Glossary

B2B prospecting glossary

Outbound prospecting terms, from targeting to deliverability, explained plainly. Each definition points to the guide that goes deeper.

Updated 2026-10-05

In short

This glossary defines fifty B2B prospecting terms: targeting (ICP, persona, TAM), buying signals, sequences and channels, email deliverability (SPF, DKIM, DMARC, warmup), compliance (legitimate interest, opt-out) and sales organisation (SDR, BDR, MQL, SQL, pipeline). Definitions are vendor-neutral and link to our practical guides.

Targeting

ICP (ideal customer profile): A description of the companies that get the most value from your offer: industry, size, location, situation. A useful ICP translates into filterable criteria. See Define your ICP.
Persona: A portrait of a person to contact inside an ICP company: role, seniority, part in the decision, main problem. Usually two or three per segment.
TAM (total addressable market): All the companies that could buy your offer. The ICP is the part where you win most often.
Segment: A subset of the ICP sharing the same context and deserving its own message, for example one industry and one headcount band.
Decision-maker: The person with authority to sign or allocate budget. Distinct from the influencer, who recommends, and the user, who will use the solution.
Account-based marketing (ABM): An approach that treats a short list of target accounts as markets of one, with coordinated marketing and sales messages and actions for each.
Enrichment: Adding information to a prospect record: work email, phone, LinkedIn profile, company data. It should stay limited to what the message needs.
Lead scoring: A score given to a prospect based on ICP fit and signs of interest, to prioritise who to work first.

Signals and timing

Buying signal: An observable event that makes an offer more relevant to a company at a given moment: a new executive, hiring, a funding round, a tender, an expansion. See buying signals.
Intent signal: A sign that a company is actively interested in a topic: searches, page visits, content consumption. Harder to observe reliably than a public event.
Trigger: The reason a prospect needs your offer now rather than later. A buying signal is the visible trace of a trigger.
Action window: The period during which a signal remains a relevant reason to write. It varies by signal: days for a post, months for a new role.

Sequences and messages

Outbound: Prospecting where the company reaches out to prospects who have not asked to be contacted, by email, LinkedIn or phone.
Inbound: Prospecting where prospects come to the company: a form, a download, a demo request. Inbound and outbound complement each other.
Cold email: An email to a prospect with no existing relationship with the sender. In the EU it is governed by GDPR and national e-privacy rules.
Sequence: A series of scheduled steps (emails, LinkedIn actions, calls) sent to a prospect until they reply. See Multichannel sequence.
Cadence: The rhythm of a sequence: number of touches and the delay between them. Sometimes used for the sequence itself.
Multichannel prospecting: Combining several channels (email, LinkedIn, phone) in one sequence, coordinated so the prospect perceives a single conversation.
Follow-up: A message sent after a first touch that got no reply. A good follow-up brings something new rather than a mere reminder.
Opener (hook): The first sentence of a message, explaining why you are writing to this person now. Anchored on a signal or a precise observation, it often decides whether the rest gets read.
Personalisation: Adapting a message to the prospect’s situation. Inserting a first name is not it; addressing their signal, industry or problem is.
Variable: A field filled automatically in a message ([First name], [Company]). An empty or badly filled variable gives the automation away and must be checked before launch.
A/B test: Comparing two versions of a message (subject, opener, call to action) sent to comparable groups, to keep the one that gets more replies.
Landing page: The web page a message points to. In prospecting it can be personalised for one prospect or segment and offer a booking link.

Metrics

Reply rate: The share of contacted prospects who reply, positively or not. The most reliable indicator of a prospecting campaign.
Positive reply rate: The share of contacted prospects who reply with interest: a question, a meeting, “get back to me later”.
Open rate: The share of emails deemed opened, measured with an invisible image. It has become unreliable: some mail clients preload images and record phantom opens, others block tracking.
Acceptance rate: On LinkedIn, the share of connection requests accepted. It reflects how relevant the target and the sender’s profile are.
Bounce rate: The share of emails not delivered. A hard bounce (address does not exist) should remove the address from the list; a high rate damages sender reputation.

Deliverability

Deliverability: An email’s ability to reach the inbox rather than spam. It depends on authentication, reputation and sending behaviour. See Cold email deliverability.
SPF: A DNS record listing the servers allowed to send email for a domain.
DKIM: A cryptographic signature added to each email, checked against a public key in DNS, proving the message comes from the domain and was not altered.
DMARC: A DNS record telling mailbox providers what to do with an email that fails SPF or DKIM (nothing, quarantine, reject) and where to send reports.
Secondary domain: A domain close to the brand, reserved for prospecting, which protects the reputation of the main domain used for everyday mail.
Warmup: Gradually ramping up a new sending mailbox, often with automated exchanges between mailboxes, to build reputation before campaigns.
Spam complaint rate: The share of recipients who mark an email as spam. Google asks senders to stay below 0.1% and never reach 0.3%.
One-click unsubscribe: A mechanism (List-Unsubscribe headers) that shows an “Unsubscribe” button in the mail client. Required by Google and Yahoo for marketing messages from bulk senders.

Compliance

GDPR: The EU General Data Protection Regulation. It applies to prospect data, including work data. See B2B prospecting and GDPR.
Legitimate interest: A GDPR legal basis which, according to the French regulator (CNIL), allows emailing a professional without prior consent if the message relates to their role and they can object.
Opt-out: The recipient’s ability to refuse further messages, via a link or a simple reply. Required in every prospecting email.
Opt-in: Prior, explicit consent to receive messages. Generally required for email prospecting aimed at consumers in the EU.
Suppression list: A list of people who refused to be contacted, checked before every campaign so they are never contacted again.

Sales organisation

SDR (Sales Development Representative): A rep who qualifies prospects, often inbound, and books them a meeting with an account executive who closes.
BDR (Business Development Representative): A rep focused on outbound: identifying, contacting and qualifying new accounts. The two titles are often used interchangeably.
MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead): A contact marketing considers promising, based on profile and engagement, but not yet accepted by sales.
SQL (Sales Qualified Lead): A prospect qualified by sales: need, budget, timeline or decision-maker confirmed, ready for a proposal.
Pipeline: All open opportunities, organised by stage (first meeting, proposal, negotiation), used to forecast revenue.
CRM: Customer relationship management software that centralises contacts, accounts, conversations and opportunities.
Managed outbound: Prospecting handed to an external team that runs targeting, messaging and campaigns on the client’s behalf. See our managed service.
GEO (Generative Engine Optimization): Working on content so that AI-based answer engines understand, reuse and cite it, alongside classic search engine optimisation.

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