Top 13 Sales Terms and What They Mean

I would rather entertain and hope that people learned something than educate people and hope they were entertained.

~Walt Disney

Ever wonder what all the sales jargon means?  Here is a look at some of the more basic terms:

Close:  If you close a sale, you’ve slam dunked and high-fived your colleagues and boss.    Can you say return or refund?  Most sales only begin once you’ve come to agreement to do business

Cold call:   The term alone seems to raise the “b.s. meter” jump several decimal points.  Go ahead, ask a group about cold calling and you will get endless advice, debates, opinions, and experts.    News flash:  Everyone does cold calls!  You've walked into a business without an appointment, you've asked an administrator who the best person to talk to, you've followed up a referral, or  you've telephoned, e-mailed, sent a letter to someone you’ve never met to introduce yourself, promote a product or sell a service.

Decision Maker:   Is the Ogre that will jump out at you or growl at you if you disturb them.  In reality, many sales professionals have learned the hard way after they’ve wined and dined the person they thought was the decision maker only to find out that they bought from someone else who was talking to the decision maker all along.

Farmer:  Someone who harvests crops, sometimes complains about the weather, and drives a tractor.  In sales it is used to describe a sales style.  Some sales professionals like to rely on warm leads while talking about their golf score, while others specialize in growing existing business by finding other departments or persons within their customer base to add revenue.

Forecast:   Usually, it is because you are planning an outing and want to know whether or not you should take an umbrella.   To sales professionals, it is how you determine what dollar figure you will arrive at and will be accountable for.

Gatekeeper:  Someone you should avoid at all cost!  They will make your life miserable, often curt or sometimes rude, they’re job is to get rid of you before you annoy or interrupt their boss.   Should you start out with this super person, it is best to get on their good side, ask them for permission to speak to

Hunter:   Someone that Daffy Duck always avoids in cartoons.   It is a sales professional who gets an adrenalin rush from uncovering a prospect, steals a customer from the competition and knows what the term “cold call” means.

Negotiate:   Some people will negotiate just to barter the price down – they don’t see the value in what you are offering, their only goal is to see if they can squeeze a “deal” out of you.  If you’ve done your homework, understood your customer, really listened, you avoid this phase altogether.  

Networking:    Scoring marks of a networking champion by the amount of business cards they can hand out in the shortest period of time, like speed dating.  Networking is when you speak and share information with attendees at a business conference, luncheon, dinner, or event.   

Objection:  Is where you haven’t convinced your prospect to buy because they are asking you endless, annoying questions when all you want to do is get them to sign or give you the money.    Objections are clues to figure out what the hesitation to move forward is.

Prospect:  Synonymous with target, market, or object for whom you are attempting to sell to.   If you haven’t done your research to even know if they’re in the market, they are a suspect.  Once you’ve established communication and interest, you’ve earned the right to call them a prospect.

Qualify:  Can they even pay for what you are selling them?  Or, do they enjoy playing with you, like a cat does with a mouse?  Yes, it may  look promising if they take a Porche for a test drive, however, if they drove up in a ’69 Beetle (unless they’re a rock star) they may be wasting your time where you can try selling to someone who can actually buy.  Asking the right questions will tell you that they were delivering pizza.

Referral:  Geez, you gave me a smokin’ deal or I get a rebate if I tell my friends to call you.  The best referrals often take place after an extended period of time because most people don’t refer someone unless they think they will make them look good.