GTM Ops Glossary

ICP (Ideal Customer Profile)

The type of company you want more of — your best-fit customers.

Persona

The type of person you sell to inside those companies (ex: Head of Ops, CFO).

TAM / SAM / SOM

How big your market is: TAM = everyone, SAM = realistic target slice, SOM = who you can win now.

Lead

Anyone who shows interest or comes into your system. Not qualified yet.

MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead)

A lead that looks promising based on fit or engagement.

SQL (Sales Qualified Lead)

A lead that sales agrees is worth talking to — ready for a real conversation.

SAL (Sales Accepted Lead)

Sales has accepted the lead and agrees to work it.

Pipeline

All active deals your sales team is working on.

Inbound

Leads that come to you (form fills, chat, trial signup, demo request).

Outbound

Leads your team goes after (emails, calls, sequences, outbound SDR motion).

Intent Data

Signals that a company is researching something you sell (G2, website visits, etc.).

Lifecycle Stages

Labels that show where someone is in your funnel (Lead → MQL → SQL → Opp → Customer).

Opportunity

A potential deal that sales is actively working on with a real chance to close.

Stage

The step in your sales process (ex: Discovery, Demo, Eval, Contract Sent).

Conversion Rate

Percentage of leads that move from one stage to the next.

Win Rate

Percentage of opportunities that become customers.

Close Rate

Same as win rate, but usually measured for a specific stage or time period.

Deal Velocity / Sales Cycle

How long it takes to move from first touch → closed deal.

TCV (Total Contract Value)

Total revenue from the entire contract.

ACV (Annual Contract Value)

Revenue generated per year of the contract.

ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue)

Subscription revenue that repeats every year.

Renewal

When a customer signs on for another contract period.

Churn

When a customer leaves or stops paying.

Expansion / Upsell

Customer pays you more than before (more seats, products, usage, etc.).

Attribution

Figuring out which marketing or sales touchpoints helped create a lead.

UTM Parameters

Tags added to URLs so you know where traffic came from (ad, email, social, etc.).

Nurture

Automated emails/messages to keep leads warm until ready to buy.

Lead Score

Point system to rank which leads are most likely to buy.

Territory

The grouping of accounts reps are responsible for (by region, industry, size, etc).

Routing

Automation that decides where a lead goes (to which rep or team).

SLAs (Service-Level Agreements)

Rules for how fast sales or success must respond.

Enrichment

Filling in missing info on leads/accounts using tools like Clay, Clearbit, Apollo.

Data Hygiene

Keeping CRM data clean, accurate, and deduped.

RevOps

The team that owns the systems, data, processes, automation, and reporting across marketing, sales, and CS.

GTM Ops

Same as RevOps, but typically broader — includes strategy + execution for the entire go-to-market.

Playbook

A step-by-step guide for how a team should run a specific process (ex: Lead Handoff, Qualification, Onboarding).

Enablement

Training, tools, and content that help sales or CS do their jobs better.

Forecast

A prediction of how much revenue you'll close this month/quarter.

MRR / ARR Movement

Changes in recurring revenue (new, expansion, contraction, churn).

Usage Data

How customers are actually using your product — often tied to renewals or upsell.

📖 GTM Ops Glossary