, and tools to effectively sell and hit their targets.

ETL, short for Extract, Transform, Load, is a data integration process for moving raw data from various sources to a central data warehouse.

Customer buying signals are the actions, behaviors, or statements a prospect makes that indicate they are moving towards a purchase decision.

Learn about business intelligence, including key components of business intelligence, the role of BI in decision making, business intelligence tools and techniques.

Average Customer Life is the average time someone remains a customer. It's a key metric for predicting revenue and measuring customer loyalty.

"Smile and dial" is a high-volume sales tactic where reps make numerous cold calls from a list, often with little to no prior research.

Referral marketing is a strategy that incentivizes existing customers to recommend a company's products or services to their personal network.

Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) is the predictable, recurring income a business expects to receive each month from all active subscriptions.

Inside sales is a remote sales process where reps sell products or services via phone, email, and other digital tools instead of in person.

Video messaging involves sending short, personalized video clips to prospects or customers, replacing traditional text-based communication.

A value statement is a clear, concise declaration of the unique benefits a company provides to its customers, outlining its core purpose.

Content syndication is the process of republishing your web content on third-party sites to reach a much wider audience.

Low-hanging fruit are the most obvious and easy-to-tackle tasks or goals that provide a quick, valuable return for minimal effort.

A Point of Contact (POC) is the designated individual or department that serves as the main hub for information and communication on a matter.

Customer loyalty is a customer’s devotion to a brand, shown by their repeat purchases and engagement, driven by positive experiences and trust.

Contract management is the process of creating, executing, and analyzing contracts to maximize performance and minimize financial risk.

A nurture campaign is a series of automated messages designed to build relationships with potential customers and guide them toward a purchase.

Functional testing verifies that software performs its intended functions as specified in the requirements, ensuring it works as users expect.

Network monitoring is the continuous process of tracking a computer network's performance and health to detect and resolve issues proactively.

Learn about big data, including understanding big data characteristics, benefits of leveraging big data, & challenges in managing big data.

Sales operations analytics is the practice of analyzing sales data to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the entire sales process.

Voice broadcasting is an automated system that delivers a pre-recorded voice message to a large list of phone numbers simultaneously.

Revenue intelligence is the process of collecting and analyzing customer data to provide insights that help sales teams make smarter decisions.

A use case is a detailed description of how a user interacts with a system to achieve a specific goal, outlining the steps from start to finish.

Deal flow refers to the stream of business proposals and investment opportunities that a company or investor receives.

A tire-kicker is a prospect who shows interest in a product but has no intention of buying, wasting a salesperson's time and resources.

Lead generation software helps businesses automate finding and capturing potential customers' contact information to build sales pipelines.

Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI) measures the revenue generated by a marketing campaign relative to the cost of that campaign.

Site retargeting is a marketing strategy that shows ads to people who have previously visited your website but left without converting.

Sales funnel metrics are key data points that track how effectively you're moving potential customers from awareness to a final purchase.

Day Sales Outstanding (DSO) is a financial ratio that shows the average number of days it takes for a company to receive payment for a sale.

A sales script is a pre-written guide of talking points that helps salespeople navigate conversations with potential customers.

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is an automated phone system that uses voice and keypad inputs to interact with callers and route their calls.

Target Account Selling is a focused sales strategy where teams identify and pursue a specific list of high-value accounts.

Learn about business intelligence in marketing, including the role of data in marketing BI, key components of marketing BI, & marketing BI vs. market research.

Serviceable Addressable Market (SAM) is the portion of the market your business can realistically serve with its current products and sales channels.

CRM hygiene involves regularly cleaning and updating your customer data to ensure your CRM system remains a powerful and reliable tool.

The 80/20 rule, or Pareto Principle, posits that 80% of results come from just 20% of the effort. It's a key concept for prioritization.

Salesforce Object Query Language (SOQL) is a query language used to search your organization's Salesforce data for specific information.

Fulfillment logistics is the entire process of getting an order to a customer, from storing inventory to picking, packing, and final shipment.

Chatbots are AI-powered programs that simulate human conversation. They interact with users via text or voice, typically for customer support.

Revenue forecasting is the process of estimating a company's future revenue, using historical data and market trends to guide strategic planning.

A cloud-based CRM is a customer relationship management tool hosted online, letting teams access and manage customer data from anywhere.

Lead enrichment tools are platforms that automatically add missing data to your leads, like contact info, firmographics, and buying signals.

A cold email is an initial outreach sent to a potential customer with whom you've had no prior contact, aiming to introduce your business.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a digital marketing strategy that uses paid tactics to increase a website's visibility in search engine results.

A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system is a tool that centralizes customer data to help manage interactions and nurture relationships.

Total Audience Measurement (TAM) provides a holistic view of content consumption, tracking viewership across all platforms and devices.

A sales stack is the suite of tech tools—from CRMs to prospecting software—that sales reps use to close deals faster and more efficiently.

Contact discovery is the process of finding accurate contact details for potential leads, including names, emails, phone numbers, and job titles.

Intent leads are prospects who show buying signals through their online actions, indicating they're actively looking to make a purchase.

A/B testing is a method of comparing two versions of something, like a webpage or email, to determine which one performs better with your audience.

Sales engagement is the sum of all interactions between a seller and a prospect, aimed at building a relationship and moving a deal forward.

A channel partner is a company that works with a manufacturer or producer to market and sell their products, software, or services to customers.

A spiff is a short-term sales incentive, often a cash bonus, paid directly to a salesperson for selling a specific product or service.

Sales pipeline management is the process of organizing, tracking, and managing potential deals through every stage of your sales funnel.

Customer journey mapping is the process of creating a visual story of your customers' interactions with your brand across all touchpoints.

A sales playbook is a guide that outlines your sales process, best practices, and tools to help reps sell more efficiently and consistently.

Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a metric measuring customer loyalty by asking how likely they are to recommend your company or product to others.

Guided selling simplifies complex sales by giving reps step-by-step instructions and data-driven recommendations to close deals faster.

Account mapping is comparing your customer list with a partner's to find common prospects and unlock new sales opportunities.

Sales Operations, or Sales Ops, streamlines sales processes, manages tools, and analyzes data to help sales teams sell more effectively.

A go-to-market (GTM) strategy is an action plan that outlines how a company will reach target customers and achieve a competitive advantage.

No Cold Calls is a sales strategy that replaces unsolicited calls with warm outreach to prospects who have already demonstrated interest.

An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is a software application that manages your entire hiring and recruitment process from a single dashboard.

Freemium is a business model offering a product's basic features for free, while charging for advanced or supplemental features.

The Target Buying Stage identifies a prospect's position in the buying journey, from initial awareness to the final decision to purchase.

LinkedIn InMail messages are a premium feature that lets you directly message any LinkedIn member, even if you're not connected to them.

Channel sales is an indirect sales model where a company leverages third-party partners, such as resellers or affiliates, to sell its products.

Cybersecurity is the practice of protecting computer systems, networks, and data from digital attacks, theft, and unauthorized access.

OAuth is an open standard for access delegation. It lets you grant apps access to your data on other services without sharing your password.

Learn about B2C2B, including how B2C2B transforms sales, key strategies for B2C2B success, & differences between B2C2B and B2B2C.

Docker is a tool that packages applications and their dependencies into isolated environments called containers for easy deployment and scaling.

“End of Quarter” (EOQ) refers to the final weeks of a business quarter when sales teams rush to meet quotas, often leading to a flurry of deals.

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is a focused B2B strategy where marketing and sales collaborate to target and convert high-value accounts.

Sales enablement technology refers to software and tools that equip sales teams with the resources they need to close more deals efficiently.

Hadoop is an open-source framework designed for the distributed storage and processing of extremely large data sets across clusters of computers.

SPIN selling is a sales technique using a sequence of questions—Situation, Problem, Implication, Need-Payoff—to uncover a buyer's needs.

MOFU, or Middle of the Funnel, is the crucial evaluation stage in the buyer's journey where leads compare solutions to their known problem.