sales jargon

The start of salespodder’s jargon-buster.  Access All about getting hold of people. Usually referred to in the context of Key-Man Access; do you have it, how easy is it, who grants it to you? You need to establish Access routes and open up permanently available lines of communications

Salespodder’s Jargon guide to all that is B: Bag-Carrying Where a junior salesrep works as an assistant to a senior one, carrying their bags. Bath If you have a ‘bath’ it means you’ve sold nothing that period. Bean Counter This is what most salesreps

Call To Arms Another way of describing what the Close is all about. From Shakespeare’s Henry V. Campaign One of the many business terms that come from the military. The actions you undertake to try and win business from a specific potential customer. Canvassing Finding those buyers. Usually

Death Valley A period of no response in communication from a potential customer towards the end of a Campaign. Typically encountered after the final (maybe Board) presentations. Avoid like the plague. Decision Making Criteria The categories which the potential customer will use to decide what they will take. Decision Making

Earn The Right Call Normally immediately prior to trying to get hold of The Man, it’s where you have to pass the entrance exam to get in. Economic Buyer An increasingly old-fashioned term, the most relevant explanation means the person who really makes the decision. It used to

FAB Feature-Advantage-Benefit. An insight into how you should structure a pitch. Advantage is sometimes switched to Function. Lead with describing a product’s Feature, highlight what this enables it to achieve (the Advantage or Function), before ending with “which means that…”, where you state the glorious

Gap Analysis Also known as ‘white space’ analysis, there is always something that people should be buying but in actual fact they are not.  Typically, when they realise that they’re missing out they’re receptive to remedying the shortfall.  Identifying where such opportunities exist is

Hat-Stand Close Lovers of Columbo and Morse cheer. This refers to the question right at the death masked as a forgetful aside, when it is really the only thing the super-sleuth wanted to know. The potential customer is off-guard because the meeting has ended. Ask it on your way out,

Influencer Someone involved in the decision (maybe in the DMU) who cannot provide the signature but has sway. May or may not be outranked by a Recommender. Inside Inside, or Internal, salesreps are telesales professionals that usually support someone in the field. ITT Invitation to Tender. A formal document that

Jargon Descriptions, words, nicknames and initials that your average man on the street wouldn’t have a clue what they mean. It’s beast to avoid using jargon wherever possible, as the main danger is that when a prospect hears something they don’t understand, they feel