B2B Sales Glossary 2026

A B2B strategy where you target a small set of strategic accounts (50-200) with highly personalized messaging, instead of running spray-and-pray on 10,000 leads. ABM works best when your average deal size is high (deals > €20k) and the cycle is long.

The salesperson who closes the deals. The AE picks up where the SDR (who qualified) leaves off and runs the demos, negotiations, and signatures. Usually paid on commission (~50% variable of total package).

The annualized value of a customer contract. If a customer signs at €500/month for 12 months, the ACV = €6,000. A key metric to normalize deals of different lengths (monthly vs. quarterly vs. annual).

The company's annualized recurring revenue — the sum of ACV across all active customers. It's the north-star metric for B2B SaaS. If Ovalead does €1,000 in MRR, its ARR = €12,000.

A historical sales qualification method from IBM. You qualify a lead against 4 criteria: Budget available, Authority of the contact (decision-maker or not), Need (real pain), and Timing (urgency to buy). Today often replaced by MEDDIC for complex sales.

A variant of the SDR, generally focused on cold outbound (vs. SDR more on inbound). Sources new accounts through targeted prospecting. The terms BDR and SDR are sometimes used interchangeably depending on the org.

Bottom of the funnel: the leads who are ready to buy. In content marketing, BOFU = "vs. competitors" articles, demos, case studies. BOFU visitors convert > 10x better than TOFU/MOFU.

The cost of acquiring a customer. Total marketing + sales spend over a period, divided by the number of customers acquired. A healthy CAC/LTV ratio in B2B SaaS sits between 1:3 and 1:5.

A modern qualification method, often preferred over BANT because it centers on the prospect's pain (Challenges) before budget. Widely used in consultative sales.

Monthly or annual customer attrition rate. If 5 customers out of 100 leave in a month, monthly churn = 5%. A churn rate > 5%/month in B2B SaaS is generally a red flag.

Owns customer success and retention after the deal closes. A different job from Support: the CSM is proactive (training, usage optimization, churn prevention), not reactive.

The first deep qualification meeting after the initial lead. The goal: understand the prospect's stakes before pitching the solution. Typical length 30-45 min. Done well, this is the step that determines 70% of the deal's success.

A precise description of the type of company that buys best from you: size, industry, geography, tech stack, signals. Defining your ICP keeps you from wasting time on prospects who will never sign. It's the foundation of any effective outbound strategy.

Signals indicating that a company is actively looking for a solution like yours. Sources: anonymous traffic on comparison sites, B2B content reads, purchase-intent search queries. Sold by Bombora, G2, ZoomInfo.

A strategy where prospects come to you via SEO, content marketing, events, and partnerships. The opposite of outbound (where you go after prospects). Longer cycle but typically 3-5x lower acquisition cost.

Assigning a numeric score to each lead based on fit (matches your ICP) and engagement (site visits, email opens). Lets SDRs prioritize. Tools like HubSpot or Salesforce calculate it automatically.

Total value a customer generates over the entire relationship. In SaaS, LTV = average ACV × average retention duration. An LTV of €30k with a CAC of €6k = 1:5 ratio, healthy.

A widely used enterprise qualification method. Six criteria to validate before adding the deal to pipeline: Metrics (quantified ROI), Economic buyer (who signs the check), Decision criteria, Decision process, Identify pain (real pain), Champion (internal advocate).

Middle of the funnel: leads who are evaluating but not yet ready to buy. Typical content: comparison guides, webinars, white papers. The goal is to educate them and slide them toward BOFU.

A lead qualified by marketing (downloaded a white paper, hit a score threshold, etc.) that justifies handing over to sales. The whole beauty of the MQL → SQL → Won model rests on marketing-sales alignment around the qualification criteria.

Monthly recurring revenue, the monthly equivalent of ARR. MRR excludes one-shot payments (setup fees, training) and includes only the recurring portion. Tracking MRR is more granular than ARR for measuring growth.

The change in revenue from a customer cohort over 12 months, including expansion (upsells) and churn. NRR > 100% = your existing customers generate more each year. It's the favorite KPI of SaaS VCs. The best B2B SaaS hit 120-130%.

A strategy where you go after prospects via cold email, cold call, LinkedIn outreach. Faster to set up than inbound, but cost per lead is higher. The dominant channel in B2B mid-market.

All opportunities currently in discussion, sorted by stage (Discovery, Demo, Proposal, Negotiation, Closed). Pipeline size divided by win rate predicts future revenue. B2B rule of thumb: pipeline = 3-4x quota.

A revenue target (or meeting target for SDRs) assigned monthly or quarterly. Hitting quota = bonus + commission; missing it for several quarters = leaving the team. Quota pressure shapes the salesperson's entire daily routine.

The function that aligns marketing, sales, and customer success around data and tools. RevOps owns the CRM, the tech stack, the processes, and the reports. A discipline in full explosion since 2020 — and it's RevOps that will decide to use Ovalead.

Junior profile in charge of qualifying leads and booking meetings for the AEs. Often a tough job (constant rejection, quota pressure) but formative. Most AEs started as SDRs.

A series of automated actions an SDR runs to reach a prospect: email D0, LinkedIn D2, email D5, call D8, etc. Tools: Lemlist, Smartlead, Outreach, Salesloft. Done well, it doubles reply rates vs. an isolated email.

A lead qualified by sales after a direct exchange (often a Discovery Call). The stage after MQL. An SQL has been through a qualification framework (BANT, MEDDIC, etc.) and is officially in the pipeline.

Top of the funnel: visitors who are discovering your problem category, not yet your solution. Typical content: educational blog posts, podcasts, beginner guides. High volumes, low immediate conversion, but the foundation of inbound.

An event that makes a prospect more receptive to your outreach: funding round, job change, VP hire, merger. Detecting and acting on triggers is one of the most effective outbound strategies on the market — which is exactly what Ovalead automates for job changes.

Percentage of opportunities closed-won. If you close 30 deals out of 100 added to pipeline, win rate = 30%. A healthy B2B mid-market range is 20-30%; in enterprise, 10-15%. Improving win rate by 5 points often doubles profitability.