Glossary: revenue terms in plain words
What does this term mean? The revenue terms used in Summit53 and its guides, one plain sentence each, plus the words we use for honest data states.
How to use this glossary
Every term the guides and the product use, in one plain sentence each. The meanings are the ones we teach, so a number on a slide, a guide and a lesson all mean the same thing. The last column points to where the term matters most in Summit53.
Terms
| Term | Plain meaning | Where you’ll see it |
|---|---|---|
| ACV (average contract value) | Roughly what one customer pays you in a year. | Operating view |
| Anchor customer | A real customer you’d clone; the evidence behind your ICP. | Blueprint & Knowledge |
| Attainment | How much of their quota a seller hits. | Quota pacing |
| Benchmark | The rate you compare against. Say which one: last quarter, a published figure, or your own best. | Diagnostics |
| Best case | Deals that could come in if things go well. | Forecast Command |
| Champion | Someone inside the buyer who wants it and will push for it. | Deal health & frameworks |
| Cohort | A group that started in the same period, so you compare like with like. | Revenue Engine home |
| Commit | Deals you’d bet on, by a written rule. | Masthead & KPIs |
| Conversion rate | How many make it to the next step ÷ how many were at this one. | Diagnostics |
| Economic buyer | The person who signs. | Deal health & frameworks |
| Exit criteria | What must be true for a deal to move to the next stage. | Is this Commit deal real? |
| Expansion | A customer pays more. | ARR Growth Engine |
| First constraint | The stage holding the rest of your revenue loop back: the earliest one that’s clearly failing. Fix it first. | Where is the engine stuck? |
| Fit score | How well one lead matches your written ICP. | Leads & Focus queue |
| Fit tier | Groups of leads by fit: strong, good, weaker. | Blueprint & Knowledge |
| Forecast | Your best call on what you’ll close this period. | Why is the number different from last week? |
| Funnel / steps | The steps a lead goes through on the way to becoming a customer. | Revenue flow canvas |
| GRR (gross revenue retention) | Revenue kept from existing customers, not counting growth (100% or less). | ARR Growth Engine |
| GTM (go-to-market) | How your product finds the people who’ll buy it, and keeps them. | First 30 days |
| ICP (ideal customer profile) | The kind of customer who fits best, written down so others can find more. | Blueprint & Knowledge |
| Lagging indicator | The result, such as revenue closed. Too late to change once it moves. | Field guide |
| Leading indicator | Moves before revenue does: replies, meetings, quiet deals. | Field guide |
| Likely cause | Something consistent with a stage failing, such as an out-of-date ICP. Not proof that it caused it. | Revenue flow canvas |
| Logo churn | How many customers left. | ARR Growth Engine |
| NRR (net revenue retention) | Revenue kept plus expansion. Above 100% means you grow from existing customers alone. | ARR Growth Engine |
| Operating cadence | The same short look at the business, at the same time each week. | What should I do this week? |
| Opportunity (deal) | An actual buying conversation. | Opportunity cockpit |
| Pipeline | All open opportunities, added up. | Pipeline Explorer |
| Pipeline coverage | Open pipeline that can close this period ÷ what’s still needed. | Masthead & KPIs |
| Pipeline velocity | (Open deals × average deal size × win rate) ÷ cycle days. | Pipeline Velocity |
| Positioning | Where you sit in the buyer’s head: what you are, who it’s for, what you’re better than. | Blueprint & Knowledge |
| QBR (quarterly business review) | Where you show a customer the value they’re getting. Teams also run an internal quarterly review of their own numbers. | Board pack & QBR |
| Qualification | Deciding, with evidence, whether a deal is real. | Deal health & frameworks |
| Quota | One seller’s target. | Quota pacing |
| Reply rate | Replies ÷ people actually contacted. | Blueprint & Knowledge |
| Rescore | Scoring old leads again after you change the ICP, so groups are comparable. | Blueprint & Knowledge |
| Retention | Keeping the customers you’ve won. | Renewal review |
| Revenue churn | How much revenue left with the customers who churned. | ARR Growth Engine |
| Revenue loop (the Figure-Eight) | The whole cycle drawn as a loop: leads become deals, deals become customers, and customers feed back through expansion and referrals. | Revenue flow canvas |
| Sales cycle | Days from first real conversation to signed, on won deals. | Pipeline Velocity |
| Sample size | How many you’re counting. Too few and the percentage is noise. | Diagnostics |
| Segment | A group that behaves differently: deal size, source, region, fit, or new versus existing. | Operating view |
| Sequence | A planned series of messages to one person. | Sequence builder |
| Signal | A saved reading that something needs attention, with how sure it is and the evidence behind it. | Signals & the Loop |
| Slippage | A close date that keeps moving out. | Risk Signals |
| Stage | A step a deal goes through, defined by what the buyer has done. On the revenue loop, a stage is a step from imported lead to renewal. | Revenue flow canvas |
| Stalled deal | Open, but no contact with the buyer for about two weeks. | Risk Signals |
| Status quo | What they’d do if you didn’t exist; usually the real competitor. | A competitor just showed up late |
| Trigger | An event that makes now the time to buy, with a window. | Blueprint & Knowledge |
| Win rate | Won ÷ (won + lost). Finished deals only. | Is this Commit deal real? |
Words for honest states
The product and the guides use these consistently. They mean exactly this:
- Not enough data yet: there’s too little to judge, so no number or verdict is shown. Not the same as zero.
- Building: something has been noticed, but there isn’t yet enough evidence to call it.
- Estimated: a figure that rests on a typical value rather than your own results.
- Consistent with: the evidence points the same way. It doesn’t claim cause.
- Changed after (or worked): the measure moved the right way after you acted. Correlational.
- Unavailable or not yet measured: Summit53 can’t see it, and says so, rather than showing zero.