The B2B sales glossary
The language of outbound, defined.
Clear, practical definitions of the cold calling, email outreach, lead generation, and sales development terms that actually move pipeline. Written by the team that runs outbound every day.
438 terms and growing · 6 categories · Updated continuously
438
Terms defined
6
Categories
129K+
Meetings behind the advice
10 yrs
Running outbound
Cold Calling Agency
A cold calling agency is a specialized B2B sales development partner that runs outbound phone campaigns to generate qualified sales meetings for your...Cold Calling Conversion Rate
Cold Calling Conversion Rate is the percentage of outbound cold calls that result in a meaningful next step, such as a booked meeting, qualified...Cold Calling CRM
Cold Calling CRM is a sales CRM setup specifically designed to plan, execute, and track outbound phone outreach in B2B sales development. It combines...Cold Calling KPIs
Cold Calling KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are the specific, measurable metrics B2B sales teams use to evaluate how effectively their SDRs turn...Cold Calling Lead Generation
Cold calling lead generation is the process of using outbound phone calls to identify, qualify, and book meetings with new B2B prospects who have not...Cold Calling List
A cold calling list is a structured, prioritized database of B2B accounts and decision-makers that sales development reps (SDRs) call to generate...Cold Calling Objection Handling
Cold calling objection handling is the skill and process of effectively responding to a prospect’s concerns, pushbacks, and “not interested”...Cold Calling Outsourcing
Cold calling outsourcing is the practice of hiring an external B2B sales development partner to handle outbound calling, prospecting, and appointment...Cold Calling Personality Types
Cold Calling Personality Types are distinct, repeatable styles that B2B SDRs and callers use when engaging prospects by phone, such as challenger,...Cold Calling Platform
A cold calling platform is a software system that helps B2B sales development teams plan, automate, and analyze outbound phone outreach at scale. It...Cold Calling Rapport
Cold calling rapport is the ability of a sales development representative (SDR) to quickly build trust, comfort, and credibility with a completely...Cold Calling ROI
Cold Calling ROI (Return on Investment) in B2B sales development measures how much revenue or qualified pipeline you generate for every dollar spent...Cold Calling Script
A cold calling script is a structured talk track B2B SDRs and sales reps use to guide live outbound calls, including openers, discovery questions,...Cold Calling SDRs
Cold Calling SDRs (Sales Development Representatives) are specialized outbound reps who focus on initiating contact with net-new B2B prospects by...Cold Calling Services
Cold calling services are specialized B2B sales development programs where trained SDRs make proactive, outbound phone calls to target accounts to...Cold Calling Team
A cold calling team is a specialized group of sales development representatives (SDRs) dedicated to generating B2B pipeline by engaging net-new...Cold Calling Tone of Voice
Cold calling tone of voice is the way an SDR sounds on a sales call, including pace, volume, pitch, warmth, and confidence, and how that delivery...Cold Calling Value Proposition
A cold calling value proposition is the clear, 20-30 second statement SDRs use at the start of a B2B sales call to explain why they’re calling and...Cold Email
Cold email is an unsolicited, one-to-one email sent to a business decision-maker with whom you have no prior relationship, with the goal of starting...Cold Email Lead Generation Agency
A cold email lead generation agency is a specialized B2B partner that designs, executes, and optimizes outbound email campaigns to create qualified...Cold Email Marketing
Cold email marketing is the practice of sending highly targeted, unsolicited but permission-compliant emails to B2B prospects who don’t yet have a...Commission
Commission is a payment tied to performance, most often a percentage of sales, used to reward employees for results across many roles. In B2B sales...Commission Plan
A commission plan is the structured framework that defines how B2B sales development and sales reps earn variable pay on top of base salary. It sets...Company Revenue
Company revenue is the total income a business generates from its normal operations (typically measured as annual revenue). In B2B sales development...Consumer
A consumer is the end user or individual who buys or uses a product or service for personal use. In B2B sales development, the term marks the end...Contact List
A contact list is a structured database of target decision-makers and influencers with verified contact details and firmographic context. In B2B...Contact Research
Contact research is the process of identifying, validating, and enriching direct contact-level information for decision makers and influencers inside...Contact Scraping
Contact scraping is the process of automatically or semi-automatically extracting B2B prospect details, such as names, job titles, emails, phone...Content Marketing
Content marketing is the systematic creation and distribution of educational, audience-focused content to attract and build trust with potential...Contract Management
Contract management is the end-to-end process of creating, negotiating, approving, executing, and renewing contracts in a way that protects revenue...Conversion
A conversion is when someone completes a desired action, such as a click, sign-up, reply, or purchase, that moves them to the next step in a funnel....Conversion Path
A conversion path is the sequence of steps a person takes from first interaction to a desired action, like a purchase or signup. In B2B sales...Conversion Rate
Conversion rate is the percentage of people who take a specific desired action out of the total number who had the opportunity to. In B2B sales...Conversion Rate Optimization
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is the systematic practice of increasing the share of people who take a desired action, a discipline rooted in...Corporate Gifting
Corporate gifting is the practice of sending thoughtful, compliant gifts to build and strengthen business relationships with prospects, customers,...Corporate Gifting Policy
A corporate gifting policy is a formal set of rules that govern when and how employees can give or receive business gifts, swag, hospitality, or...Cost-Per-Click (CPC)
Cost-Per-Click (CPC) is a pricing model used in digital advertising where a B2B company pays each time a prospect clicks its ad, regardless of...Cost-Per-Meeting
Cost-Per-Meeting (CPM) is a B2B sales development metric that calculates the total cost required to generate one held, qualified sales meeting. It...CPQ Software
CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) software is a sales technology that helps B2B teams quickly configure complex products or service packages, calculate...CRM Analytics
CRM analytics is the practice of turning the data inside a customer relationship management system into insights that guide decisions, used across...Definitions are step one. We run this playbook for clients every single day.
About this glossary
A working reference, not a textbook
The short version is on the surface. Open any question to go deeper.
It is a practical reference for the language of B2B outbound sales. Every entry explains a cold calling, email outreach, lead generation, or sales development term in plain English, with the context and best practices that actually matter when you run campaigns.
They come from the SalesHive team, the same strategists and SDRs who run outbound campaigns for thousands of clients every day. The goal is working knowledge you can apply, not textbook theory.
Search by name at the top of the page, jump straight to a letter with the A to Z rail, or filter by category. Each term links to a full entry with real benchmarks, best practices, expert tips, common challenges, and FAQs.
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