A helpful glossary of 28 sales and business acronyms that we hear and use currently.

By Flume Sales Training

Account development

The process of managing and developing highly profitable customer accounts. This can be a stand-alone role within a business or a way to describe a process multiple sales professionals will seek to drive. It can be both strategic, looking at ideal customer profiles, geographies, and markets, as well as targeted, focusing on specific customer accounts.

AM – Account Manager

Job title that typically refers to a salesperson responsible for maintaining and growing already existing client relationships. As opposed to a salesperson solely focused on winning new business.

AI – Artificial intelligence

Context – Call AI – the real-time analysis of live or pre-recorded calls through the Mindtickle platform.

APAC – Asia-Pacific

Geographical region. Generally includes East Asia, Russian Far East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australasia and Pacific Islands.

BANT – Budget, Authority, Need, Time

A traditional qualification framework used to determine whether a prospect will progress to an opportunity.

B2B – Business to business

Where both the customer and service provided are businesses.

Context: the business universe in which Flume exists; helping organisations sell and buy from one another.

BD – Business Development

Another way of describing sales generally or sales ‘BD’ roles more specifically. Often interchanged with ‘BDM’ (Business development manager) and ‘BDR’ (Business development rep).

CEO – Chief executive officer

Typically, the most senior leader in a business.

CMO – Chief marketing officer

Usually the most senior marketing leader in a business.

CS – Customer service

The process of helping paying customers make their purchase work. Often used as a broad term to describe the people or department who deliver this service. Regularly now used interchangeably with “customer success”.

CSR – Customer success rep

A role with responsibility for ensuring clients get the most from their purchase. Could be asked to train new users, help integrate their service with the customer’s systems, and solve problems.

CX – Customer experience

How a business interacts with its customers at every stage of their buying journey —typically through a combination of marketing, sales, customer service and more.

DMP – Decision-making process

The steps taken, and process followed, by any given client to determine business choices. Often used in reference to client purchasing decisions. Typically involving multiple stakeholders and / or departments.

DMU – Decision-making unit

The people involved in the decision-making process.

EMEA – Europe, Middle-East, and Africa

Geographical region that encompasses the entirety of Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Global businesses will often have a division or department responsible for winning and growing business across this region exclusively.

GROW model – Goal, reality, options, way forward

A widely used coaching model. Each stage of ‘GROW’ represents a conversation theme that can be explored by two or more people as part of a coaching session. It can also be used as a planning tool ahead of sales calls or meetings.

GTM – Go-to market

Often used in the context of a “go-to-market strategy”. This is an action plan that details how a business will reach its target audience and achieve the required business results.

ICP – Ideal client / customer profile

The perfect customer for your business, product, or service; a fictitious company that has all the qualities that would make them the best possible fit for your offering.

IRP – Ideal rep profile

The profile of a sales professional that is most likely to succeed at a given organisation. It will define the beliefs, behaviours and skills that a sales rep must have to meet and exceed target.

KPI – Key performance indicator

A quantifiable measure of performance over time for a specific goal. Often used to help teams understand the performance outputs required by them – the number of calls, meetings and opportunities – in order to hit target.

MEDDIC – Metrics, Economic buyer, Decision criteria, Decision process, Identify pain, Champion

A framework used to qualify prospects and potential buyers. Sales professionals will seek to discover information that relates to each part, helping to identify if a given prospect should be qualified in or out.

MEDDPICC – Metrics, Economic buyer, Decision criteria, Decision process, Paper process, Implications of pain, Champion, Competition

A sales qualification framework very similar to MEDDIC. Differences include ‘Paper process’ which refers to the process of signing the contract and agreeing a statement of work, and ‘competition’ which are the alternative options available to the prospect.

Opportunity

Usually in the context of a ‘sales opportunity’, this is a qualified sales lead and therefore has met certain criteria to be considered a potential deal.

ROI – Return on investment

A direct and quantifiable measure of the amount of return on a particular investment, relative to the investment’s cost.

Sales academy

A structured approach for developing sales talent at a given business. Usually working towards and agreed standard for what sales excellence looks like in that business, relative to each sales role. Typically consists of, but is not limited to, multi-touch training and coaching programmes, access to sales readiness platforms, sales enablement resources, and collateral.

Sales Velocity

A measure of sales performance that drills this down to a single number designed to show the effort and time required to move a typical deal from opportunity to close. The sales velocity equation used to calculate this, is as follows: Sales Velocity = Number of Opportunities x Deal Value x Win Rate / Length of Sales Cycle. The aim is to increase the first three metrics and reduce the length of sales cycle.

SDR – Sales development rep

A role focused on sales outreach, prospecting, and qualifying leads.

SKO – Sales kick-off

This is an event where organisations communicate their business strategy and motivate their front-line salespeople. These events are typically held at the beginning of the financial year.

YOY – Year on year / year over year

A method of evaluating two or more measured events to compare the results of one year to those of another. A popular way to measure the financial performance of a business.

There are many many more of course and some you will already know from the 28 sales acronyms above but next time you read an article or are in a meeting you can keep this easy blog to hand.

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