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Sales and Marketing Glossary
Sales and Marketing Glossary





This glossary (sales dictionary) contains the most extensive list of sales terms on the web! If we've missed a sales definition please let us know.
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There are 244 entries in the glossary.
Pages: 1
Term Definition
package

the wrapping, packet, carton, bottle, box, etc, used for containment, protection or promotion of a product

 also refers to the whole product or service offering at a given price, upon given terms 

 
packaged goodsa sub-category of consumer non-durable goods, toothpaste, shampoo and soap powder are packaged consumer non-durables, see consumer non-durables and non-packaged goods
 
packagingthe materials (glass, aluminium, cardboard, etc) originally intended merely to contain and protect a product, the role of packaging has been broadened so that, in addition to containment and protection, its purpose is to attract attention, provide additional product information, and assist in promotion
 
palletisationthe packing of goods on to small wooden platforms, or pallets, for ease of handling in shipment
 
parasitic advertisingadvertising by one group which has an adverse effect upon another group, for example, the advertising of lamb may reduce sales of beef, the advertising of apples may reduce sales of pears
 
Pareto's principlethe idea or notion in business, commonly known as "the 80:20 rule", which says that eighty per cent of the revenue comes from twenty per cent of the products, that eighty per cent of the sales volume is derived from twenty per cent of the customer accounts, that eighty percent of the sales come from twenty percent of the sales force, etc, named after Vilfredo Pareto, the nineteenth century economist and sociologist
 
paretopolya market situation in which there are a few large sellers and many smaller ones
 
paretopsonya market situation in which there are a few large buyers and many smaller ones
 
partner relationship managementthe CRM element that extends sales, marketing, customer service and other enterprise business functions to resellers to foster better relationships
 
partnership sellingan approach to selling, where the seller truly collaborates with the buyer and buying organization to help the buyer come up with the best solution
 
pass-up methodhandling a buyer's objection by attempting to ignore or "pass off" the buyer's objection, especially if there is reason to believe that the objection is not made seriously and does not warrant a response
 
payback periodthe time taken for a new product to recover its investment cost and to generate profits, used as a measure of performance for new products
 
payout frequencythe timing of incentive payouts, these can be weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annually or annually
 
penetrated marketthe individuals or organisations in a particular market who have already purchased the product
 
people-based servicesservices in which people, rather than equipment or machinery, play the major role in delivery, for example, people play the major role in the delivery of financial planning services
 
PEPEP MethodProfessional Education Personnel Evaluation Program - an assessment of your professional career, it evaluates your professional goals and objectives, and sets up action items and proposed actions, as well as a way to assess your education and/or skills learned
 
per capita incomeaverage income per person in a population
 
per diem expense planthe payment of travel and accommodation expenses to a salesperson at a fixed daily rate
 
perceivedhow something is seen or regarded by someone, usually by the prospect or customer, irrespective of what is believed or presented by the seller
 
perceived valuewhat someone believes merchandise to be worth, to successfully sell premiums, the consumer must be convinced the proposed premium is worth putting forth the extra effort required to earn the item
 
percentage marginthe difference between cost and selling price, divided by the selling price plus tax (i.e. a product costs $1 and is sold for $2 plus tax produces a 50% margin)
 
percentage-of-sales methoda method of setting a budget for promotion in which the sum to be expended in a given period is a fixed percentage of the sales income for the previous period
 
perceptionthe way in which an individual interprets stimuli received by the senses
 
perceptual mappinga tool or process used in marketing research for charting the way individuals selected from the target market perceive different companies, products or brands, also called position mapping
 
perfect competitionsee pure competition
 
performance allowancea discount or price reduction given to a wholesaler or retailer who promises to perform some additional activity (special display, etc) to sell a greater quantity of product
 
performance appraisalan evaluation of the activities and effectiveness of a salesperson, marketing officer, etc during a given period
 
performance periodthe time span over which performance is measured for incentive purposes
 
performance pricethe value to a consumer of the time saved by using a new product to complete a specified task, the performance price can often offset other "time prices", see non-monetary price and time prices
 
performance riskconcern in the buyer's mind that the product being considered for purchase will not work efficiently, also called functional risk, see risk
 
perishabilityone of the four characteristics (with inseparability, intangibility and variability) which distinguish a service, perishability expresses the notion that a service cannot be made in advance and stored, see services marketing, inseparability, intangibility and variability
 
person marketingmarketing activity aimed at creating target market awareness, and a favourable opinion, of a particular person
 
personal incomethe wages, salary, etc earned by an individual
 
personal interviewa face-to-face meeting with a client, job applicant, buyer, marketing research respondent, etc
 
personal sellinga form of promotion utilising the services of a sales team, one of the major controllable variables (with advertising, sales promotion and publicity) of the promotion mix, see promotion mix
 
personalitythe distinctive character of an individual, used as a basis for the psychographic segmentation of a market in which individuals of relatively similar personality, with similar needs or wants, are grouped into one segment, see psychographic segmentation
 
personality segmentationthe division of a heterogeneous market into homogeneous groups on the basis of personality characteristics and enduring patterns of behaviour such as aggressiveness, compliance or compulsiveness, see psychographic segmentation
 
persuasive advertisingadvertising intended to persuade (rather than to inform or remind)
 
PERTacronym for program evaluation and review technique, a quantitative technique used as a managerial tool in planning and controlling complex programs, common use has been made of PERT, originally introduced for use in the aerospace industry, in the coordinating, timing and scheduling of the many activities in the new product development process
 
phantom freighta freight charge imposed upon a customer in excess of the true freight cost incurred by the supplier, for example, in the base-point pricing approach, a local customer will be charged a phantom freight when the freight charge is calculated from an arbitrarily-chosen, possibly distant, central point, see base-point pricing
 
physical distributionthe storage, handling and movement of goods within an organisation and their shipment to customers
 
physical distribution managementthe management and control of the activities involved in the storage, handling and movement of goods within an organisation and in their shipment to customers
 
physical riskconcern in the buyer's mind that the product being considered for purchase will be harmful, unhealthy or cause injury
 
physiological needsinnate human feelings of deprivation related to an individual's biological well-being, see psychological needs
 
piggybacka system of transportation requiring the transfer of containers from truck to rail, see birdyback and fishyback
 
pioneering advertisingadvertising which is intended to create primary rather than selective demand, commonly used at the introductory stage of the product's life cycle, see primary demand and selective demand
 
pipeline

also known as the sales funnel, the tracking of suspects, to prospects to initial contact, to presentation, to sale and the volume of movement across these categories, see sales funnel

is also described as the position of the prospect through the different stages of the sales cycle, length of the pipeline is the sales cycle time, which varies  

 
pipeline analysismonitoring the success of the sales rep by understanding the rate and ratio of success moving suspects to customers through the various stages of the sales process, known as the pipeline or sales funnel
 
pipeline transportationthe carriage, delivery or shipment of a gas or liquid product by pipeline
 
placeone of the four controllable variables (with product, price and promotion) of the marketing mix, the delivery of a good or service to a consumer, also referred to as distribution, see marketing mix
 
place marketingmarketing activity intended to promote an awareness, and favourable opinion, of a particular place or region
 
place strategythe element of a firm's decision-making concerned with developing an efficient and effective means of storing and handling finished products and of getting them efficiently to the target market
 
place utilitythe value given to a product by virtue of the fact that it is where it is wanted
 
plain vanillaslang term for a product with only the most basic features, see bells and whistles
 
planned cannibalisationthe expected loss of sales of a product in a line to a more recent product introduction; planned cannibalisation might occur when a company wants its customers to switch to another of its own products rather than to a product of a competitor, see cannibalisation
 
planned obsolescencea tactic by which a manufacturer deliberately seeks to make earlier versions of its product appear undesirable in the eyes of consumers who have purchased them in order to expand the market for later versions by improving the characteristics of later versions or by altering consumers' perceptions of the desirability of the models they have already purchased
 
planningsee strategic planning, marketing planning, and sales planning
 
planning horizonthe total time span covered by a firm's marketing plans, the length of the planning horizon is commonly determined by the degree of uncertainty in the environment
 
point-of-purchasemarketing term for where product is displayed in a store
 
point-of-purchase displaysa form of promotion used to support personal selling and advertising, displays, consisting of packages, signs, display cartons and so on (more common in the marketing of consumer goods) are used to provide additional product information and to impel on-the-spot buying
 
polyopolya market situation in which there are no large sellers but many small ones
 
polyopsonya market situation in which there are no large buyers but many small ones
 
populationin marketing research, the total group that a researcher wishes to study, also called the universe
 
population characteristicsvariables including age, gender, income, marital status, education, nationality, race, religion, etc. upon which a population may be segmented
 
portfolio testsa method of pre-testing an advertisement, after looking through a portfolio of different versions of a particular advertisement, respondents chosen from the target market are asked to recall in detail those which they can remember
 
POSpoint of sale - where sales transaction takes place, usually electronic purchase
 
possession utilitythe value given to a product by virtue of the fact that the purchaser has the legal right to own and use it freely
 
post-purchase evaluationthe quick mental assessment of a low-involvement product by a consumer after purchase, see low-involvement product
 
post-purchase satisfactionthe pleasure that a carefully selected high-involvement product gives to a consumer after purchase, see high-involvement product
 
postage stamp pricingsee uniform delivered pricing
 
posteran outdoor advertising medium, a billboard
 
potential marketall the individuals and organisations in a particular market who have some level of interest in the product
 
PRpublic relations
 
pre-approach stagethe first stage in the selling process, the stage in which a salesperson prospects for new accounts, qualifies them and prepares to make contact with the prospect
 
pre-ticketingthe practice by a vendor of placing a tag on each product sold listing its particular style, size, colour, etc, the pre-ticketing is designed to make re-ordering easier for a reseller
 
predatory pricinga pricing practice by which a company hopes to inhibit or eliminate competition by charging lower than normal prices for its products in certain geographic regions
 
premiumsa type of sales promotion in which merchandise is given free or at a reduced price to purchasers of products, visitors to a store, or meeting a sales quota
 
preparationwork done by the sales person to research the company, solutions, possible objections, sales tactics, and plan the sales approach or sales call for a particular prospect or customer
 
presentationwhen a sales person explains the product or service to the prospect (individual or group), including the product's features, advantages and benefits relevant to the prospect, presentations are usually verbal but can include use of visuals, slide shows, brochures, charts, and graphs 
 
press conferencea meeting to which media personnel are invited by a government body, organisation or company seeking to make a public announcement, usually to gain favourable publicity or to offset some negative reaction
 
press releasean announcement released to the news media by a government body, organisation or firm, usually to obtain publicity or to offset some negative reaction to it or its products, also called a news release
 
pressure groupany group of individuals who work together to exert an influence upon the decision-making of a company to achieve some specific outcome
 
prestige builderthe highest-priced item in a product line
 
prestige pricinga pricing strategy in which prices are set at a high level, recognising that lower prices will inhibit sales rather than encourage them and that buyers will associate a high price for the product with superior quality, also called image pricing, see psychological pricing
 
prestige productsitems of superior quality, high status merchandise
 
pricethe value agreed upon by the buyer and the seller in an exchange, one of the four controllable variables (with product, promotion and place) of the marketing mix, see marketing mix
 
price adjustmentsallowances, discounts, etc. granted by a seller to meet the requirements or circumstances of specific buyers
 
price bandthe range within which a product can be priced as dictated by competitive intensity and the perceived value of the product to consumers
 
price bundlinga pricing strategy in which various products sold to a customer together are offered at a price less than the sum of the prices of the products sold individually
 
price ceilinga price, usually imposed by law, above which market prices are not permitted to rise, also called a ceiling price, see price floor
 
price competitiona competitive situation in which price is used as the major means of differentiating the product of one firm from that of a rival, see non-price competition
 
price cyclethe regular, periodic fluctuation in the price of a product, especially of an agricultural product, owing to expansion or contraction in its supply
 
price discountingsee discount
 
price discriminationa pricing strategy, generally illegal, in which a seller charges different prices to marketing intermediaries for the same product, see differential pricing
 
price elasticitybuyers' sensitivity to price, measured by the percentage change in quantity demanded that results from a percentage change in price, see price inelasticity
 
price fixingagreement or collusion between competitors to maintain certain fixed price levels to avoid competition, see horizontal price fixing and vertical price fixing
 
price floora price, usually imposed by law, below which market prices are not permitted to floor, also called a floor price, see price ceiling
 
price gouginga monopolistic pricing technique in which the seller takes advantage of the lack of competition by charging unusually high prices relative to a product's cost
 
price incentivesa common form of sales promotion in which price reductions are offered to consumers to encourage them to buy a particular product earlier or in larger quantity
 
price inelasticitybuyers' insensitivity to price, when the percentage change in quantity demanded is less than the percentage change in price, consumers are price-insensitive, see price elasticity
 
price leadera firm whose prices set a lead for other firms in the industry to follow
 
price leadershipa situation which occurs when one or a few companies, usually larger companies, are consistently the first to institute price changes
 
price liningpricing different products in a product line at various price points, depending on size and features, to make them affordable to a wider range of customers
 
price objectionan objection raised by a prospective buyer on the grounds of price, credit terms, discounts, allowances, freight charges, etc. related to the cost of a product offered by a salesperson
 
price packsa type of sales promotion in which consumers are offered a reduction in the regular price of a product, the amount of the reduction is usually marked, or "flagged", prominently on the label or package, also called a "cents-off" deal
 
price sensitivitysee price elasticity
 
price spacethe price difference between items in a product line, having the right amount of price space is often critical as too little space may confuse buyers and too much space may leave gaps which can be exploited by competitors, see product line
 
price warsa conflict situation likely to occur in industries where products cannot be greatly differentiated, a decrease in price by one company will attract a large number of customers to it, forcing other companies to retaliate by cutting the price even further
 
price-elastic segmentssegments of the market which are more responsive to price changes than other segments of the market, see price elasticity
 
price-takerany firm which is unable to influence the general level of commodity prices by altering the quantity of the product produced, a firm operating in a perfectly competitive market situation is, necessarily, a price-taker, price-takers are sometimes also referred to as quantity adjusters as their chief decision is to adjust the amount they produce to a given price, see pure competition
 
price-value relationshipthe connection that consumers make between price and quality, products with a higher price are commonly perceived to be of better quality
 
pricingmarketing activity concerned with the setting of prices for new products and the adjustment of prices for existing products
 
pricing strategythe element of a firm's decision-making concerned with the setting of prices that will attract the target market and allow profit objectives to be met
 
primary advertisingadvertising intended to create demand for a class or category of product rather than for a brand, see generic advertising and pioneering advertising
 
primary datainformation that is obtained directly from first-hand sources by means of surveys, observation or experimentation, see secondary data
 
primary demanddemand for a product class rather than for a particular brand within the class
 
primary packaginga product's immediate container or wrapper, see secondary packaging and shipping packaging
 
principle of integrating interestsa technique used in selling in which the salesperson, knowing the buyer's personal interests or buying motives, places emphasis on these in the presentation rather than on the features or benefits of the product
 
private branda brand owned by a wholesaler or retailer, also called a private label, see manufacturer's brand
 
private carrierany form of transport operated by an independent organisation and used for the shipment of goods, see common carrier and contract carrier
 
private labelsee private brand
 
private treatya market agreement arranged by a buyer and seller in private negotiation
 
prizereward given to winner in a contest, sweepstakes or lottery, sometimes referred to as a sales incentive award
 
PRMsee partner relationship management
 
proactive marketing strategiesmarketing activities which anticipate competitive action and attempt to forestall it, offensive strategies, see reactive marketing strategies
 
probabilistic modelsa statistical tool in which the probability that an event will occur again is estimated using historical data, for example, in sales forecasting past purchasing behaviour is used to estimate the degree of probability with which consumers will purchase the same item again
 
probability samplea sample in which each individual within a total population has a known chance of being chosen
 
probingasking questions to better understand the prospect or customers needs, thorough probing increases the likelihood the sales person will uncover key information critical to guiding the call and ensuring the more appropriate recommendation
 
problem situation modela model of a problem situation faced by a decision-maker, constructed (often by a marketing researcher) in order to get as clear a picture as possible of the problem, a problem situation model includes a description of the desired outcomes, the relevant variables, and the relationships of each of the variables to the outcomes
 
problem-solving approachan approach to selling in which the salesperson works with the buyer to evaluate alternative solutions to a problem and to select the best, a consultative approach intended to build long-term relationships with customers, also called depth selling
 
process materialsa classification of goods bought by organisations for incorporation into a product, the process materials cannot be recognised in the finished product
 
procurement coststhe costs involved in reordering an inventory item, the costs include the cost of processing and transmitting the order as well as the cost of the item itself
 
producer groupsindependent financial services marketing organizations, comprised of financial advisors (e.g. life insurance agents, general insurance agents, investment advisors, group benefit and pension specialists, mutual fund representatives, financial planners, accountants, attorneys, and bankers)
 
product

physical item being sold or service you are selling 

a bundle of need-satisfying tangible (goods) and intangible (services) attributes offered to a buyer by a seller, see actual product, augmented product, and core product

 
product advertisingadvertising in which a company promotes a particular good or service
 
product attributesdistinctive tangible and intangible features of a product that give it its value to a user
 
product audita systematic appraisal of a firm's product mix to evaluate its strengths and weaknesses and to assess the available opportunities
 
product categorythe specific generic to which a good or service belongs, for example, while Coke is a brand name, the product category to which it belongs is soft drinks
 
product developmenta growth strategy in which the firm develops new products for existing markets
 
product differentiationa strategy which attempts (through innovative design, packaging, positioning, etc) to make a clear distinction between products serving the same market segment
 
product eliminationthe decision to drop a product (for example, in the decline stage of its life cycle) in order to use the costs associated with it to enhance profits or to release resources that could be more effectively used in other ways
 
product extensionthe introduction of a product that is known to the company but which has features or dimensions which are new to consumers, three types of product extensions are possible: revisions, additions and repositionings, see innovation and new product duplication
 
product failurea product that does not meet management expectations in the marketplace
 
product flankinga competitive marketing strategy in which a company produces its brands in a variety of sizes and styles to gain shelf space and inhibit competitors
 
product form competitorsfirms offering slightly different variants of the same basic product
 
product itema product variant with its own distinctive attributes (price, packaging, etc), also called a stock-keeping unit and a stock-taking Unit
 
product knowledgedetailed knowledge of a product's features and benefits required by a salesperson to persuade a prospect to purchase
 
product liabilitythe onus or responsibility imposed by legislation on a manufacturer to warn consumers appropriately about possible harmful effects of a product, to foresee how it might be misused, etc
 
product life cyclea concept which draws an analogy between the span of a human life and that of a product, suggesting that, typically, a product's life consists of four stages - introductory, growth, maturity and decline, the concept is used as a tool to formulate marketing strategies appropriate to each of the stages
 
product linea group of products manufactured or distributed by an organisation, similar in the way they produced or marketed, for example, Gillette markets a line of razors and blades, a line of toiletries, a line of pens and a line of cigarette lighters
 
product line brand namea brand name applied to several products within a product line, see product line, individual brand name, family brand and corporate branding
 
product line expansion strategyone of four possible segmentation strategies (with concentrated segmentation strategy, market segment expansion strategy and differentiated segmentation strategy) available to a firm in relation to the segment or segments it wishes to target, in a product line expansion segmentation approach a firm offers several products to one segment, see segmentation strategies, concentrated segmentation strategy, market segment expansion strategy, and differentiated segmentation strategy
 
product line extensionadding depth to an existing product line by introducing new products in the same product category, product line extensions give customers greater choice and help to protect the firm from a flanking attack by a competitor, see product line and product line stretching
 
product line featuringa strategy in which certain items in a product line are given special promotional attention, either to boost interest (at the lower end of the line) or image (at the upper end), see product line
 
product line fillingintroducing new products into a product line at about the same price as existing products, see product line
 
product line lengththe number of different products in a product line, see product line
 
product line modernisationa strategy in which items in a product line are modified to suit modern styling and tastes and re-launched, see product line
 
product line pruningreducing the depth of a product line by deleting less profitable offerings in a particular product category, see product line
 
product line retrenchmentreducing the width of a product mix by decreasing the diversity of items offered across product categories, product line retrenchment is common following the failure of brand leveraging to launch a brand into a related category, see product line and product mix width
 
product line stretchingintroducing new products into a product line, see product line, downward stretching, two-way stretching and upward stretching
 
product management systema system which ensures that total marketing control of a product line or brand rests with the person who has profit responsibility for it
 
product manageran individual given responsibility for the planning and coordinating of a firm's marketing activities related to a single product, product line or market
 
product mixthe variety of distinct product lines and items manufactured or distributed by an organisation, see product item and product line
 
product mix consistencythe degree of closeness or relatedness between product lines in the product mix, see product line and product mix
 
product mix widththe number of distinct product lines manufactured or distributed by an organisation, see product line and product mix
 
product modificationany substantial change made to the attributes (size, shape, colour, style, price, etc.) of a product, modification of a product is usually undertaken in an attempt to revitalise it in order to increase demand
 
product objectionan objection by a prospective buyer to the quality or characteristics of the goods offered by a salesperson, see objections
 
product offerhow the product or service is positioned and presented to the prospect or market, normally includes features, advantages, and benefits for the potential prospects
 
product organizationthe deployment of a firm's sales force or the organisation of its marketing activities so that a separate division is responsible for each of its major products or product groups, see organizational structure
 
product orientationa management philosophy, concept, focus or state of mind which emphasises the quality of the product rather than the needs and wants of the target market, the orientation assumes that consumers will favour products that offer the most quality, performance and features and that the organisation's objectives will be most readily achieved by a concentration on these
 
product petrificationa term used to describe the small but persistent demand by loyal customers for a declining product, see product life cycle and decline stage
 
product portfoliothe mix of products manufactured or distributed by a company, see product mix and product mix width
 
product portfolio analysisan examination of each of the products manufactured or distributed by the company to assess future marketing strategies
 
product position mapa tool used in comparing consumer perception of the differences between products or brands, consumers are asked to mark the particular location of a product or brand on a two-dimensional "map", where the axes of the map are attributes felt by consumers to be important, see perceptual mapping
 
product positioningsee market positioning
 
product positioning strategymarketing decisions and actions intended to create a particular place for a product in the market and in the minds of consumers, a product positioning strategy may attempt to differentiate a marketing offer from a competitor's or to appear similar to it
 
product recallthe advertised request by a company that a product be returned to it by those who have already purchased it, a product recall is often deemed desirable when a product proves to be unsafe or unreliable
 
product strategythe element of a firm's decision-making concerned with developing the most appropriate products for its target market
 
product testingexposing consumers to a new product, in final or prototype form, so that they might compare it to their usual brand and rate it, the results of product testing will indicate to the company whether further evaluation of the product in test markets is desirable, see concept development and testing, and new product development
 
product-based marketing organizationa marketing structure of an organization in which staff specialists have responsibility for various products of the organization (rather than for particular markets), most appropriate when customer needs are differentiated by product, see market-based marketing organization
 
product-differentiated marketinga marketing philosophy in which the seller views the market as a homogeneous whole, but produces two or more products for it, the products, differing in attributes (price, style, quality, etc), are designed to offer variety rather than to satisfy the needs and wants of different market segments, see mass marketing and target market
 
product-push approachan approach to the generation of new product ideas in which a company's strengths rather than market needs are given prime emphasis, see demand-pull approach
 
production goodsa classification of industrial goods, goods purchased by industrial firms for use in the manufacture of their finished products, see industrial product classes
 
production orientationa management philosophy, concept, focus or state of mind which emphasises production techniques and unit-cost reduction rather than the needs and wants of the target market, the orientation assumes that consumers will favour those products that are the most readily available and at the most affordable prices and that a concentration on efficiencies in production and distribution will most readily achieve the firm's objectives
 
profit and loss statementan accounting statement showing income, expenditure and profit over a given period
 
profit centera division of an organisation with responsibility for generating its own income, and with accountability for profits
 
profit objective in pricingsetting prices with short-run profits rather than long-term market share in mind
 
profit sharinga compensation system in which employees are awarded a share of the company's profits to encourage increased productivity
 
profitability controlmarketing effort intended to assess the level of profitability of each product in the portfolio, of each market segment, of each marketing channel, etc
 
progressive commissiona sales commission system in which the commission rate increases as the salesperson sells more goods, see regressive commission