Glossary
Glossary
Plain-English definitions of the GTM and AI terms that come up in this playbook, each with an example.
Glossary
A
Account tiering
- Sorting target accounts into groups by fit and potential so the best accounts get the most effort. Tier 1 gets deep research and tailored outreach, lower tiers get lighter touches.
- Example. A rep with 300 accounts researches 30 Tier 1 accounts in depth and lets signals decide when to contact the rest.
- Related:ICP (ideal customer profile)Signal-based selling
ACV (annual contract value)
- The average yearly value of a customer contract, excluding one-off fees. It's the usual measure of deal size in subscription businesses.
- Example. A three-year contract worth £150,000 in total has an ACV of £50,000.
- Related:Sales velocity
Agentic workflow
- A process where an AI agent completes several steps on its own, such as researching, deciding and drafting, using tools and data, with people reviewing the output at set points.
- Example. An agent researches each new inbound lead, scores it against the ICP and drafts a reply for the rep to approve.
- Related:Human in the loopEvalsGTM engineer
C
Champion
- A person inside the buying organisation who has influence and actively sells your solution internally when you're not there. A friendly contact without influence isn't a champion.
- Example. The champion books the meeting with the CFO and coaches the rep on what the CFO will ask.
- Related:Economic buyerMultithreadingMEDDPICC
Cost of inaction
- What the buyer loses by not solving the problem, measured in their own terms. It's often more persuasive than the benefits of buying.
- Example. A buyer realises that every month without a fix delays a product launch worth a known amount of revenue.
- Related:Mutual action plan
Coverage ratio
- Open pipeline divided by the revenue target for the same period. It shows whether there's enough pipeline to hit the number, given your win rate.
- Example. A rep with £300,000 of pipeline against a £100,000 quarterly target has 3x coverage.
- Related:Win rateSales velocity
D
Data enrichment
- Adding missing or updated information to account and contact records, such as company size, tech stack, job titles and contact details, from outside data sources.
- Example. Before a campaign, a team enriches its list and finds a fifth of contacts have changed jobs.
- Related:ICP (ideal customer profile)GTM engineer
E
Economic buyer
- The person with the authority to approve the spend and say yes when others say no. Deals without access to them are at higher risk.
- Example. Late in a deal, the rep learns that the VP they've been working with needs sign-off from the COO, who becomes the focus of the next meeting.
- Related:ChampionMEDDPICC
Evals
- Tests that check whether an AI system produces good outputs, run against a fixed set of examples. They show whether a prompt or model change made things better or worse.
- Example. Before rolling out an AI research brief, a team checks it against 50 accounts it knows well and counts the factual errors.
- Related:Agentic workflowHuman in the loop
G
GTM engineer
- A role that builds the systems behind go-to-market, such as data pipelines, enrichment, scoring and automated workflows, often using AI and no-code tools. It sits between RevOps, sales and engineering.
- Example. A GTM engineer builds a workflow that watches target accounts for hiring signals and sends reps a researched brief when one fires.
- Related:Data enrichmentAgentic workflow
H
Human in the loop
- Designing an AI workflow so a person reviews or approves the output at the points where mistakes are costly or trust is at stake.
- Example. An agent drafts outreach for every Tier 1 account, but nothing sends until the rep edits and approves it.
- Related:Agentic workflowEvals
I
ICP (ideal customer profile)
- A description of the companies most likely to buy, succeed and stay, based on traits shared by your best customers. It guides who you target and who you don't.
- Example. A team finds its best customers are logistics firms with 200 to 2,000 staff that recently moved to a cloud ERP, and writes that down as its ICP.
- Related:Account tieringData enrichment
Intent data
- Signals that suggest an account is researching a problem or product, such as content consumption, review site visits or search activity. It helps decide which accounts to contact now.
- Example. An account starts reading comparison pages for tools in your category, so it moves up the rep's list this week.
- Related:Signal-based sellingData enrichment
M
MEDDPICC
- A qualification checklist for complex deals: Metrics, Economic buyer, Decision criteria, Decision process, Paper process, Identify pain, Champion and Competition. Each letter is a question the rep should answer with evidence.
- Example. Before calling a deal commit, a manager asks the rep to show who the economic buyer is and what the paper process looks like.
- Related:Economic buyerChampionMutual action plan
Multithreading
- Building relationships with several people in the buying group, so a deal doesn't depend on a single contact. It lowers the risk of a deal stalling when someone leaves or goes quiet.
- Example. A rep's main contact goes on leave, but the deal keeps moving because the rep already works with the finance lead and an end user.
- Related:ChampionEconomic buyer
Mutual action plan
- A shared, dated plan of every step both buyer and seller need to complete to reach a decision and go live. Both sides own it and update it together.
- Example. A rep and a buyer list security review, legal, procurement and sign-off with owners and dates, working back from the buyer's go-live date.
- Related:MEDDPICCChampion
S
Sales velocity
- How much revenue your pipeline produces per day. It's calculated as opportunities × win rate × average deal size ÷ sales cycle length in days.
- Example. A team has 50 open opportunities, a 25% win rate, a £20,000 average deal and a 60-day cycle, so its velocity is about £4,200 a day.
- Related:Win rateStage conversionCoverage ratio
Signal-based selling
- Prioritising and timing outreach based on events that suggest an account may buy, such as a new leader, funding, hiring or a stated initiative. The signal also shapes what the message says.
- Example. A new VP of Sales joins a target account, so the rep reaches out about the first 90 days in the role.
- Related:Intent dataAccount tiering
Stage conversion
- The share of opportunities that move from one pipeline stage to the next. Low conversion at one stage shows where deals get stuck.
- Example. Of 40 deals that reached the demo stage last quarter, 16 moved to proposal, a 40% conversion rate.
- Related:Win rateSales velocity
W
Win rate
- The share of opportunities that close as won, out of all opportunities that closed in a period. Measure it from a fixed stage so it's comparable over time.
- Example. A team closes 30 deals in a quarter and wins 9, a 30% win rate.
- Related:Stage conversionCoverage ratio
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