B2B Sales Glossary
Key Terms Explained
Clear, example-driven definitions of the B2B sales terms that show up in every CRM dashboard, board deck, and SDR onboarding doc. Built for the EazyReach community.
Cold Calling
Cold calling is the outbound sales tactic of phoning a prospect who has not previously engaged with your brand. Despite frequent obituaries, cold calling remains one of the highest-yield outbound channels — when paired with verified direct-dial data and a strong opener.
Conversion Rate
A conversion rate is the percentage of leads (or visitors, or opportunities) that progress from one stage to the next. In B2B, the most-watched conversion rates are MQL-to-SQL, SQL-to-Opportunity, and Opportunity-to-Closed-Won.
CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
A CRM is the system of record for every prospect and customer interaction. Modern B2B CRMs (Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Zoho) store contact data, deal stages, activity history, and revenue forecasts — and increasingly act as the hub for AI-driven sales automation.
Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
The Ideal Customer Profile defines the exact firmographic and behavioral characteristics of the companies most likely to buy, succeed with, and renew your product. Every outbound list, content piece, and ad campaign should target the ICP first.
Lead Scoring
Lead scoring is the systematic ranking of leads by their probability to convert. Demographic data (title, company size, industry) gets a "fit" score and observed behavior (page visits, email opens, demo requests) gets an "intent" score — combined into a single number that prioritizes SDR outreach.
MQL vs SQL
An MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead) has shown enough interest to be worth a follow-up but is not yet ready to buy. An SQL (Sales Qualified Lead) has been vetted further — usually by an SDR — and is ready for an AE conversation. The MQL-to-SQL conversion rate is one of the most-watched funnel metrics in B2B.
Price Realization
Price realization is the actual selling price achieved after discounts, divided by the list price. It is a key margin-protection metric that exposes where revenue leaks to discounting and concessions.
Quality Lead
A quality lead is a prospect that closely matches your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and shows clear signals of intent — making them significantly more likely to convert than a generic, unqualified lead.
RevOps (Revenue Operations)
RevOps is the unified operations function that runs sales, marketing, and customer success on a single data, tooling, and process spine. The premise: revenue is one bowtie-shaped funnel, so the operations supporting it should not be three siloed teams.
Sales Cycle
The sales cycle is the average time from a lead's first touch to closed-won. Cycle length varies by deal size and segment — SMB SaaS cycles run 14–45 days, mid-market 60–120 days, and enterprise 6–18 months.
Sales Funnel
The sales funnel is the stage-by-stage view of how leads move from first touch to closed-won. Each stage has its own conversion rate, drop-off, and SLA — and the funnel's shape reveals exactly where revenue is being lost.
Sales Operations Specialist
A Sales Operations Specialist owns the tooling, data, processes, and reporting that let a sales team execute efficiently. They are the bridge between RevOps strategy and rep day-to-day workflow.
Sales Trend
A sales trend is the directional movement of sales data — volume, revenue, conversion rate — over time. Trends reveal whether a business is accelerating, stalling, or declining, and surface seasonal patterns sales leaders need to plan around.
Sales Velocity
Sales velocity = (Number of Opportunities × Average Deal Value × Win Rate) ÷ Sales Cycle Length. It is the single most predictive metric of future revenue growth — moving any of its four levers compounds the others.
Sales Volume
Sales volume is the total number of units (or deals) sold over a defined time period. It is a quantity metric, distinct from sales revenue, which measures the total dollar value of those sales.
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