Basic terminology in Dynamic CRM

Sales processes typically map to specific types of records that are often used with working with sales automation software. It is important to understand key terminology used in sales and with sales process automation software.

The list below provides definitions for commonly used sales terms and selling components:

Term	Definition
Account	An account represents a business or organization. Sometimes this organization is a customer or a vendor. In some organizations, it might be a different grouping, such as a family. Typically, an account will have related contact records.
Activities	An activity represents supporting records and customer interactions. By default, the system will have activities such as email, appointment, and phone call already configured. Other custom activities meet extra needs of the business.
Contact	A contact represents a single individual. A contact will often have many related records such as an account and activities.
Customer	A customer can be either an account or a contact. Typically speaking, in a business-to-business scenario, this is an account. In a business to consumer scenario, this is a contact.
Lead	A lead represents someone with an interest in what you are selling. A lead might be an existing client, or someone that you have never done business with before.
Opportunity	Like a lead, an opportunity is a potential sales transaction. Typically, an opportunity is a more viable prospect than a lead, and it will contain more information and be tracked for a longer period of time.
Product Catalog	A collection of records that interact with opportunities, quotes, orders, and invoices to facilitate management of products, price lists, discounts, and product families for sales transactions.
Quote	A formal offer for products or services, proposed at specific prices and related payment terms to a customer.
Order	A confirmed request for delivery of goods and services based on specified terms, or a quote that has been accepted by a customer.
Invoice	An order or record of a sale including details about products or services purchased that has been billed to the customer.
Sales Pipeline	A sales pipeline is a snapshot of where prospects are in the sales process. A typical pipeline would show how many deals salespeople are expected to close in a given week, month, or year, and how close a rep is to reaching their sales quota.
Competitors	Competitors are organizations that you are competing with to win deals.

The image below shows an example what a sales lifecycle might look like from beginning to end:

In the image above, we can see a potential customer has contacted our organization expressing an interest in our products and services. They are captured and entered as a lead.

• Qualify: An account executive reaches out to the lead to gather more information about them and determine if a relationship would be mutually beneficial.

  • If it is determined that it is not a good fit, the lead is disqualified and the sales cycle ends.

  • If it is determined that everyone is a good fit, the lead is qualified and converted to an opportunity.

• Develop: The opportunity record is used to develop the details of the deal. Details such as the products and services they are interested in, estimated revenue, and time-lines are added to the opportunity.

• Propose: Once the deal is ready, a quote is added to the opportunity that represents the formal proposal to the customer.

• Close: When the customer agrees to the quote, an order is generated. The quote and opportunity associated with the order are closed.

• Fulfill: After the order is fulfilled, an invoice is generated to bill the customer.

To help manage the sales lifecycle, organizations often use salesforce automation software. Modern sales automation software not only helps guide and automate the selling process, but they provide tools to enhance the digital selling experience and build long lasting relationships with customers.