The language of
Revenue Operations.

The average monthly or annual revenue generated per customer account. Unlike ACV (which measures new deal value) or ASP (which measures closing price), ARPA reflects the ongoing revenue contribution of the entire customer base, including expansion and contraction over time.

The annualized value of all active subscription contracts. The north-star metric for SaaS businesses.

The average deal size across closed-won opportunities in a given period.

A sales role responsible for running the full sales cycle from qualified meeting through closed deal.

A model that ranks accounts by their likelihood to buy, expand, or churn based on firmographic, behavioral, and engagement data at the account level.

An evolution of ABM that extends account-based thinking beyond marketing into sales, CS, and product. All revenue functions coordinate around a shared set of target accounts.

The quantitative inputs (calls, emails, meetings, demos) that leading indicators suggest will produce pipeline and revenue outputs.

The comprehensive yearly plan that defines revenue targets, headcount, budgets, and the strategy to achieve company goals.

The yearly process of setting revenue targets, building capacity models, designing territories, finalizing comp plans, and allocating budgets across the revenue org. RevOps typically owns the modeling and cross-functional coordination.

The percentage of customers who purchase an additional product or module beyond the initial purchase, measuring multi-product adoption.

The methodology for assigning credit to marketing and sales touchpoints that influenced a deal. Models include first-touch, last-touch, linear, and W-shaped.

The annualized value of a single contract. For multi-year deals, ACV normalizes the total contract value to a per-year figure for consistent comparison.

The mean contract value of closed-won deals, used for pipeline modeling, forecasting, and segmentation analysis.

A classic sales qualification framework assessing Budget, Authority, Need, and Timeline to determine if a prospect is worth pursuing.

A lead qualification framework: Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline. Determines whether a prospect has the resources, power, requirement, and urgency to buy.

The total value of new contracts signed in a period, including new business, renewals, and expansions. Distinct from revenue, which is recognized over the contract term.

The decision stage of the marketing and sales funnel where prospects are ready to buy and need final validation to choose a vendor.

A revenue framework shaped like a bowtie, where the left side represents acquisition (awareness to close) and the right side represents expansion (onboarding to advocacy), with the deal at the center.

Net cash burned divided by net new ARR. Measures capital efficiency -- how many dollars are burned to generate each dollar of new revenue. Lower is better; under 2x is considered efficient.

Behavioral signals that indicate a prospect is actively researching or evaluating solutions. Sources include content consumption patterns, review site visits, competitor comparisons, and search activity.

The number of months it takes to recover the cost of acquiring a customer through their gross margin contribution.

Software and process for generating accurate, approved quotes based on product configuration, pricing rules, and discount policies.

Modeling how many reps, SDRs, or CSMs are needed to hit revenue targets based on quota, ramp time, attrition, and pipeline assumptions.

A methodology for testing process changes by running a new approach (challenger) against the current standard (champion) with a subset of reps, then measuring which performs better before rolling out org-wide.

A sales strategy where you sell through third-party partners such as resellers, distributors, or referral partners rather than directly.

The rate at which customers or revenue is lost over a period of time.

The percentage of customers (logo churn) or revenue (revenue churn) lost in a given period.

An analytical method that groups customers by a shared characteristic or time period to track how their behavior changes over time.

The structure defining how reps earn variable pay, including base/variable split, quota, accelerators, decelerators, and clawbacks. RevOps typically models and administers comp plans.

The systematic collection, analysis, and distribution of information about competitors to inform sales strategy, product positioning, and pricing decisions.

The reduction in monthly recurring revenue from existing customers due to downgrades, seat reductions, or discount increases.

The percentage of records that advance from one stage to the next (e.g., MQL to SQL, SQL to opportunity, opportunity to closed-won).

Total marketing spend on a campaign or channel divided by the number of leads generated. A foundational efficiency metric for demand generation.

The cost to acquire a single customer or lead through a specific marketing campaign or channel, distinct from the blended CAC metric.

Total sales and marketing spend divided by the number of new customers acquired in a period.

A metric that measures how easy it is for customers to interact with a company, resolve issues, or achieve their goals with the product.

A composite metric combining product usage, support tickets, NPS, engagement frequency, and contract data to predict a customer's likelihood to renew or churn.

The invisible portion of the buyer journey that occurs outside trackable channels -- podcasts, Slack communities, word-of-mouth, private social. Revenue teams can't attribute it, but it drives pipeline.

The policies, standards, and accountability structures that ensure data across revenue systems is accurate, consistent, secure, and compliant. Goes beyond hygiene to include ownership and access controls.

The ongoing practice of cleaning, deduplicating, enriching, and standardizing data across revenue systems.

The automated movement, transformation, and synchronization of data across revenue systems to ensure every tool has the right information at the right time.

A cross-functional team or process that manages non-standard deal structures, pricing exceptions, and contract approvals.

The set of marketing programs designed to create awareness and drive qualified pipeline. Distinct from lead gen in that it focuses on creating demand, not just capturing it.

A framework originally developed by SiriusDecisions that defines the stages a lead passes through from initial inquiry to qualified opportunity.

The first substantive conversation between a seller and a prospect, focused on understanding the buyer's situation, pain, and desired outcomes. The quality of discovery directly predicts deal velocity and win rate.

The process of recovering failed subscription payments through automated retry logic, customer notifications, and payment method update prompts.

The process of augmenting lead or account records with third-party data (firmographics, technographics, intent signals) to improve routing, scoring, and prioritization.

A market segment and sales motion focused on large organizations with complex buying processes, multiple stakeholders, and high-value deals.

The additional monthly recurring revenue generated from existing customers through upsells, cross-sells, and plan upgrades.

Revenue growth from existing customers through upsells, cross-sells, seat additions, and usage increases. Expansion revenue is the engine behind net revenue retention above 100%. Companies with strong expansion motions can grow even with moderate new logo acquisition because existing customers spend more over time.