Account executive (AE)
The quota-carrying seller who runs deals from qualified opportunity to signed contract, owning discovery, demos, negotiation and close.
Sales enablement
Methodologies, metrics and moments that matter in the deal cycle. The language of reps, managers and revenue enablement teams.
73 terms
Account-based selling
Treating a target account as a market of one, with research, messaging and multithreaded outreach tailored to that specific company.
BANT
A qualification framework (Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline) used to decide whether an opportunity is worth pursuing.
Battlecard
A one-page reference that arms reps to position against a specific competitor: where you win, where you lose, landmines to set and how to answer the competitor's claims.
Business case
A document or presentation that justifies a purchase in financial and strategic terms, usually built with a champion for the economic buyer.
Buyer persona
A research-based profile of a target buyer's role, goals, pains and objections. Not to be confused with an AI persona, which simulates that buyer for practice.
Buying committee
The group of stakeholders who influence or approve a B2B purchase, often including the economic buyer, end users, IT, security, procurement and legal.
Call review
A manager or peer reviewing a recorded call with a rep to identify what worked, what didn't and what to practice next.
Call scoring
Grading a sales call against defined criteria, such as discovery depth, next steps secured or talk-to-listen ratio, to measure quality consistently across reps.
Challenger Sale
A methodology in which reps teach buyers something new about their business, tailor the message to each stakeholder and take control of the conversation.
Champion
An influential person inside the buying organization who wants you to win and actively sells on your behalf when you're not in the room.
Closing
The final stage of a deal where the buyer commits, terms are agreed and the contract is signed.
Coaching cadence
The regular rhythm of manager-to-rep coaching, such as weekly one-on-ones, call reviews and deal reviews.
Cold call
An unsolicited outbound call to a prospect with no prior relationship. Success hinges on a sharp opener, a relevant reason for calling and handling the first brush-off.
Command of the Message
A value-based messaging framework that trains reps to articulate the customer's required capabilities, positive business outcomes and your differentiators consistently.
Competitive intelligence
Structured information about competitors' products, pricing, positioning and win/loss patterns, packaged so sellers can act on it.
Consultative selling
An approach where the seller acts as an advisor, asking questions and offering expertise to help the buyer make the best decision.
Conversation intelligence
Software that records, transcribes and analyzes live customer calls to surface trends, coaching moments and deal risk after the conversation happens.
Deal review
A structured inspection of an opportunity by a rep and manager to test qualification, identify risk and agree on the next best action.
Demo
A tailored product walkthrough that connects features to the buyer's stated pains. Strong demos follow a story built around those pains.
Discovery call
An early conversation designed to uncover a prospect's pains, priorities, buying process and stakeholders before proposing a solution.
Discovery questions
Open-ended questions a seller asks to uncover a buyer's situation, pains, priorities and buying process before recommending a solution.
Economic buyer
The person with final authority to release budget for a purchase. This is often not the day-to-day evaluator.
Elevator pitch
A 30- to 60-second explanation of what you do, who it's for and why it matters, delivered clearly enough to earn a follow-up conversation.
Enablement metrics
The measures enablement teams use to prove impact, such as ramp time, win rate, quota attainment, certification pass rates and practice activity.
Gap Selling
A methodology that centers the conversation on the gap between the buyer's current state and their desired future state, and the cost of leaving that gap open.
Gatekeeper
A person who controls access to a decision maker, such as an executive assistant or front-desk contact. Handling gatekeepers is a core cold-calling skill.
Go-to-market (GTM)
The strategy and teams (sales, marketing, customer success and partners) responsible for bringing a product to customers and growing revenue.
GTM enablement
Enablement that spans every customer-facing function, not just sales, so AEs, SEs, CSMs and partners tell one consistent story.
Ideal customer profile (ICP)
A description of the companies most likely to buy, succeed and expand, defined by industry, size, tech stack and trigger events.
Inbound sales
Sales motions that respond to prospects who have already shown interest, such as demo requests, content downloads or free trial signups.
Lead qualification
Deciding whether a lead fits your ideal customer profile and has a real need, so reps spend time on the opportunities most likely to close.
MEDDICC
A qualification framework: Metrics, Economic buyer, Decision criteria, Decision process, Identify pain, Champion and Competition. MEDDPICC adds Paper process.
MEDDPICC
An extension of MEDDICC that adds Paper process: Metrics, Economic buyer, Decision criteria, Decision process, Paper process, Identify pain, Champion and Competition.
Mock call
A simulated sales or customer call used for practice or evaluation. Mock calls are common in onboarding, certification and deal preparation.
Multithreading
Building relationships with multiple stakeholders in an account so a deal doesn't depend on a single contact.
Mutual action plan (MAP)
A shared, dated plan between buyer and seller listing every step to a decision and go-live, with owners on both sides.
Negotiation
The give-and-get conversation that settles price, terms and scope. Rehearsing concessions in advance keeps reps from discounting under pressure.
Next steps
The specific, dated action both buyer and seller agree to at the end of a meeting. Calls that end without clear next steps tend to stall.
Objection handling
The skill of acknowledging a buyer's concern, clarifying what's behind it and responding with evidence without getting defensive.
Outbound sales
Sales motions where the seller initiates contact with prospects who haven't raised their hand, including cold calls, cold email and social outreach.
Pain point
A specific problem a buyer is experiencing that your product can solve. Good discovery quantifies the pain in time, money or risk.
Pipeline
The set of open opportunities at each stage of the sales process, used to forecast revenue and spot coverage gaps.
Pitch practice
Rehearsing a sales pitch or product narrative out loud until the message, structure and delivery hold up under questions.
Pricing objection
A buyer's pushback on cost, such as "It's too expensive" or "We don't have budget." Handling it well usually means reconnecting price to the value and pain uncovered in discovery.
Prospecting
The work of identifying and reaching out to potential customers to create new pipeline, through calls, email, social and events.
Quota attainment
The percentage of a sales target a rep or team actually closes in a period. It is a common north-star metric for enablement programs.
Ramp time
How long it takes a new rep to reach full productivity, often measured as time to first deal or time to full quota.
Revenue enablement
An evolution of sales enablement that equips every revenue-generating role with the content, training and coaching they need to perform.
Revenue operations (RevOps)
The team that owns the systems, data and processes behind sales, marketing and customer success, such as CRM administration, lead routing and reporting.
Sales coaching
Ongoing, individualized feedback from a manager or coach aimed at improving a rep's specific behaviors on real or practice calls.
Sales cycle
The stages and time it takes to move a deal from first contact to signed contract. Enterprise sales cycles often run many months.
Sales development rep (SDR)
An early-funnel seller who prospects and qualifies leads before handing them to an AE. Outbound-focused SDRs are often called BDRs.
Sales enablement
The function that gives sellers the training, content, tools and coaching they need to have better buyer conversations and close more revenue.
Sales enablement platform
Software that helps enablement teams onboard, train, coach and equip sellers, often combining content, learning, practice and analytics.
Sales forecasting
Predicting how much revenue will close in a period based on pipeline, stage, historical conversion and rep judgment.
Sales kickoff (SKO)
An annual or semi-annual event that aligns the go-to-market team on strategy, messaging and launches for the period ahead.
Sales methodology
A repeatable approach to how reps sell, such as MEDDICC, Challenger or SPIN, that defines the questions they ask and the steps they take.
Sales onboarding
The program that takes a new rep from day one to fully productive, covering product, process, methodology, tools and certification.
Sales playbook
A documented guide to how your team sells: target personas, stages, talk tracks, discovery questions, objection responses and plays by scenario.
Sales readiness
A measure of whether reps can execute the pitch, demo and objection handling on a live call. Training completion alone does not show readiness.
Sales roleplay
A practice exercise where a rep rehearses a sales conversation against someone playing the buyer. Roleplay lets reps test a pitch, discovery questions or objection handling before a live deal is on the line.
Sales training
Structured programs that teach sellers product knowledge, methodology and selling skills. The most effective programs pair instruction with practice and coaching.
Sandler Selling System
A sales methodology built on mutual qualification, where the seller and buyer agree up front on what happens next and the seller avoids chasing unqualified deals.
Solution selling
A methodology that focuses on diagnosing the buyer's problem first and positioning the product as the solution to that specific problem.
SPIN Selling
A questioning method built on Situation, Problem, Implication and Need-payoff questions that helps buyers articulate the value of solving a problem.
Talk track
A suggested, flexible script for a specific moment, such as an opener, a pricing conversation or a competitive question, that reps adapt in their own words.
Talk-to-listen ratio
The share of a conversation a rep spends talking versus listening. In discovery, strong reps let the buyer do most of the talking.
Territory planning
Dividing accounts or regions among reps and planning how each rep will prioritize and work their book of business.
Upsell and cross-sell
Growing an existing account by selling a higher tier (upsell) or an additional product (cross-sell).
Value proposition
A clear statement of the outcome a customer gets from your product, for whom, and why it's better than the alternatives.
Value selling
Selling on quantified business outcomes the buyer cares about rather than on features or price.
Win rate
The percentage of qualified opportunities that close as won. It is a core indicator of whether enablement is moving the needle.