Department lexicon / Sales
The language behind the number.
A plain-English sales glossary for the terms that show up in comp plans, forecast calls, pipeline reviews, recognition programs, and the conversations in between.
- Sales quota
- The revenue, bookings, units, or activity target assigned to a salesperson or team for a defined period. It is the number performance and, often, variable compensation are measured against.
- Quota-carrying rep
- A salesperson whose role has an assigned sales target. Account executives are commonly quota-carrying. Other revenue roles may or may not be, depending on the compensation plan.
- Carry a number
- Sales shorthand for having an individual quota or target attached to your role. If your work is formally measured against a number, you carry a number.
- Attainment
- The percentage of quota achieved during a period. A rep at 100% attainment has reached the assigned target. Above 100% means the target has been exceeded.
- Pipeline
- Open sales opportunities that may become revenue. Teams usually describe pipeline by stage, value, timing, and confidence rather than treating every opportunity as equally likely to close.
- Forecast
- A projection of what a sales team expects to close during a future period. Forecasts usually combine opportunity data with seller and manager judgment.
- Commit
- The portion of a sales forecast a seller or leader is willing to call with the highest confidence. Exact definitions vary by company, but commit generally represents the deals the team expects to land.
- Upside
- Opportunities that could close within the forecast period but are less certain than commit. Upside is real pipeline, not the same thing as a committed outcome.
- Closed-won
- A sales opportunity that has been recorded as successfully won. The exact financial meaning can vary by company, depending on whether the business measures bookings, contract value, revenue, or another metric.
- PIP
- A performance improvement plan. In sales, a PIP is a formal process used when performance is below expectations and specific improvement requirements, timelines, and consequences are documented.
- President’s Club
- A recognition program commonly used by sales organizations to reward top performers. Qualification rules vary, but club usually recognizes a small group that materially exceeded the performance bar.
- SKO
- Sales kickoff. A company or revenue-team gathering used to align the field on strategy, goals, product changes, enablement, recognition, and the year ahead.
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