Glossary

Two hundred questions, plainly answered.

The terms behind "We redesign how marketing, sales, RevOps, data and AI work together, then execute it with you." Grouped by subject, and every answer has its own address.

Strategy and Go-to-Market

20 terms

What is B2B marketing?: It is marketing aimed at businesses rather than consumers. Sales cycles are longer, several people join each decision, and content focuses on ROI and risk reduction.
What is a go-to-market (GTM) strategy?: It is the plan for how you reach target buyers and win revenue. It covers who you sell to, your message, your channels and your pricing.
What is an ideal customer profile (ICP)?: It describes the type of company that gets the most value from your product and is most profitable for you. It uses firmographics (company size, industry, region) and behaviours.
What is a buyer persona?: It is a profile of a person in the buying group, built from interviews and data. It covers their goals, objections and where they get information.
ICP vs buyer persona: what's the difference?: The ICP describes the company. The persona describes the individual inside it. You need both to target accounts and tailor messages.
What is a total addressable market (TAM)?: It is the total revenue available if you won every possible customer. Leaders use it to size opportunity and set growth targets.
What are SAM and SOM?: SAM (serviceable available market) is the part of TAM you can actually reach. SOM (serviceable obtainable market) is the share you can realistically win in the near term.
What is positioning?: It is how you want buyers to see you versus alternatives. Strong positioning states who you serve, what problem you solve and why you're different.
What is a value proposition?: It is a clear statement of the benefit customers get and why they should choose you. Keep it specific and measurable.
What is a messaging framework?: It is a document that organises your core claims, proof points and tone by audience. It keeps marketing, sales and customer success consistent.
What is product-led growth (PLG)?: It is a model where the product itself drives sign-ups and upgrades, often through free trials. It works best when users can see value quickly without a sales call.
What is sales-led growth?: Sales reps drive most acquisition through outreach, demos and negotiation. It suits complex, high-value deals.
What is a hybrid GTM motion?: It combines self-serve or product-led entry with sales teams for larger accounts. Many B2B firms use it to serve both small and enterprise buyers.
What is market segmentation?: It means splitting your market into groups with shared needs. Each group gets tailored offers, which improves conversion.
What is competitive analysis?: It is the structured review of rivals' products, pricing, messaging and strengths. Use it to find gaps you can own.
What is a battlecard?: It is a one-page sales aid on how to position against a specific competitor. It lists strengths, weaknesses, common objections and responses.
What is a customer journey map?: It is a visual of every step a buyer takes from awareness to renewal. It shows where buyers get stuck or drop off.
What is the B2B buying committee?: It is the group of people (often 6 to 10) who influence a purchase. Typical roles include champion, economic buyer, user and blocker.
What is a champion in B2B sales?: An internal advocate who wants your solution to win. Arm them with proof and materials they can share with their own team.
What is the dark funnel?: It is buyer activity you can't track, such as private chats, peer recommendations and AI assistants. It explains why some wins show no clear source.

Revenue Operations (RevOps) and Alignment

20 terms

What is RevOps?: Revenue operations aligns marketing, sales and customer success under shared data, processes and goals. The aim is predictable, efficient revenue.
RevOps vs sales ops vs marketing ops?: Sales ops and marketing ops each serve one team. RevOps covers the full revenue lifecycle and owns the shared data, tools and processes across all teams.
When should a company invest in RevOps?: Consider it when handoffs break, reports disagree or tool sprawl slows teams. It often becomes critical between roughly 20 and 50 revenue staff.
Who should RevOps report to?: Usually the CRO, COO or CEO. Reporting to a single functional head can bias priorities.
What does a RevOps leader do?: They manage lead-to-renewal processes, systems, data and forecasting. They also run reporting and, increasingly, governance of AI tools.
What is sales and marketing alignment?: It means both teams share definitions, goals and accountability for pipeline and revenue. The common tools are a shared ICP, a service-level agreement and joint reviews.
What is a sales and marketing SLA?: It is a written agreement on lead quality and volume from marketing and on follow-up speed and effort from sales. It reduces blame between teams.
What is the revenue bow-tie model?: It extends the funnel to include post-sale stages such as onboarding, adoption, renewal and expansion. It treats retention as equal to acquisition.
What is a tech stack audit?: It is a review of all tools, their cost, usage and overlap. It finds redundancy and integration gaps.
What is a single source of truth?: It is one trusted system where key customer and revenue data lives. Teams then stop arguing over whose numbers are right.
What is data hygiene?: It is the routine of keeping records accurate, complete and de-duplicated. Poor hygiene undermines forecasting, routing and AI.
What is lead-to-account matching?: It links individual leads to the right company record. It lets teams run account-based plays and avoid duplicate outreach.
What is lead routing?: It is the rules that send each new lead to the right rep. Fast, accurate routing improves response time and conversion.
What is lifecycle stage?: It is a label for where a contact sits, such as subscriber, lead, MQL, SQL, opportunity or customer. Clear definitions prevent handoff confusion.
What is a revenue forecast?: It is a prediction of future revenue based on pipeline, historical conversion and deal stages. Accuracy depends on consistent stage definitions.
What is pipeline coverage?: It is open pipeline value divided by the sales target. Many teams aim for 3x to 4x, but the right ratio depends on your win rate.
What is pipeline velocity?: It measures how fast deals generate revenue: opportunities × deal value × win rate ÷ sales cycle length. Raising any input, or shortening the cycle, increases it.
What is a revenue dashboard?: It is a single view of key metrics such as pipeline, conversion and forecast. Good ones show a few decision-ready numbers, not dozens.
What is conversational analytics?: It lets you ask questions of your data in plain language and get answers instantly. It reduces reliance on analysts for routine reports.
What is revenue intelligence?: It is software that analyses calls, emails and CRM activity to show deal risk and forecast. It turns activity data into guidance.

AI in Marketing and Sales

30 terms

How is AI used in B2B marketing?: Common uses are content drafting, campaign optimisation, personalisation, persona refinement and data analysis. Humans should still review output for accuracy and brand fit.
How is AI used in B2B sales?: Main uses are account research, email drafting, call summaries, coaching and forecasting. Next-best-action guidance is a growing area.
What is generative AI?: It is AI that creates new text, images or code from prompts. In marketing, it drafts copy, summaries and variations.
What is an AI agent?: It is software that can plan and carry out multi-step tasks, such as researching an account and updating the CRM. It acts with some autonomy, so it needs oversight.
What is agentic AI?: It describes systems of AI agents that work toward goals with limited human input. In revenue teams, agents may qualify inbound leads or flag renewal risk.
How do we start with AI adoption?: Pick one high-value process, fix the process first, then add the tool. Invest in training as much as technology.
How do we measure AI ROI?: Compare cycle times, manual hours saved, forecast accuracy and conversion before and after rollout. Attribute changes to specific tools and use cases.
Should we build or buy AI tools?: Buy for common workflows and build only where your proprietary data gives an edge. One approach is to own your intelligence and buy your workflows.
What is AI governance?: It is the set of rules for how AI tools are chosen, used and monitored. It covers data privacy, accuracy checks and accountability.
What is AI-guided selling?: It uses data to suggest the next best action for each deal or account. It helps reps prioritise.
What is conversation intelligence?: It records and analyses sales calls to find patterns, objections and coaching moments. Tools like Gong are examples.
What is AI lead scoring?: A model ranks leads by likelihood to buy using behaviour and fit data. It needs clean historical data to work well.
What is predictive analytics?: It uses past data and statistics to forecast outcomes such as churn or deal closure. It is only as good as the data behind it.
What is AI personalisation?: It tailors content, emails or ads to an individual or account at scale. It should stay relevant, not creepy.
What is a large language model (LLM)?: It is an AI model trained on large amounts of text to understand and generate language. ChatGPT and Gemini are built on LLMs.
What is a prompt?: It is the instruction you give an AI tool. Clear context, role and format produce better results.
What is prompt engineering?: It is the craft of writing prompts to get consistent, high-quality outputs. Teams often store the best ones in shared libraries.
What is context engineering?: It is giving AI the right data, definitions and rules so its answers are reliable. Leaders are focusing on it because inconsistent data across systems limits AI results.
What is an AI copilot?: It is an assistant inside your tools that helps with tasks such as drafting or summarising. A person stays in control.
What is AI readiness?: It is how prepared your data, processes, skills and governance are for AI. Weak data is the most common gap.
What are AI hallucinations?: They are confident but false AI outputs. Review claims, numbers and sources before publishing.
Will AI replace salespeople or marketers?: AI is automating routine tasks, but relationship building and judgment remain human. Roles are shifting toward oversight and strategy.
What is AI SDR?: An AI tool that handles prospecting outreach and follow-up. Results vary, so test quality and brand risk before scaling.
What is workflow automation?: It uses rules or AI to run repetitive steps without manual work. Examples are lead routing, task creation and email sequences.
What is a RevOps AI use case?: Typical cases are forecasting, data enrichment, handoff summaries and churn alerts. Start with those that save clear time.
How do we use AI without disrupting our sales process?: Introduce it into one step at a time and keep the existing process as the baseline. Also ask where AI already shapes buyers before they reach sales.
What is shadow AI?: It is employees using unapproved AI tools. It creates data-security and compliance risks, so set clear policies.
What is data enrichment?: It adds missing details, such as job title or company size, to records from external sources. Tools like Clay are used for it.
What is a data clean room?: It is a secure space where parties analyse combined data without exposing raw records. It supports privacy-safe measurement.
What is synthetic data?: It is artificial data that mimics real data patterns. It is used for testing when real data is restricted.

Search, AI Search and Content

30 terms

What is SEO?: Search engine optimisation improves your visibility in organic search results. It covers content, technical health and authority.
What is AI search?: It is search where tools like ChatGPT, Copilot and Gemini give direct answers and vendor recommendations. Buyers use them to shortlist and compare.
What is AEO (answer engine optimisation)?: It is making sure your brand appears, and is described accurately, in AI-generated answers. It relies on clear, structured, credible content.
What is GEO (generative engine optimisation)?: It is a term for optimising content to be cited by generative AI tools. In practice it overlaps with AEO and good SEO.
What is LLM discoverability?: It is how easily AI models can find and cite your content. Clear structure, consistent facts and third-party mentions help.
How do we track AI visibility?: Check whether AI tools recommend your brand, which competitors rank ahead, and which buyer questions trigger rivals. Repeat the tests on a schedule.
What is keyword research?: It finds the words buyers use and how competitive they are. In B2B, map keywords to funnel stages.
What is search intent?: It is the goal behind a search: learn, compare or buy. Content must match the intent to rank and convert.
What are high-intent keywords?: They signal readiness to buy, such as "pricing," "demo" or "alternative". They often have lower volume but higher value.
What is keyword difficulty?: It is a score of how hard it is to rank for a term. Lower-authority sites should start with easier keywords.
What is on-page SEO?: It optimises elements on a page, such as titles, headings and internal links. It helps search engines understand the page.
What is technical SEO?: It ensures a site can be crawled and indexed, with fast speed and a clean structure. Problems here block even great content.
What is off-page SEO?: It covers signals from outside your site, mainly backlinks and brand mentions. Quality matters more than quantity.
What is a backlink?: It is a link from another site to yours. Search engines treat links from trusted sites as endorsements.
What is E-E-A-T?: Experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness are the quality signals Google's raters look for. Show real authors, evidence and credentials.
What is topical authority?: It is being seen as a leading source on a subject by covering it in depth. Build it with connected content clusters.
What is a content cluster?: It is a main "pillar" page linked to related subtopic pages. It strengthens relevance and internal linking.
What is content marketing?: It is creating useful content to attract and educate buyers. Formats include articles, guides, videos and webinars.
What is a content strategy?: It is the plan for what to publish, for whom, where and why. It ties content to business goals and funnel stages.
What is thought leadership?: It is original insight that builds credibility with senior buyers. It works best when based on real data or experience.
What is gated vs ungated content?: Gated content requires a form before access. Ungated content is free to read and builds trust and reach.
What is a lead magnet?: It is a valuable resource offered in exchange for contact details. Examples include templates, benchmarks and checklists.
What is a content audit?: It is a review of existing content to decide what to keep, update or remove. Updating often beats creating new pages.
What is content repurposing?: It turns one asset into several formats, such as a webinar becoming clips and an article. It saves time and extends reach.
What is a case study?: It is a customer story showing the problem, solution and results. It is a strong proof point for late-stage buyers.
What is user-generated content?: It is content created by customers, such as reviews and testimonials. It adds social proof.
What is zero-click search?: It is when users get answers on the results page without visiting a site. It reduces clicks, so brand presence matters more.
What is schema markup?: It is code that helps search engines and AI understand page content. It can enable rich results.
What is a featured snippet?: It is a highlighted answer at the top of search results. Short, direct answers under clear headings can win it.
What is local vs global SEO?: Local SEO targets nearby searches. Global or international SEO targets multiple countries and languages, with attention to hreflang tags and localisation.

Demand Generation and Lead Generation

25 terms

What is demand generation?: It builds awareness and interest among target buyers. It covers the whole programme, not just form fills.
Demand gen vs lead gen?: Demand generation creates interest in your category. Lead generation captures contact details from interested people.
What is a lead?: It is a person or company that has shown interest or fits your ICP. Not all leads are ready to buy.
What is an MQL?: A marketing qualified lead meets marketing's criteria for interest and fit. Criteria should be agreed with sales.
What is an SQL?: A sales qualified lead has been vetted by sales as a real opportunity. It usually triggers a sales conversation.
What is an SAL?: A sales accepted lead is one sales agrees to work. It formalises the handoff from marketing.
What is a PQL?: A product qualified lead is a user whose product behaviour shows buying intent. It is common in PLG.
What is lead qualification?: It is checking whether a lead fits your ICP and has need, budget and timing. Frameworks like BANT or MEDDICC guide this.
What is lead scoring?: It assigns points for fit and behaviour to rank leads. Review the model regularly against closed deals.
What is lead nurturing?: It is building relationships with leads over time through relevant content and follow-up. It keeps you in mind until they are ready to buy.
What is lead velocity rate?: It measures month-over-month growth in qualified leads. It is an early indicator of future revenue.
What is cost per lead (CPL)?: It is marketing spend divided by leads generated. Pair it with lead quality, since cheap leads may not close.
What is an intent signal?: It is a behaviour showing buying interest, such as researching a topic or visiting pricing pages. It helps prioritise outreach.
What is intent data?: It is data on what companies are researching online. Platforms like 6sense and Demandbase provide it.
What is a webinar strategy?: It means using live or on-demand sessions to educate and capture leads. Promote them early and follow up fast.
What is event marketing?: It uses trade shows, conferences and hosted events to meet buyers. Plan pre-event outreach and post-event follow-up.
What is a landing page?: It is a standalone page built for one action, such as signing up. Remove distractions and keep one clear call to action.
What is a call to action (CTA)?: It is the instruction that tells visitors what to do next. Be specific, such as "Book a demo."
What is a form conversion rate?: It is the share of visitors who complete a form. Fewer fields usually help, but balance this with lead quality.
What is B2B lead generation?: It is attracting and capturing business prospects through content, ads, outbound and events. The best programmes use several channels.
What is outbound marketing?: It means reaching out to prospects directly, for example through cold email or calls. It targets accounts you choose.
What is inbound marketing?: It attracts buyers through useful content and search. Prospects come to you, so it builds trust over time.
What is a referral program?: It rewards customers or partners for introducing new business. Referred leads often convert better.
What is partner marketing?: It means co-marketing with complementary companies. It expands reach with shared audiences.
What is co-marketing?: Two brands create joint content or campaigns. Both share costs and audiences.

Account-Based Marketing and Paid Channels

15 terms

What is account-based marketing (ABM)?: It focuses marketing and sales on a chosen list of high-value accounts. Each gets tailored content and outreach.
ABM vs traditional demand gen?: ABM starts with target accounts and personalises. Traditional demand gen casts a wider net to attract anyone who fits.
What are ABM tiers?: One-to-one (strategic), one-to-few (clusters) and one-to-many (programmatic). Higher tiers get more customisation and budget.
What is a target account list?: It is the named companies you want to win. Build it from ICP fit and intent.
What is account scoring?: It ranks accounts by fit and engagement. It guides where to spend effort.
What is account-based advertising?: It shows ads only to people at target accounts. It supports ABM awareness.
What is LinkedIn advertising for B2B?: It targets by job title, company and industry. It costs more per click than other networks but reaches decision makers.
What is Google Ads for B2B?: Search ads capture people actively looking for solutions. Focus on high-intent keywords and track pipeline, not just clicks.
What is paid social?: It is advertising on social platforms. B2B teams use it for awareness, retargeting and event promotion.
What is retargeting?: It shows ads to people who already visited your site. It reminds them and moves them toward action.
What is programmatic advertising?: It is automated buying of ad placements using data. It enables precise audience targeting at scale.
What is a demand-side platform (DSP)?: It is software that lets advertisers buy ad space across many sites. It automates bidding.
What is cost per click (CPC)?: It is what you pay each time someone clicks an ad. High CPCs often signal commercial value.
What is return on ad spend (ROAS)?: It is revenue from ads divided by ad cost. B2B teams should tie it to pipeline due to long sales cycles.
What is influencer marketing in B2B?: It involves industry experts or creators who share your message. Trust and relevance matter more than follower count.

Sales Process and Enablement

30 terms

What is a sales funnel?: It is the stages a buyer passes through from awareness to purchase. It helps you track conversion at each step.
What is a sales pipeline?: It is a view of active deals by stage. Managers use it to forecast and coach.
What is a sales cycle?: It is the time from first contact to closed deal. B2B cycles can range from weeks to over a year.
What is a sales methodology?: It is a repeatable approach to selling, such as MEDDICC, Challenger or SPIN. It gives teams a common language.
What is MEDDICC?: It is a qualification framework covering metrics, economic buyer, decision criteria, decision process, identified pain and champion (the final C is competition). It is used in complex enterprise deals.
What is BANT?: It is a simple qualification checklist: budget, authority, need and timeline. It is quick but can miss complex buying dynamics.
What is the Challenger sale?: It is an approach where reps teach buyers new insight and guide the decision. It suits situations where buyers don't know what they need.
What is solution selling?: It focuses on solving a customer's specific problem rather than pitching features. It starts with discovery.
What is consultative selling?: The rep acts as an advisor, asking questions and recommending fit. It builds trust.
What is sales enablement?: It gives sellers the content, training and tools to close deals. It links marketing and sales.
What is a sales playbook?: It is a guide to how to sell, covering personas, messaging, objections and steps. New hires ramp faster with one.
What is sales coaching?: It is ongoing feedback to improve rep skills. AI call analysis can highlight coachable moments.
What is a discovery call?: It is a first conversation to understand needs and fit. Ask open questions and listen more than you pitch.
What is a sales demo?: It is a product walkthrough tailored to the buyer's needs. Show outcomes, not every feature.
What is a proof of concept (POC)?: It is a small trial that tests whether your solution works for the buyer. Set success criteria upfront.
What is a request for proposal (RFP)?: It is a formal document buyers use to compare vendors. Responding well takes preparation and a template library.
What is a proposal vs a quote?: A proposal explains the solution and value. A quote lists prices and terms.
What is objection handling?: It is responding to buyer concerns, such as price or timing. Acknowledge, clarify and offer evidence.
What is multi-threading?: It means building relationships with several stakeholders in an account. It reduces deal risk if your champion leaves.
What is a mutual action plan?: It is a shared timeline of steps between buyer and seller to reach a decision. It keeps deals moving.
What is a sales handoff?: It is the transfer of context from marketing or sales to the next team. Good handoffs include pain points, stakeholders and commitments.
What is cold outreach?: It means contacting prospects who don't know you. Relevance and research improve response.
What is social selling?: It uses social networks, especially LinkedIn, to build relationships. Share insight rather than pitching.
What is a sales development rep (SDR)?: It is a role focused on prospecting and qualifying leads. SDRs book meetings for account executives.
What is an account executive (AE)?: The AE runs demos, negotiation and closing. They own the deal.
What is a customer success manager (CSM)?: The CSM helps customers adopt the product and renew. They protect and grow existing revenue.
What is quota attainment?: It is the share of reps hitting their sales target. Low attainment can signal unrealistic targets or enablement gaps.
What is sales ramp time?: It is how long a new hire takes to reach full productivity. Enablement and onboarding shorten it.
What is a win rate?: It is closed-won deals divided by total opportunities. Track it by segment, source and rep.
What is win/loss analysis?: It reviews why you won or lost deals, often via buyer interviews. It reveals messaging and product gaps.

Metrics, Analytics and Attribution

20 terms

What is customer acquisition cost (CAC)?: It is total sales and marketing spend divided by new customers. Lower is better if retention is strong.
What is customer lifetime value (LTV)?: It is the total revenue you expect from a customer over the relationship. Compare it to CAC.
What is the LTV:CAC ratio?: It compares lifetime value with acquisition cost. Many SaaS teams target about 3:1, though the right number varies.
What is CAC payback period?: It is the months needed to earn back acquisition cost. Shorter payback frees cash for growth.
What is marketing ROI?: It compares revenue gained with marketing spend. Use pipeline and closed revenue, not just leads.
What is marketing-sourced vs influenced pipeline?: Sourced pipeline began with a marketing touch. Influenced pipeline had marketing touches at any point in the deal.
What is marketing attribution?: It assigns credit to the touchpoints that lead to a sale. Models range from simple to data-driven.
What is first-touch vs last-touch attribution?: First-touch credits the initial interaction. Last-touch credits the final one before conversion.
What is multi-touch attribution?: It spreads credit across several touchpoints. It gives a fuller picture but needs good tracking.
What is self-reported attribution?: It asks buyers "How did you hear about us?" It captures dark-funnel sources such as podcasts, peers and AI tools.
What is marketing mix modelling (MMM)?: It is a statistical method estimating each channel's contribution using aggregate data. It works without user-level tracking.
What is a KPI?: A key performance indicator is a metric tied to a goal. Pick a few that drive decisions.
What is MRR/ARR?: Monthly and annual recurring revenue measure predictable subscription income. ARR is MRR × 12.
What is net revenue retention (NRR)?: It shows revenue from existing customers after upgrades, downgrades and churn. Above 100% means the base grows without new customers.
What is churn rate?: It is the percentage of customers or revenue lost over a period. Lower churn raises lifetime value.
What is conversion rate?: It is the percentage of people completing a desired action. Track it at each funnel stage.
What is conversion rate optimisation (CRO)?: It is improving the share of visitors who convert, through testing and UX changes. Start with high-traffic, high-intent pages.
What is A/B testing?: It compares two versions of a page or message to see which performs better. Test one change at a time with enough traffic.
What is customer data platform (CDP)?: It unifies customer data from many sources into one profile. It enables segmentation and personalisation.
What is first-party data?: It is data you collect directly from your audience, such as site behaviour and form entries. It is increasingly valuable as third-party cookies fade.

Tools, Compliance and Operations

10 terms

What is a CRM?: A customer relationship management system stores contacts, deals and interactions. Popular options include HubSpot and Salesforce.
HubSpot vs Salesforce?: HubSpot is typically easier to adopt and suits mid-market teams. Salesforce offers deep customisation for complex enterprise needs. Compare on cost, integration and admin effort.
What is marketing automation?: It is software that runs email, scoring and campaigns based on rules. It saves manual effort and personalises at scale.
What is email marketing for B2B?: It nurtures leads and customers through newsletters and sequences. Segment lists and focus on relevance.
What is email deliverability?: It is whether your emails reach the inbox. Authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), list quality and engagement all matter.
What is GDPR compliance in marketing?: GDPR is the EU data-protection law. It requires a lawful basis, such as consent, to process personal data and gives people rights over it. It applies to EU residents' data wherever you operate.
What is a consent management platform?: It is a tool that collects and records cookie and data consent. It helps you meet privacy rules.
What is an MSA vs an SOW?: A master services agreement sets general terms. A statement of work defines the specific project, scope and deliverables.
How do we choose a marketing agency?: Look for proven results in your segment, clear reporting and integration with your sales and data teams. Ask for case studies and a defined onboarding plan.
How do we align marketing, sales, RevOps, data and AI?: Start with shared definitions, ICP, lifecycle stages and clean data. Then automate and add AI to a few well-understood processes, and measure results against agreed revenue KPIs.