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Welcome to our Online Sales Dictionary!
Please email us at
Info@salesanimals.com
with any amendments, additions, or corrections for our Sales
Dictionary.
Thank you for contributing!
Sale –
Closing a
deal
or making a purchase.
Sales – The business function responsible for selling the
companies
products
or services to the marketplace. The top
line of the income statement and the driving force of all
organizations.
Sales Call – A sales visit or phone call attempting to sell
your
products or services
Sales Consulting - A service offered by an experienced sales
executive helping companies identify areas that can increase
revenue productivity.
Sales Cycle – The time or process between first contact with
the
customer to when the
sale is made. Sales Cycle times and
processes vary depending on the company, type of business
(product/service), the effectiveness of the sales process,
the market and the particular situation applying to the
customer at the time of the inquiry. The Sales Cycle is also
referred to as the sales process and the Sale Gestation
Period (i.e. from conception to birth - inquiry to
sale).
Sales Forecast - A prediction of what
sales will be achieved
over a given period (usually from a week to a year).
Sales
managers require sales people to forecast, in order to
provide data to production, purchasing, and other functions
whose activities need to be planned to meet the sales
demand. Sales forecasts are an essential performance
quantifier which feeds into the overall business plan for
any organization. (See Target)
Sales Funnel - The pattern, plan or actual achievement of
conversion of
prospects into
sales, from pre-inquiry through
the
sales cycle. Referred to as a funnel because
leads and
prospects enter the funnel continue through the
sales cycle
and only a proportion of those are converted into a
sale.
Sales Goal - A sales target (in revenue or units) for a
specified time period, also referred to as
quota,
budget or
forecast.
Sales Job – A position in which a person sells a
product or
service for a living.
Sales Manager – A person who manages a team of sales people.
Sales Meeting – A meeting (usually held weekly) to discuss
sales pipeline,
forecasts, quota obtainment, etc…
Sales Pipeline -
Prospects in the sales process usually at
different phases of the
sales cycle. Length of the
pipeline
is the
sales cycle time, which varies depending on business
type, product price, market situation, and the effectiveness
of the sales process. (Also see Pipeline)
Sales Presentation - When sales person explains the
product or service to the
prospect (individual or a group),
including the product's features,
advantages and benefits,
relevant to the
prospect. Presentations are mainly verbal,
but can include use of visuals, slide shows, brochures,
charts, and graphs. (Also see
Demo or
Demonstration)
Sales Professional -
An individual who sells
products or services for a living.
Sales Proposal - A written offer with specifications,
prices, outlining terms and conditions, warranty
arrangements and processes from a sales person or a selling
organization to a
prospect.
Sales Territory – Physical area a sales person has
responsibility to sell into.
Sales Training - Training programs that improve selling
skills.
Screener - An individual within an organization who is
responsible for evaluating the potential value of a
salesperson's
product or service to a particular
decision
maker and taking action accordingly (i.e., passing them
along to the appropriate person, asking them to send
something in the mail, etc.).
Sector - Part of the market that can be described,
categorized and then targeted according to its own criteria
and characteristics. Sectors are described as a “vertical”
referring to an industry type, or “horizontal” meaning some
other grouping that spans a number of vertical sectors,
(i.e. geographical grouping or a grouping defined by age,
size, marital status, etc.)
Segment - A sub-sector or market niche. A grouping more
narrowly defined and smaller than a
sector. A segment can be
a horizontal sub-sector across one or more
vertical
sectors.
SFA – (sales acronym) Sales Force Automation - describes a
software solution that assists an organization in managing
the sales process (Also see
CRM)
SLA – (sales acronym) Service Level Agreement - A
sales contract's clause that defines a guaranteed level of service
and any penalties or adjustments should the level of
guaranteed service not be met by the providing organization,
used to make the
customer more confident about the purchase.
Smoke Screen - an
objection given by a
prospect or
customer that's not the primary
objection to moving forward. it's
usually given to divert the salesperson from addressing the
primary objection of the prospect or customer and/ or simply
because the prospect or customer feels they must object at
least once or twice to strengthen their position in a
negotiation or sales process.
Solution selling – A common method of selling that is
dependent on identifying needs on the
customer and including
appropriate
benefits in a package or solution.
Steps of the sale - Describes the structure of the selling
process, particularly the
sales call, and what immediately
precedes and follows it.
Strategic selling -
open plan selling, in which seller
identifies strategic business aims of the sales
prospect or
customer organization, and develops a proposition that
enables the aims to be realized. The proposition is
therefore strongly linked to the achievement of strategic
business aims - typically improvements in costs, revenues,
margins, overheads, profit, quality, efficiency, time-saving
and competitive strengths areas. Strong reliance on seller
having excellent strategic understanding of prospect
organization and aims,
market sector situation and trends,
and access to strategic
decision-makers
and influencers.
Please email us at
Info@salesanimals.com
with any amendments, additions, or corrections for our Sales
Dictionary.
Thank you for contributing!
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