Glossary of Sales Terms that Founders Need to Know
What is a Lead
A lead is an organization or an individual that may have an interest in your product or service. Leads are often divided into three categories: Marketing generated (“MQL” or Marketing Qualified Lead) and Sales generated (“SQL” or Sales Qualified Lead).
There are several types of leads and each one requires a different approach to nurture it.
What is a Cold Prospect
A person who has not shown any previous interest in your product or service is defined as a cold lead. They may not have heard of your company and must be nurtured to become a warm lead.
The goal is to turn as many cold prospects into leads as possible. The most effective time to call a cold lead is between 10 am and 4 pm.
What is a Warm Lead
A warm lead will have shown some interest in your company. This may be via social media, a mailing list, or a referral. This type of lead will already be aware of your business and your offering.
A warm lead may be someone who signed up for an appointment or demo, but has not been vetted as a qualified lead yet.
What is a Qualified Lead
A qualified lead will have expressed their interest in your company and has a problem that you can solve. They can be qualified by the BANT formula (budget, authority, need and time). A qualified lead is much more likely to become a customer.
The BANT formula is a useful tool for identifying qualified leads.
What is an Opportunity
An opportunity represents a deal that is of value or has a high probability of closing. To become an opportunity, a lead will have been qualified and assessed as a good fit, and they will be in touch with you.
Incorrectly identifying a lead as an opportunity can be a drain on a company’s time and resources.
What is Sales Outreach
Sales outreach is the practice of re-engaging with leads or previous customers who are cold but have the potential to become active again. Sales outreach can be conducted via platforms including email, phone, and social media.
Successful sales outreach often requires collaboration between sales and marketing.
What is an MQL
A marketing qualified lead (MLQ) is a lead that has shown an interest in a brand’s marketing efforts, and is, therefore, more likely to convert into a customer. MQL uses data such as web pages that have been visited and content that has been downloaded.
Each MQL interaction is assigned a lead score which determines where the visitor is in the sales funnel.
What is a SQL
A sales qualified lead (SQL) is a potential customer that has been identified by the sales team as a viable prospect. Unlike an MQL, an SQL won’t have expressed a deep interest in your offering but will have shown intent.
An SQL may have questions about your service and how it might be a good fit for them.
What is a PQL
This is a lesser known term, but a useful one to know if your offering includes a freemium offering or free trial to expand into new accounts. A product qualified lead (PQL) is an individual or organization that has already experienced value from your product or service. This might be in the form of a free trial or a freemium model.
A PQL can be easier to convert because they are already aware of the value your business is offering.
What is a CRM
Okay… This is as basic as it gets, but here goes: A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool manages customer relations. A CRM helps sales teams to keep interactions organized while streamlining processes to make them more efficient.
A CRM should have the ability to automate sales and marketing efforts as well as customer support.
What is Lead Generation
Lead generation is the process of identifying and nurturing individuals or organizations with the intention of turning them into potential customers for your business. It is widely agreed that lead generation is the most important element of a marketing plan.
Measuring the output of a lead generation service requires clear targets and robust KPIs.
What is Search Marketing
When traffic and visibility are gained through search engines, it is referred to as search marketing. This could be via search engine optimization (SEO), paid search listings or organic reach.
Search marketing is critical to companies that want to increase their reach and grow their revenue.
What is an SDR
A sales development representative (SDR) is a salesperson that is solely focused on outbound prospecting. An SDR will work on lead generation and lead qualification rather than closing deals.
A good SDR will explore new customer profiles and discover new channels to constantly deliver quality leads.
There are many synonyms for SDR, including:
•New Business Developer
•Lead Generation Representative
•Account development Representative
•Partnership Coordinator
All of this, of course, is simply a starting point for your company.
If you’d like to review your team’s lead generation, get personalized help here.
