Only sales glossary you need

A bottom-up sales strategy focuses on end users and individual contributors as the entry point. The product is adopted by teams organically — often through self-serve trials, freemium models, or viral loops—before expanding to the broader org and eventually reaching decision-makers. This approach works well for PLG (product-led growth) models, where the product sells itself through usage and user love.

Cross-team sales enablement is the practice of aligning sales, presales, marketing, product, customer success, and other GTM (go-to-market) functions to collectively equip reps with the content, context, and tools they need to close deals faster.

Deal acceleration is the intentional removal of friction from the buying process, especially in the middle and final stages of the sales cycle, so that high-intent buyers can move forward confidently and efficiently.

Deal velocity is the rate at which qualified opportunities move from the first conversation to closed‑won. A practical way to think about it: how quickly your pipeline turns into cash without sacrificing deal quality.

A due diligence questionnaire (DDQ) is a structured document that a potential customer, investor, or partner sends to verify your claims. On the surface, it’s a checklist. But in enterprise SaaS, it’s more like a stress test, a preview of how your company operates under scrutiny.

Enterprise-ready generative AI refers to generative AI systems built with the security, scalability, compliance, and integration capabilities required for use in large organizations. Unlike consumer-grade tools, enterprise-ready solutions safeguard sensitive data, adhere to regulatory standards, and connect seamlessly with business systems like CRMs, collaboration platforms, and document repositories.

A GTM strategy (Go-To-Market strategy) is the blueprint a company uses to launch a product or service into the market and drive customer acquisition, revenue, and adoption. It defines who you're selling to, what you're offering, how you’ll reach them, and how you’ll win — across sales, marketing, customer success, and product.

Information silos happen when teams, tools, or individuals hoard data, intentionally or not. In fast-moving B2B environments, this creates a dangerous lag between what someone knows and what someone else needs to know to close a deal.

Knowledge automation is the use of AI and technology to capture, organize, and deliver information automatically, reducing the need for manual searching or repetitive tasks.

A no bid letter is a formal communication sent by a vendor to respectfully decline participation in a Request for Proposal (RFP), Request for Quotation (RFQ), or similar procurement process. While it may appear to be a routine message, a no bid letter is often a strategic move to preserve relationships, protect internal resources, and focus on more aligned opportunities.

A Request for Information (RFI) is a formal document that organizations use to explore the market before they commit to a solution. Think of it as the buyer’s research phase: they’re not ready to buy yet, but they’re deciding how they’ll buy, and whom to trust with next steps.

A Request for Proposal (RFP) is a formal document issued by a buyer to evaluate and compare potential vendors for a specific product, service, or solution. Unlike an RFI, which gathers broad information, an RFP signals that the buyer knows what they want and now they’re looking for the best-fit partner.

A Request for Quotation (RFQ) is a procurement document used by buyers to solicit detailed pricing and commercial terms for a clearly defined product or service.

Revenue attrition refers to the loss of recurring revenue over a given period due to customer churn, downgrades, or canceled contracts. It’s the inverse of revenue retention and a key metric for understanding how much revenue your business is losing - either from customers leaving or spending less.

Revenue marketing is a strategic approach where marketing is directly accountable for driving measurable revenue outcomes not just leads or brand awareness. It aligns marketing efforts with the sales pipeline, focusing on generating qualified pipeline, accelerating deal cycles, and influencing closed-won revenue.

Revenue operations (RevOps) is a strategic function that unifies sales, marketing, customer success, and finance operations into one cohesive system focused on driving predictable revenue growth. It aligns people, processes, data, and tools to improve efficiency and accountability across the entire revenue funnel.

Revenue retention is the percentage of recurring revenue a company keeps over a given period—after accounting for customer churn, downgrades, and contractions. It reflects how well a business retains and grows its existing customer base.

Sales enablement is the process of equipping sales teams with the content, tools, training, and insights they need to engage buyers effectively and close more deals. It focuses on giving reps easier access to the right information at the right time—whether through playbooks, product knowledge, or technology—so they can spend less time on admin work and more time selling.

A sales engineer (SE) is the technical counterpart to a sales rep, fluent in both customer pain and product depth. Their job is to connect the dots between what the buyer needs and how the product can deliver it. Where AEs drive the commercial conversation, SEs handle the credibility layer: architecture, integration, scalability, security, and workflows.

Sales objection handling is the process of identifying, addressing, and overcoming a buyer’s concerns during the sales cycle. These objections might relate to price, timing, product fit, competition, or internal priorities and how a seller responds can make or break the deal.

A security questionnaire is a standardized document or set of questions that organizations send to vendors during the procurement or vendor evaluation process. Its purpose? To assess the vendor’s security practices, data protection policies, and risk posture, ensuring they meet the buyer’s compliance and IT requirements before any deal is signed.

Technical query resolution is the process of responding to detailed product-related questions from prospects or customers, often during the sales cycle. These queries typically revolve around features, integrations, scalability, compliance, architecture, and security and require deep technical knowledge to answer accurately.

A top-down sales strategy targets senior decision-makers and executives early in the sales process. The goal is to secure buy-in from the top, then influence the rest of the organization. It often involves longer sales cycles, larger deal sizes, and more strategic conversations focused on business outcomes, ROI, and organizational impact. This strategy is commonly used in enterprise B2B sales, where purchases require executive approval and cross-functional alignment.

Value-based pricing is a pricing strategy where the price of a product or service is determined by the perceived value it delivers to the customer—not by production costs or competitor pricing. It’s rooted in understanding what your solution is worth to the buyer in terms of outcomes, efficiency, revenue impact, or cost savings.

A virtual sales engineer, now more commonly referred to as an “AI sales engineer”, is an AI-powered ‘teammate’ trained to handle technical, product, and compliance questions during the sales cycle.