Lead scoring, MQL, pipeline: our field loves its jargon. Here it all is, explained the way you would at a birthday party.
Across the site, technical terms have a dotted underline. Hover over or tap one to see what it means in one sentence. Below you'll also find an example for each term and why it matters.
No term found. Missing one? Email it to rick@vanderwalt.eu and we'll add it.
In short What it costs to win one new customer: marketing and sales added together.
Example: €30,000 on marketing and sales in a year, 15 new customers: a CAC of €2,000.
Why it matters: If your CAC is higher than what a customer brings in, growth makes you poorer.
In short Customers who leave or don't renew their contract.
Example: Of the 100 customers at the start of the year, 8 are gone by December: 8% churn.
Why it matters: Keeping a customer is almost always cheaper than finding a new one.
In short What a customer is worth to you on average over the whole time they stay a customer.
Example: A customer pays €5,000 a year and stays four years on average: a CLV of €20,000.
Why it matters: Once you know what a customer is worth, you know what you can spend to win one.
In short The percentage of people who take the next step, for example from quote to order.
Example: 4 out of 12 quotes get signed: a 33% conversion rate.
Why it matters: A few percent better conversion often beats twice as many visitors.
In short Every step a customer takes: from first hearing your name to renewing their contract.
Example: Someone reads an article, downloads a checklist, asks for a quote, becomes a customer and calls with a question six months later.
Why it matters: If you don't know the journey, you can't see where people drop out.
In short A concrete sales opportunity in your CRM, with an amount and a stage such as 'quote sent'.
Example: Deal: 'New Utrecht branch', €18,000, stage 'quote sent', 60% probability.
Why it matters: If stages aren't clearly defined, 'almost closed' means something different to every salesperson.
In short A well-founded prediction of the revenue coming in over the next few months.
Example: Based on the pipeline you expect €120,000 this quarter, give or take 10%.
Why it matters: Without a reliable forecast, decisions about hiring and purchasing rest on gut feeling.
In short The steps from unknown visitor to customer, drawn as a funnel: lots of people at the top, fewer at the bottom.
Example: 1,000 visitors, 40 enquiries, 12 quotes, 4 new customers.
Why it matters: Measure how many people move on at each step and you see exactly where you lose them.
In short A key figure you steer by, such as lead response time or the share of quotes you win.
Example: 'Every enquiry answered within 4 working hours' is a KPI you can measure weekly.
Why it matters: Steering by twenty numbers means steering by none.
In short The label in your CRM that says where someone stands: subscriber, lead, MQL, SQL or customer.
Example: A newsletter reader is a 'subscriber'; once they ask for a demo, they become an 'SQL'.
Why it matters: With one set of labels, marketing and sales finally talk about the same thing.
In short All your open sales opportunities in a row, by stage: from first meeting to signed quote.
Example: Ten opportunities in 'meeting booked', five in 'quote sent', two in 'negotiation'.
Why it matters: An honest pipeline tells you today whether you'll hit next quarter's target.
In short Revenue you miss out on because something in the process stalls, like an enquiry left untouched for days.
Example: A quote request on Friday afternoon that gets answered on Tuesday, while a competitor called on Monday.
Why it matters: Leaks don't show up in your revenue figures, only in what's missing from them.
In short Getting marketing, sales and service to work as one team, with one process and the same numbers.
Example: Marketing, sales and service look at the same customer in the same CRM, instead of each keeping their own spreadsheet.
Why it matters: Without one owner for the whole chain, customers fall between departments and nobody knows where revenue gets stuck.
In short Someone who has shown interest, for example by filling in a form or downloading a white paper.
Example: A buyer who downloads your CRM selection guide becomes a lead at that moment.
Why it matters: Not every lead is a customer-to-be: that's why you agree on when sales picks up the phone.
In short How quickly and how well you respond to someone who gets in touch.
Example: At a car dealer group, lead response time dropped from 8 hours to 1 hour with one lead process for all branches.
Why it matters: Whoever calls back first has the best chance of winning the work.
In short Giving leads points based on who they are and what they do, so you know who to call first.
Example: Job title 'director' +10, viewed pricing page +15, student email address −20. Above 50 points, sales calls.
Why it matters: Your salespeople spend their time on the people who are actually ready.
In short Emails and tasks that start automatically based on what someone does, such as a follow-up email after a download.
Example: Whoever downloads the CRM checklist gets an email three days later about the most common mistakes.
Why it matters: Nobody has to remember who should get which email when.
In short Someone warm enough to follow up, but not yet waiting for a sales call.
Example: Someone who views your pricing page three times is an MQL. Call straight away and you're the pushy salesperson; wait a month and they're gone.
Why it matters: A clear MQL definition ends the endless debate about whether marketing delivers 'good leads'.
In short A firm agreement between teams or with a customer, for example: every enquiry gets a reply within 4 working hours.
Example: Marketing only passes on leads with a phone number; sales calls them within one working day.
Why it matters: An agreement you can measure is one you can keep.
In short Someone with a concrete need and a reason to talk now: ready for a conversation with sales.
Example: A managing director asking for a quote for 25 users starting in January.
Why it matters: An SQL left waiting for a week often becomes your competitor's customer.
In short Software's power socket: a standard connection that lets systems talk to each other securely.
Example: Your web shop uses HubSpot's API to send every new customer straight to the CRM.
Why it matters: If a system has a good API, it's easy to connect later.
In short The system where you keep track of all customers, conversations and sales opportunities. HubSpot and Dynamics 365 are examples.
Example: You open the company 'Jansen Ltd' and immediately see the last email, the open quote and last week's service call.
Why it matters: If it's not in the CRM, it didn't happen, and nobody else can pick it up.
In short One screen with your key numbers that updates itself.
Example: On Monday morning you see at a glance: new leads, response time, open quotes and expected revenue.
Why it matters: No more spreadsheet exports for the weekly meeting.
In short How complete, correct and up to date your customer data is, and the agreement that there is one place holding the right version.
Example: 'Jansen Ltd' three times in the CRM, each with a different phone number: that's poor data quality.
Why it matters: Reports and AI are only as good as the data underneath. Rubbish in, rubbish out.
In short The system for orders, stock and invoices, such as Exact, AFAS or SAP.
Example: The CRM knows a customer is interested; the ERP knows what they bought last year and whether they pay on time.
Why it matters: If CRM and ERP don't talk to each other, someone types everything twice.
In short The rules around your system and data: who may change what, and who owns which data.
Example: Only the CRM administrator creates new fields; each team has one owner for its data.
Why it matters: Without rules, every CRM fills up within a few years with fields nobody understands.
In short Two systems exchanging data automatically, so nobody has to enter anything twice.
Example: A new order in the ERP shows up on the customer record in the CRM by itself.
Why it matters: Every manual copy-and-paste is a chance for an error.
In short Moving to a new system and bringing your existing data along properly.
Example: 15,000 contacts, 4,000 companies and five years of quotes from the old CRM into HubSpot.
Why it matters: A move is the moment to clean up: moving the clutter costs you twice later on.
In short A small, contained trial of AI on one process, with success defined up front.
Example: Testing AI summaries of service calls for six weeks and measuring how many minutes it saves per call.
Why it matters: You find out what AI delivers before you really invest in it.
In short An AI assistant built into your software that prepares work for you, such as Microsoft Copilot in Dynamics 365.
Example: After a customer call, Copilot drafts the summary and the agreed actions in the CRM.
Why it matters: It saves typing, but you always check what it wrote.
In short The database underneath Dynamics 365 and the other Microsoft Power apps.
Example: Your customer data in Dynamics 365 lives in Dataverse, so Power BI and your own apps can use it too.
Why it matters: One database for all Microsoft apps means one version of your customer.
In short Microsoft's tool for automating recurring tasks between systems, without programming.
Example: When an enquiry comes in through the website, Power Automate creates a task for the right salesperson.
Why it matters: Boring clicks disappear and nothing gets forgotten.
In short Whether your people really use the new system, even when nobody is watching.
Example: Three months after go-live, half the sales team still keeps their appointments in Outlook: low adoption.
Why it matters: The best CRM delivers nothing if the team keeps working around it.
In short The ordered wish list of everything still to be done, with the most important at the top.
Example: At the top: cleaning up duplicate contacts. At the bottom: an app for field sales.
Why it matters: One list stops requests from disappearing into emails and corridor chats.
In short The moment the new system actually goes into use.
Example: Monday 9 am: the old CRM is locked and everyone works in HubSpot from now on.
Why it matters: Go-live is the start, not the finish: that's when improving really begins.
In short Filling a role in your organisation temporarily, until you've filled it properly yourself.
Example: An interim RevOps lead sets up the process and then hands it over to your own employee.
Why it matters: You get experience on board straight away, without a permanent hire.
In short Getting new customers or users up and running quickly.
Example: A new customer gets a welcome email, a kick-off call and a check after 30 days to see if all is well.
Why it matters: The first few weeks decide whether a customer stays.
In short The person who decides what gets built and in what order, so the most valuable work comes first.
Example: Sales wants a new report, service wants a customer portal: the Product Owner picks what goes first and explains why.
Why it matters: Without a Product Owner, the team builds whatever is shouted loudest, not what delivers most.
In short A short review of your process and CRM, with improvements ranked by what they deliver.
Example: After a few conversations and a look in your CRM you get a list: this first, this later, not this.
Why it matters: You know where to start before spending money on a big project.
In short The high-level plan: what we tackle in the coming months, and why.
Example: Q1 sort out the lead process, Q2 connect the ERP, Q3 the first AI application.
Why it matters: Everyone can see where things are heading, even if their own wish isn't at the top.
In short A way of working where you deliver something usable in short, fixed periods and then adjust.
Example: Every two weeks a demo of what's been built in the CRM, and together you choose what comes next.
Why it matters: You see results quickly and can correct course in time, instead of finding out after six months that it should have been different.
In short A fixed period, usually two weeks, in which the team finishes an agreed piece of work.
Example: Sprint 3: the quote form and the ERP integration. Demo on Friday.
Why it matters: Short rounds keep things manageable and stop a project from dragging on forever.
In a 30-minute introduction we translate your question into what it means for your business. No jargon, promise.