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Glossary

Do you require further clarification regarding the various terms used on our website or in our product? You can find explanations on this page.

A

A/B testing is an experimental method in which two variants of a page, email, advertisement or other element are simultaneously shown to different parts of your audience to measure which variant performs better. In B2B, A/B testing is used to improve conversion rates on landing pages, email campaigns and advertisements. The key is to change only one variable per test and wait for sufficient volume to obtain statistically reliable results.

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is a B2B growth strategy in which marketing and sales work together to approach specific companies rather than a broad target group. Whereas traditional marketing casts as wide a net as possible, ABM turns the sales funnel upside down. You start by selecting the companies that best match your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and then develop personalised campaigns for each of those accounts. The basic premise is that not every lead is equally valuable. By focusing on a limited group of high-value accounts, you can deploy your marketing and sales budget in a more targeted way. Campaigns are tailored to the specific challenges, industry and decision-makers of each company. This can range from personalised advertisements and tailor-made content to targeted LinkedIn messages and direct outreach. ABM requires close collaboration between marketing and sales. Together, they determine which companies are included on the target account list, which message suits each account, and when sales should initiate contact. The result is a shorter sales cycle, higher deal value, and better ROI. Research shows that companies with an ABM strategy better align their marketing and sales efforts and generate more revenue from their most important accounts.
Account engagement is the extent to which a target account interacts with your brand, content and sales activities. It is measured using signals such as website visits, opened emails, downloaded content, webinar participation and responses to outreach. In ABM, engagement is a more important metric than individual lead conversions, because multiple people within the same account are involved in the buying process. Increasing engagement with a target account is an indicator that the account is moving towards a willingness to buy and deserves more intensive follow-up.
An Account Executive is the sales representative responsible for conducting sales conversations, presenting solutions and closing deals. The AE takes over qualified leads from SDRs or BDRs and guides the prospect through the middle and bottom of the sales process. In B2B, this often involves multiple conversations, demos, proposals, and negotiations with various stakeholders within the buying committee. The AE is usually the owner of the opportunity in the CRM and is responsible for achieving revenue targets.
Account insights are the collected data and insights about a specific target account that marketing and sales use to personalise their approach. This includes firmographic data such as industry and turnover, behavioural data such as pages visited and visit frequency, technographic data such as software used, and contextual information such as recent news items or organisational changes. The more complete the account insights, the more relevant the approach. Website visitor identification provides an important part of these insights by revealing which pages an account views, how often it returns, and through which channel it enters.

Account list building involves compiling a list of companies that marketing and sales will target. The selection is based on ICP characteristics such as industry, company size, turnover, location and technology use, supplemented with intent signals and strategic considerations. The quality of the list determines the success of the entire ABM approach: a list that is too broad dilutes the focus, while a list that is too narrow limits growth potential. Account lists are periodically evaluated and adjusted based on results and changing market conditions.

Account prioritisation is the ranking of target accounts based on their likelihood and value of becoming customers. This is done by combining ICP fit with intent signals such as website behaviour, visit frequency and engagement with content. Not every account on your list deserves the same investment of time and resources. By prioritising, sales focuses on the accounts with the highest chance of conversion, while lower priority accounts are processed through automated campaigns. Website visitor identification plays an important role in this by revealing which target accounts are actively showing interest.
Affiliate marketing is a performance-based model in which external parties (affiliates) send traffic or leads to your website in exchange for a commission per conversion. Affiliates promote your product through their own channels, such as websites, blogs or email lists. Affiliate marketing is less common in B2B than in B2C, but it is used via review sites, comparison platforms and industry-specific partners. The advantage is that you only pay for actual results, which limits the risk of marketing investments without return.
Attribution is the process of assigning value to the marketing channels and touchpoints that contributed to a conversion or deal. In B2B, a prospect typically goes through multiple touchpoints — a blog article, advertisement, website visit, webinar — before making a purchase. Attribution models determine how you distribute the contribution across those touchpoints. With first-touch attribution, the first touchpoint gets all the credit, with last-touch attribution, the last touchpoint gets all the credit, and with multi-touch attribution, the credit is distributed across multiple touchpoints. No single model provides a complete picture, but together they help to substantiate marketing budgets with data rather than assumptions. In Leadinfo, website visit data — including origin, pages visited, and visit frequency — is automatically synchronised with your CRM, allowing you to see which channels and interactions contributed to the conversion for each deal.

AutoPilot is an add-on within Leadinfo that allows you to automate lead follow-up via email and LinkedIn. Instead of manually approaching each lead, you can build automated campaigns with multiple steps. Think of a series of emails, LinkedIn connection requests and messages that are sent automatically at the right time.

You decide which leads end up in a campaign: manually or automatically based on triggers. AutoPilot then selects the right decision-makers within the company so that your message reaches the relevant person. Every step in the campaign is customisable: from the time interval between messages to the content per channel.

The goal of AutoPilot is to bridge the gap between lead identification and actual customer contact. Where many companies identify leads but then follow up too slowly or not at all, AutoPilot automates this process. Users report open rates of over 40% and a 20% increase in scheduled meetings.

B

BANT is a qualification framework that sales uses to assess whether a prospect is ready to buy. The acronym stands for Budget (is there budget available), Authority (are you talking to the decision-maker), Need (is there a concrete need) and Timeline (when do they want to make a decision). BANT is one of the oldest and most widely used qualification methods in B2B sales. Criticism of the framework is that it reasons too much from the sales perspective and is less suitable for complex purchasing processes with multiple stakeholders, for which more comprehensive frameworks such as MEDDIC are better suited.

B2B stands for Business-to-Business and refers to transactions, relationships and trade between two companies. In a B2B model, an organisation sells its products or services to other companies, not to individual consumers. Think of a software supplier that provides a CRM system to a marketing agency, or a wholesaler that supplies products to a retailer.

B2B differs from B2C (Business-to-Consumer) in several ways. B2B purchases usually involve multiple decision-makers, the sales cycle is longer and the purchase amount is higher. Research shows that 67% of the B2B purchasing process consists of independent research before any contact is made with a salesperson. Decisions are made based on rational considerations such as ROI, functionality and integration options, rather than on emotion or impulse.

In addition, relationships in B2B are longer-term and more personal. Contracts often run for several years and the loss of a single customer can have a major impact on turnover. This makes trust, expertise and good service essential. Marketing and sales in B2B therefore focus on attracting the right companies, building authority and guiding prospects through a complex decision-making process.

B2B lead generation is the process of attracting companies that show interest in your product or service, with the aim of converting them into customers. It’s all about filling your sales funnel with high-quality prospects that match your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).

The average B2B website converts less than 2% of its visitors. More than 98% leave without leaving their contact details, but show interest by viewing pages and returning. B2B lead generation focuses on revealing that hidden interest and converting it into concrete sales opportunities.

Effective B2B lead generation combines multiple channels and techniques. Content marketing attracts organic traffic by providing valuable information. SEO ensures findability when prospects are actively searching. LinkedIn is the most important social platform for B2B relationships. Email marketing and marketing automation keep leads warm until they are ready to buy. Paid advertisements via Google Ads or LinkedIn Ads capture purchase intent. And website visitor identification makes the anonymous 98% visible by showing which companies visit your website.

The difference between successful and mediocre lead generation is not in more traffic, but in attracting the right companies and quickly following up on signals. That starts with a sharply defined ICP and ends with a process in which marketing and sales work together seamlessly.

B2C stands for Business-to-Consumer and refers to transactions in which a company sells products or services directly to individual consumers. Examples include a webshop that sells clothing, a streaming service that offers subscriptions, or a supermarket that delivers daily groceries. The end user is a person, not an organisation.

B2C differs fundamentally from B2B in several ways. In B2C, there is usually a single decision-maker, the sales process is shorter, and emotion plays a greater role. Purchases are more often impulsive, the order value is lower, but the quantities are larger. Marketing strategies focus on broad target groups via channels such as social media, influencer marketing, e-commerce and mass media campaigns. Speed, user experience, personalisation and reviews are determining factors in the purchasing process.

Where B2B revolves around long-term relationships, multiple decision-makers and complex sales cycles, B2C is about volume, brand perception and direct conversion. Some companies operate in both markets simultaneously. For example, a software company may offer a consumer app (B2C) while also selling enterprise licences to businesses (B2B). The marketing and sales approach differs fundamentally depending on the model.

A BDR is a sales employee who focuses on generating new sales opportunities, primarily through outbound activities. Whereas the term SDR is used in many organisations for both inbound and outbound prospecting, BDR is usually associated with actively opening up new markets, segments or accounts. In practice, the roles overlap significantly and the terms are often used interchangeably. The core task is identical: creating qualified sales opportunities for the sales team.

The bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who leave your website after viewing only one page without further interaction. A high bounce rate can indicate irrelevant content, a poor user experience, or a mismatch between the advertisement and the landing page. In B2B, context is important: a blog page naturally has a higher bounce rate than a product page. The bounce rate is most valuable as a comparative metric between pages, channels, or campaigns to identify where visitors drop off.

Buyer intent refers to signals that indicate that a company or individual is actively considering purchasing a product or service. It is not about a single point of contact, but rather a pattern of behaviour that reveals purchase intent. Buyer intent distinguishes between a casual visitor and a serious prospect.

In B2B, buyer intent manifests itself in various ways. A company visits your pricing page several times, views product pages in detail, returns to your website repeatedly or has a remarkably long session duration. Other signals include viewing demo request pages, comparing packages or visits by multiple people from the same company. Each of these actions individually means little, but together they form a pattern that indicates active purchase orientation.

Recognising buyer intent enables marketing and sales teams to focus their efforts on behaviour rather than assumptions. Prospects with strong intent signals convert faster and at higher rates. The optimal contact moment is usually between 24 and 72 hours after a strong signal. If you wait too long, the prospect will be further along in the decision-making process and may already be in talks with a competitor. By combining buyer intent data with company information such as industry and size, you can identify not only who is showing buying intent, but also whether that company fits your Ideal Customer Profile.

A buyer persona is a fictional profile that describes a typical decision-maker or influencer within your target group. Whereas an Ideal Customer Profile focuses on the type of company you want to reach, a buyer persona describes the person within that company: think job title, responsibilities, daily challenges, goals, information behaviour and role in the purchasing process. In B2B, multiple personas are often involved in a single purchase, such as an end user, a budget holder and a technical evaluator, each with their own questions and objections. A well-developed buyer persona helps marketing tailor content and campaigns to what actually concerns that person, and helps sales conduct more relevant and personal conversations. Personas are not static but are continuously refined based on customer conversations, data, and feedback from the sales team.

A buying committee is the group of people within a company who are jointly involved in a purchasing decision. In B2B, this group usually consists of several roles: the end user, the budget holder, the technical evaluator, an internal advocate and sometimes a legal or procurement contact person. Each role has its own questions, objections and evaluation criteria. Effective B2B marketing and sales does not focus on a single contact person but on the entire buying committee, with content and messages tailored to the specific role and perspective of each person involved.

C

CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) is the total amount you invest on average to acquire one new customer. The calculation is the sum of all marketing and sales costs divided by the number of new customers in the same period. In B2B, this includes advertising budget, tooling, salaries, content production and event costs. CAC only becomes truly meaningful in relation to customer lifetime value (CLV): as long as CLV is significantly higher than CAC, the business model is healthy. A declining CAC with consistent quality indicates a more efficient marketing and sales process.

A campaign is a coordinated series of marketing or sales activities with a specific goal, a clear target group, a defined message and a fixed duration. Campaigns are deployed via one or more channels and can be aimed at a variety of goals: from lead generation and brand awareness to product launches and customer retention. In B2B, two main types are distinguished. Marketing campaigns are aimed at attracting traffic and increasing brand awareness. Examples include content campaigns, SEO initiatives, social media advertising, and webinars. Sales campaigns focus on directly approaching and following up on leads via channels such as email, LinkedIn, and telephone. In practice, these types overlap: an effective B2B campaign combines marketing and sales to guide prospects through the entire funnel. The success of a campaign is not only measured in reach or clicks, but above all in the quality of leads generated and the ultimate conversion to customers. Important KPIs include cost per lead, the number of Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) and Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs), the conversion rate per phase and the total ROI. A campaign that generates thousands of clicks but does not yield quality leads is less valuable than a targeted campaign that reaches ten companies that actually convert.
A case study is a detailed description of how a customer has achieved a concrete result with your product or service. The structure usually follows the pattern of challenge, approach and result. In B2B, case studies are one of the most effective forms of content for the middle and bottom of the funnel, because they provide tangible proof that your solution works. Prospects recognise their own situation in the challenge and see the possible result. Case studies are most convincing when they contain measurable results and come from companies that are similar to the target group.
Category creation is a strategy whereby a company defines an entirely new product category and positions itself as the leader in that category, rather than competing in an existing category. The aim is to reframe the way the market thinks about a problem or solution, so that your product becomes the standard. Category creation requires a long-term investment in education, thought leadership and market formation, but if successful, it yields a strong competitive position because you are not compared to existing alternatives but determine the frame of reference yourself.

LTV or CLV (Customer Lifetime Value) is the total revenue a customer is expected to generate throughout their entire relationship with your company. The calculation combines average revenue per period, gross margin and expected customer duration. In B2B, CLV is an essential metric because it determines the upper limit of what you can invest in customer acquisition. A high CLV justifies higher acquisition costs and a more intensive sales approach. CLV increases through upselling, cross-selling, longer retention and higher customer satisfaction.

Cold outreach is the process of approaching prospects with whom there has been no previous interaction, via channels such as email, LinkedIn or telephone. In B2B, cold outreach is used by SDRs to create new sales opportunities outside the existing network and inbound traffic. Its effectiveness depends heavily on personalisation, relevance and timing. Modern cold outreach combines contact data with intent signals and website visitor data, allowing the message to be tailored to the prospect’s specific situation rather than a generic sales pitch.

Community marketing is about building and maintaining a community around your brand, product or field of expertise. In B2B, this can be a Slack community, LinkedIn group, forum or user group where customers, prospects and experts share knowledge and connect with each other. The goal is not to sell directly, but to offer value, strengthen loyalty and create an environment where your brand plays a central role. In the longer term, communities generate word-of-mouth advertising, customer insights, product feedback and stronger brand preference.

A company database is a structured collection of company data used to identify and enrich website visitors. When a visitor is recognised via IP tracking, the database links the IP address to a company profile. Enrichment is the process of automatically supplementing that profile with firmographic data such as company name, industry, turnover, number of employees, location, Chamber of Commerce number and contact details of decision-makers. The larger and more up-to-date the database, the higher the identification rate and the more complete the enrichment. Leadinfo maintains its own European company database, which is continuously updated and combined with behavioural data from the website — such as pages visited, session duration and visit frequency — to create a complete company profile. Enriched data can be automatically forwarded to your CRM via more than seventy integrations, giving sales teams immediate access to the right context for follow-up.

The company identification rate is the percentage of business website visitors that a visitor identification tool can recognise and link to a specific company. This metric determines how much of your anonymous B2B traffic actually becomes visible. The rate varies by region, target group and industry. In Europe, the benchmark for most tools is between 20 and 30 per cent. Leadinfo scores above that average at 35 to 40 per cent, which, with traffic remaining the same, can yield up to 50 per cent more identified leads compared to competitors. Factors that influence the identification rate include the share of business versus consumer traffic, the geographical distribution of visitors and the extent to which companies use fixed IP ranges. From approximately 200 to 300 business visitors per month, identification already provides valuable insights.

Competitive positioning is consciously taking a distinctive position in relation to direct and indirect competitors in the perception of your target group. It goes beyond knowing how you differ: it requires you to understand how prospects evaluate alternatives and on what criteria they base their choice. Based on this, you determine which strengths to emphasise, which comparisons to seek out and which to avoid. In B2B, competitive positioning is crucial when prospects are actively comparing solutions, and it is reflected in sales materials, comparison pages and the way you frame your product.

Content marketing is a strategy whereby you create and distribute valuable, relevant content to attract and engage a defined target audience. In B2B, this includes blog articles, white papers, case studies, webinars, podcasts and videos. The goal is not to sell directly, but to demonstrate expertise, build trust and be visible when prospects are doing their own research. Content marketing is the driving force behind both demand generation and SEO, feeding every stage of the funnel with information that addresses the questions and challenges of your target audience.

Conversational marketing is an approach that uses real-time conversations to guide visitors through the purchasing process more quickly. Instead of filling out a form and waiting for a response, visitors engage in direct dialogue via a chatbot, live chat or messaging channel. The aim is to reduce the distance between interest and contact. In B2B, speed is crucial: prospects who receive an immediate response convert significantly more often than prospects who have to wait hours or days. Conversational marketing is most effective when combined with visitor data, so that the conversation can be tailored to the visitor’s company profile and behaviour.

Conversion rate optimisation is the systematic improvement of your website and campaigns to encourage a higher percentage of visitors to perform the desired action. In B2B, typical conversions include demo requests, form submissions, or white paper downloads. CRO involves analysing visitor behaviour, identifying bottlenecks in the customer journey and testing improvements through A/B testing. Because on average less than two per cent of B2B website visitors convert via forms, even a small improvement in conversion rate can have a big impact on the number of leads.

Conversion tracking is the measurement and recording of desired actions that visitors perform on your website or in your campaigns. In B2B, typical conversions include form submissions, demo requests, white paper downloads, or webinar registrations. Conversion tracking is set up using tools such as Google Analytics, Google Ads, or marketing automation platforms and forms the basis for calculating costs per lead, conversion rates, and ROI per channel. Without conversion tracking, it is impossible to determine which campaigns and channels are actually delivering results.

A conversion is the moment when a website visitor performs a desired action. Exactly what that action is depends on your business goals. In B2B, common conversions include filling out a contact form, requesting a quote or demo, starting a free trial, making a phone call, sending a WhatsApp message, or downloading content such as a white paper.

Conversions are the link between website traffic and actual business. You can attract thousands of visitors to your website, but without conversions, that traffic will not generate revenue. The average B2B website converts less than 2% of its visitors. More than 98% leave without taking any action. That makes conversion rate optimisation (CRO) at least as important as attracting traffic.

Conversion optimisation focuses on removing barriers. This starts with a clear call to action on every page and short forms with as few fields as possible. Clickable phone numbers, visible contact options and accessible alternatives such as WhatsApp, a callback request or live chat further lower the barrier. The easier you make it to get in touch, the more visitors will take the plunge. Technical factors also play a role: every extra second of loading time can reduce the conversion rate by 7%.

The conversion rate is the percentage of website visitors who perform a desired action. The calculation is simple: divide the number of conversions by the total number of visitors and multiply by 100. If 1,000 visitors visit your website and 20 fill out a contact form, your conversion rate is 2%.

The average B2B website scores a conversion rate of less than 2%. This percentage is highly dependent on the industry, target group and the type of conversion you measure. A demo request usually has a lower conversion rate than a newsletter subscription, but yields a much warmer lead. It is therefore important to look not only at the percentage, but also at the value of each conversion.

Improving conversion rates is all about removing barriers and reducing friction. Short forms, a clear call-to-action on every page and accessible contact options such as WhatsApp, chat or a callback request make all the difference. Website speed also plays a role: every extra second of loading time costs an average of 7% in conversions. A/B testing landing pages, optimising forms and personalising content based on visitor behaviour are proven methods for structurally increasing conversion rates.

Cookies are small text files that a website places on a visitor’s device. They store information about browsing behaviour, such as pages visited, language preferences and session data. Thanks to cookies, a website recognises you on your next visit, your shopping basket remains filled and you do not have to log in again each time.

There are two main types. First-party cookies are placed by the website you visit and are intended for functionality and analysis. Third-party cookies are placed by external parties, such as advertising networks, and are used to track visitors across multiple websites, retargeting and building advertising profiles.

Third-party cookies are disappearing. Browsers such as Safari and Firefox block them by default, and Google Chrome is following suit. At the same time, the European cookie law (ePrivacy Directive) and the GDPR are imposing increasingly stringent requirements. Websites are required to inform visitors about the use of cookies and must request prior consent for analytical and marketing cookies via a cookie banner. Only strictly functional cookies are exempt from this. This development is causing a strategic shift in B2B marketing: from dependence on third-party cookies to first-party data as the most important source of visitor insights.

Cookieless tracking is a method of identifying website visitors without using cookies. Instead of placing small text files on the visitor’s device, alternative techniques such as IP address analysis and network metadata are used. A visitor’s IP address is linked to a company database. Companies often use fixed IP ranges for their internet traffic. By matching this public network data with company data, you can see which organisations are visiting your website.

With the disappearance of third-party cookies and stricter privacy legislation, cookieless tracking has become the new standard for privacy-friendly B2B identification. Browsers such as Safari and Firefox block third-party cookies by default, and Google Chrome is following suit. For B2B companies that relied on cookies for retargeting and audience building, this represents a fundamental shift. Cookieless tracking offers a future-proof solution: you can identify companies without cookie banners, without having to ask for permission and without the impact of browser restrictions.

The big advantage of cookieless tracking is that it works without processing personal data. No cookies are placed, no device fingerprinting is applied, and no individual visitors are tracked. Only company data is processed: company name, industry, size, and location. This means that cookieless tracking falls under legitimate interest (Article 6, paragraph 1, sub f GDPR).

CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. It is both a strategy and a software system that companies use to centrally manage their relationships with customers and prospects. A CRM system allows you to store all contact details, communications, deals and activities in one place. This includes company information, email history, call notes, quotations and the status of current sales opportunities.

In B2B, a CRM is indispensable due to the complexity of the sales process. You work with longer sales cycles, multiple decision-makers per account and many contact moments spread over weeks or months. Without a centralised system, information gets scattered across email inboxes, spreadsheets and colleagues’ heads. A CRM gives everyone in the team access to the same information: who had the last contact, what was discussed and what the next step is. This prevents duplication of work, missed follow-up moments and lost deals.

A well-designed CRM connects not only sales, but also marketing. Campaign results, lead scores and website behaviour come together in the company profile. Sales can immediately see what content a prospect has viewed and through which channel a lead has come in. Marketing receives feedback on lead quality and can adjust campaigns. Well-known CRM systems in the B2B market include HubSpot, Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Pipedrive, Teamleader and Zoho. The choice depends on company size, the complexity of the sales process and desired integrations with other tools.

CRM sync is the automatic exchange of data between your website visitor identification tool and your CRM system. With two-way sync, identified companies and their behavioural data flow to the CRM, while labels, statuses and account information from the CRM are synchronised back. This ensures that both systems always contain up-to-date information and prevents manual retyping. Leadinfo integrates with more than seventy CRM systems, including HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Microsoft Dynamics and Teamleader.

A CTA (Call to Action) is an explicit call to the visitor to take a specific action, such as ‘Request a demo’, ‘Download the white paper’ or ‘Start your free trial’. CTAs are used on landing pages, in emails, advertisements and blog articles. In B2B, an effective CTA is clear, action-oriented and tailored to the visitor’s stage in the buying process. A visitor in the orientation phase responds better to an educational CTA than to a direct sales message.

D

Data enrichment involves supplementing existing company or contact details with additional information from external sources. A visitor identified on the basis of an IP address is enriched with firmographic data, contact persons, technographic data and financial information. Enrichment also takes place in the CRM, where existing records are supplemented with missing fields. The aim is to have as complete a picture as possible of each account, so that marketing and sales can make better decisions about prioritisation, segmentation and personalisation.

Data hygiene is the structural cleaning and maintenance of your database to maintain quality. This includes removing duplicates, correcting errors, updating outdated data, standardising field values and archiving irrelevant records. Without regular data hygiene, a CRM quickly becomes cluttered, leading to inefficient processes, unreliable reports, and frustration among sales and marketing teams. Most organisations plan data hygiene as a recurring process, supplemented by automated checks during data entry.

Data quality is the extent to which data is accurate, complete, up-to-date and consistent. In B2B marketing and sales, poor data quality has direct consequences: leads are incorrectly qualified, sales staff approach companies with outdated information and reports give a distorted picture. Data quality is influenced by the reliability of sources, the frequency of updates and the extent to which data is standardised and checked. Maintaining high data quality is an ongoing process, not a one-off action.

Deduplication is the process of identifying and merging or deleting duplicate records in a database. In B2B CRM systems, duplicates arise when the same company or contact enters through multiple channels, due to import errors or different spellings of the same company name. Duplicates lead to fragmented customer profiles, duplicate outreach and unreliable reports. Deduplication can be done manually, rule-based or via automated matching algorithms and is a core part of data hygiene.

Demand capture is the process of capturing existing purchase intent among prospects who are already actively looking for a solution. Whereas demand generation creates demand, demand capture focuses on converting prospects who are already in the consideration or decision phase. Typical demand capture channels include SEA, branded search, comparison pages, demo request forms and retargeting. The two strategies are complementary: without demand generation, the top of the funnel dries up; without demand capture, you leave ready-to-buy prospects to your competitors.

Demand generation is a B2B marketing strategy aimed at creating awareness and demand for your product or service among your target group, without directly collecting contact details. The goal is to make potential customers aware of a problem and your solution by sharing valuable content, building thought leadership and being visible on the channels where your target group is active. Without asking for anything in return.

Demand generation is often confused with lead generation, but the two focus on different moments in the sales funnel. Demand generation plays at the top of the funnel: you build trust, increase brand awareness and create demand. Lead generation focuses on the middle and bottom: converting interested parties into concrete leads with contact details. Without demand generation, no one knows you exist. Without lead generation, interest remains untapped. Both strategies complement each other.

The approach works in phases. In the first phase, you create visibility with ungated content: blogs, videos, podcasts, and social media posts that are freely accessible. In the second phase, you make your target audience aware of their challenge and your solution through more in-depth content such as white papers and webinars. In the third phase, you encourage action among prospects who are ready to buy. Different KPIs apply to each phase: at the top, you measure reach and engagement; at the bottom, conversions and pipeline.

Differentiation is how a company distinguishes itself from competitors on points that really matter to the target group. This can be based on product, technology, price, service, expertise or customer experience. In B2B, differentiation is essential because decision-makers actively compare alternatives during their orientation. Effective differentiation goes beyond listing features and focuses on the unique value you deliver in solving a specific problem. Without clear differentiation, the customer’s choice is based on price, which puts pressure on margins.

Display advertising involves showing visual advertisements such as banners, images or videos on websites, apps and platforms within an advertising network. In B2B, display is mainly used for brand awareness and retargeting, rather than for direct lead generation. Targeting is generally broader than with search advertising, which means that the purchasing intention of the audience reached is lower. Display is most effective as part of a broader strategy in which it contributes to visibility in the awareness phase, combined with more accurate channels for conversion.

E

Email marketing is the use of email as a channel to reach prospects and customers with targeted messages. In B2B, this includes newsletters, automated nurturing sequences, product announcements and personalised follow-up emails. Email remains one of the most effective B2B channels because you communicate directly with a recipient who has indicated an interest. Effectiveness depends on segmentation and relevance: personalised emails based on behaviour and stage in the buying process perform significantly better than generic mass mailings.

The engagement rate is the percentage of your audience that actively interacts with your content. Depending on the channel, this includes likes, comments, shares, clicks, video views or time spent on the page. In B2B, engagement rate is an indicator of the relevance and quality of your content for the target group. It is a valuable metric for the top of the funnel, but should always be viewed in conjunction with metrics that are closer to revenue, such as conversion rate and pipeline contribution.

Event marketing involves organising or participating in physical or virtual events to increase brand awareness, build relationships and generate leads. In B2B, this includes trade fairs, conferences, roundtables, user days and networking events. Events offer the opportunity for personal contact with prospects and customers, which is valuable for building trust in complex B2B sales processes. Effectiveness is measured by the number and quality of leads generated and the contribution to the pipeline and closed deals.

F

Firmographics are the descriptive characteristics of a company that are used for segmentation, qualification and prioritisation. These include industry, company size, turnover, location, legal form and number of employees. In B2B, firmographics are the equivalent of demographics in B2C. They form the basis for your Ideal Customer Profile, lead scoring and target group segmentation. Website visitor identification automatically enriches anonymous visitors with firmographic data, allowing you to immediately assess whether a visitor falls within your target group.

Fingerprinting is a tracking technique that builds a unique profile of a visitor based on device and browser characteristics such as screen resolution, installed fonts, time zone and browser version. Unlike cookies, fingerprinting is difficult for users to block. The technique is considered by privacy regulators to be a processing of personal data that requires consent. Leadinfo does not use fingerprinting and only identifies at company level via IP addresses.

First-party data is data that you collect yourself through your own channels and platforms, such as website behaviour, form submissions, email engagement, CRM data, and product usage. This data is the most reliable and relevant because it comes directly from the interaction between a prospect and your brand. At a time when third-party cookies are disappearing and privacy legislation is becoming stricter, the importance of first-party data is increasing. Website visitor identification is a form of first-party data collection: you recognise companies on your own website without relying on external data sources.

First-touch attribution is an attribution model that assigns all the value of a conversion to the first point of contact between a prospect and your brand. This could be an organic search result, an advertisement or a social media post. The model is simple and provides insight into which channels attract new prospects, but it does not take into account the touchpoints that were subsequently needed to convert the prospect into a deal. First-touch attribution is therefore most suitable for evaluating the top of the funnel.

The marketing funnel is a model that divides the customer journey into three phases. TOFU (Top of Funnel) is the awareness phase in which potential customers recognise a problem and come into contact with your brand for the first time. MOFU (Middle of Funnel) is the consideration phase in which prospects compare solutions and consume in-depth content. BOFU (Bottom of Funnel) is the decision phase in which a prospect is ready to make a purchase. Each phase requires different content, channels and KPIs. In B2B, the funnel is rarely linear: prospects jump between phases, conduct extensive research and involve multiple decision-makers. The biggest leak is usually in the middle, where interest is not followed up or is followed up too late.

G

Gated content is content that only becomes accessible after a visitor fills in a form with their contact details. It is a commonly used method for lead generation in B2B: the visitor receives valuable information, the company gets a lead. The disadvantage is that gating limits reach and raises the threshold, causing a large proportion of interested visitors to drop out. More and more B2B organisations are therefore combining gated content with ungated content: freely accessible information for brand awareness and trust, and gated content for prospects who are already further along in their orientation.

GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation, the English name for the General Data Protection Regulation (AVG). It is the European privacy law that has been in force since 25 May 2018 and regulates how organisations may collect, process and store personal data. The GDPR applies to all companies that process data from EU citizens, regardless of where the company is located. In the Dutch market, the term AVG is generally used.

A go-to-market strategy is the plan a company uses to bring a product or service to market and bring it to the attention of the right target group. It describes who you want to reach, through which channels, with what message, and how marketing and sales work together to realise pipeline and turnover. In B2B, a GTM strategy typically involves defining your Ideal Customer Profile, choosing the right channels such as LinkedIn, SEO, Google Ads or account-based marketing, setting up lead scoring and qualification, and aligning marketing and sales on shared definitions and data. Website visitor identification is playing an increasingly important role in this: by seeing which companies visit your website and how they behave, you can continuously adjust your GTM strategy based on actual market interest rather than assumptions.

H

The handover is the moment when marketing transfers a qualified lead to sales for immediate follow-up. This is one of the most critical moments in the B2B sales process: a poorly organised handover results in leads arriving at sales too early, too late or without context. An effective handover requires shared definitions of MQL and SQL, objective qualification criteria, and the provision of relevant context such as pages visited, behaviour history and company information. The handover is not a one-way street; feedback from sales to marketing about lead quality is essential to continuously improve the process.

Heatmaps are visual representations of how visitors behave on a web page. They use colour differences to show where visitors click, how far they scroll and where their attention goes. In B2B, heatmaps are used for conversion optimisation: they reveal whether visitors actually see your CTA, where they drop out and which elements attract attention or are ignored. Heatmaps are an analysis tool, not a real-time tool, and are used to implement substantiated improvements to pages.

High-intent accounts are companies that demonstrate through their behaviour that they are actively considering making a purchase. These are not just any random website visitors, but companies that give off multiple buying signals at the same time: repeated visits within a short period of time, deep sessions of five or more pages, viewing price and product pages, and reading comparison content or case studies. Each signal on its own may be a coincidence, but the combination indicates concrete purchase intent.

Recognising these accounts is crucial because most B2B websites convert less than two per cent of their visitors via forms. The remaining 98 per cent leave without providing contact details, but some of them are definitely in an active purchasing process. The most powerful approach combines intent data with profile data: a company that repeatedly visits your pricing page and fits your Ideal Customer Profile deserves faster follow-up than a one-time blog reader. In Leadinfo, you can recognise high-intent accounts by combining lead scoring, Audience Match and behavioural filters. Using triggers, you can set up automatic notifications when an ICP match visits a high-intent page, so that sales can act immediately when interest is at its highest.

A hybrid GTM is a go-to-market strategy that combines elements of both sales-led and product-led growth. Smaller accounts and users come in through the product itself, while larger accounts are guided by a sales team. This model makes it possible to serve a broad market efficiently while personally guiding more complex deals. The challenge lies in coordination: marketing, product and sales must work with shared data and clear criteria for when a product-led user is transferred to sales for personal follow-up.

I

An Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) is a detailed description of the type of company that best suits your product or service. It is not a description of an individual person, but of an organisation. Think of characteristics such as industry, company size, turnover, location, technology use and typical pain points. An ICP answers the question: to which type of company do we deliver the most value and which type of company delivers the most value back to us?

You build a sharp ICP based on your existing customer base. Which customers convert the fastest? Which ones stay the longest? Which ones generate the highest turnover? By recognising patterns in your best customers, you define the characteristics that future prospects must meet. The more specific your ICP, the more targeted your marketing and sales can be.

Without an ICP, you’re shooting in the dark. You attract traffic that never becomes customers, your sales team spends time on companies that aren’t a good fit, and your marketing budget evaporates in campaigns that reach the wrong target group. With an ICP, you filter out the companies that aren’t relevant early in the process. This leads to higher conversion rates, shorter sales cycles and a better ROI. An ICP is not static: you continuously adjust the profile based on data and feedback between marketing and sales.

An ICP Match Score is an automatic assessment that indicates the extent to which a website visitor matches your Ideal Customer Profile. Whereas a regular lead score looks at behaviour — how many pages a company visits, how often it returns — an ICP Match Score looks at the profile of the company itself. Think of characteristics such as industry, company size, location and turnover. The score therefore answers a different question: not ‘how interested is this company?’, but ‘how well does this company fit with us?’

Identity resolution is the process of linking different data points and interactions to the same company or person. In B2B, a prospect can interact with your brand through multiple channels and devices: a website visit from the office, an email click on a mobile phone, and a LinkedIn interaction. Identity resolution connects these separate signals into a single coherent profile, giving you a complete picture of the account and the contacts involved. Without identity resolution, interactions remain fragmented and you miss the context needed for effective follow-up.

Inbound is a marketing approach in which you attract prospects through valuable content, SEO and thought leadership, so that they come to you themselves when they recognise a problem or are looking for a solution. In B2B, this includes blog articles, white papers, webinars, search engine optimisation and social media. The advantage is that inbound leads are usually warmer because the initiative comes from the prospect themselves. The disadvantage is that it takes time to build up and depends on consistent investment in content and visibility. Website visitor identification strengthens inbound by also making visible those visitors who consume content but do not fill in a form.

Incrementality measures the actual added value of a marketing activity by determining what portion of the results would not have been achieved without that activity. It answers the question: would this conversion have taken place even if we had not run this campaign? This distinguishes incrementality from regular attribution, which assigns value but does not determine whether the result is additional. Incrementality is usually measured through controlled experiments such as holdout tests, in which part of the target group is deliberately not exposed to a campaign.

Integrations are links between two or more software systems that enable them to exchange data automatically. Instead of manually typing information from one system to another, an integration ensures that data is synchronised in real time or at fixed intervals. In B2B marketing and sales, integrations connect your tools into a single collaborative ecosystem: your CRM, marketing automation, advertising platforms, communication tools and analytics platforms all share the same data.

Intent, or purchase intent, refers to signals that indicate that a company is actively interested in a product or service and is considering making a purchase. In B2B marketing and sales, intent is the bridge between an anonymous website visitor and a concrete sales opportunity. It is not about a single action, but rather a pattern of behaviour that indicates the likelihood of a purchase.

Intent-based targeting is the targeting of marketing and sales activities at companies that show active buying signals. Instead of targeting static characteristics such as industry or company size, you use behavioural data to identify companies that are actively in the buying process. Intent signals come from first-party sources such as website behaviour and from third-party sources such as research activity on external platforms. Intent-based targeting allows you to approach prospects when they are most receptive, leading to higher response rates and shorter sales cycles.

IP-to-company matching is the technology that links the IP address of a website visitor to a company from a company database. Companies typically use fixed IP ranges that are registered to their organisation. By matching a visitor’s IP address to these registrations, the company is identified without the need for cookies, forms or personal data. The accuracy depends on the size and currency of the company database. IP-to-company matching is at the heart of website visitor identification and is legally applicable under the GDPR on the basis of legitimate interest.

IP tracking is a technology that allows you to identify companies that visit your website based on their IP address. Every device that connects to the internet is assigned an IP address. Companies typically use fixed IP ranges for their internet traffic. By matching a website visitor’s IP address to a company database, you can see which organisation is behind a visit.

ISO 27001 is the international standard for information security. ISO 27001 certification means that an organisation has set up an Information Security Management System (ISMS) that meets strict requirements in terms of confidentiality, integrity and availability of data. The certification is granted after an independent audit and must be renewed periodically. For B2B organisations that share data with software suppliers, ISO 27001 is an important quality mark that demonstrates that the supplier has structurally guaranteed information security. Leadinfo is ISO 27001 certified.

K

Key accounts are a company’s most strategically important customers or prospects, who are prioritised based on revenue potential, strategic value or growth opportunities. They receive more attention, dedicated contact persons and a tailor-made approach. In an ABM context, key accounts are the companies targeted by the most personalised and intensive campaigns. Managing key accounts requires close collaboration between marketing, sales and customer success to maintain and develop the relationship at all levels within the account.

L

A landing page is a web page specifically designed to encourage visitors to perform a single action, such as requesting a demo, downloading a white paper or contacting the company. Unlike regular website pages, a landing page has no distracting navigation and its entire content is focused on a single conversion goal. In B2B, it is essential that advertisements and campaigns link to a relevant landing page rather than the homepage, because a targeted page with a relevant message yields significantly higher conversion rates.

Last-touch attribution is an attribution model that assigns all value to the last touchpoint before a conversion. This is often the channel that directly leads to the enquiry or deal, such as a demo request or direct website visit. The model is easy to apply but overestimates the contribution of the bottom of the funnel and ignores all previous touchpoints that brought the prospect to that moment. Last-touch attribution is most suitable for evaluating demand capture channels.

A lead is a company or individual who shows interest in your product or service and is therefore a potential customer. In B2B, this interest can manifest itself in various ways: a company visits your website, someone fills in a contact form, downloads a white paper, registers for a webinar or clicks on an advertisement. Any interaction that indicates potential buying interest turns an unknown visitor into a lead.

Lead alerts are real-time notifications that sales staff receive when a relevant company visits their website or meets certain criteria. Alerts are sent via channels such as Slack, Microsoft Teams or email and contain context about the company and its behaviour. The goal is speed: the sooner sales knows that an interesting company is active, the faster the follow-up and the higher the conversion rate. In Leadinfo, you configure lead alerts via triggers, setting the rules, channel and recipient for each alert.

Lead assignment is the process of assigning a specific lead to an individual sales representative who will be responsible for following up on it. Whereas lead routing describes the automatic process, lead assignment refers to the actual assignment and ownership. Commonly used methods include round robin (even distribution), based on region or industry, or based on account ownership in the CRM. In Leadinfo, you assign leads via triggers that automatically link labels to the right colleague, so that everyone has their own filtered overview of relevant companies.

Lead generation is the process of attracting and identifying potential customers for your product or service. The goal is to fill your sales funnel with companies or individuals who show interest and have the potential to become customers. Lead generation forms the link between marketing and sales: marketing attracts the right companies, and sales follows up on the most promising leads.

Lead intelligence is the totality of data and insights available about a lead to determine the quality, relevance and timing of follow-up. It combines firmographic data, behavioural data such as pages visited and visit frequency, intent signals and contextual information. Lead intelligence goes beyond basic contact details and gives sales the context they need to have a relevant conversation. The richer the intelligence, the better the qualification and the higher the chance of conversion.

A lead magnet is a valuable piece of content or tool that you offer in exchange for a prospect’s contact details. In B2B, commonly used lead magnets include white papers, e-books, templates, checklists, calculators, and webinars. Their effectiveness depends on their relevance and perceived value to the target audience: a lead magnet that solves a specific problem for your ICP converts better than generic content. The trend is shifting towards ungated content for demand generation, where lead magnets are used for prospects who are already further along in the buying process.

Lead routing is the automatic assignment of leads to the right person or team based on predefined rules. Routing rules are based on criteria such as region, industry, company size, language or source. The aim is to ensure that each lead is assigned to the most relevant colleague as quickly as possible, because speed of follow-up has a direct impact on conversion rates. In Leadinfo, you set up lead routing using triggers that automatically label companies and forward them to the appropriate CRM owner or communication channel.

Lead nurturing is the process of keeping leads that are not yet ready to buy warm with relevant information until the right moment for a sales conversation. In B2B, not every lead is immediately ready to buy. Some companies are exploring their options, comparing alternatives or waiting for budget. Lead nurturing bridges the gap between initial interest and actual purchase.

Lead qualification is the assessment of leads based on their likelihood of becoming customers. This is done on the basis of two dimensions: fit (does the company match your ICP in terms of characteristics such as industry, size and location) and intent (does the company show buying behaviour such as repeated visits, viewing the pricing page or requesting a demo). Lead qualification can be done manually by sales, automated via lead scoring, or a combination of both. The goal is to separate the leads with the highest conversion probability from the rest, so that sales can focus on the most promising prospects.

Lead scoring is a method of ranking leads based on their likelihood of becoming customers. By assigning points to specific characteristics and behaviours, a score is created that indicates how interesting a lead is for follow-up. The higher the score, the greater the chance of conversion and the more priority that lead deserves.

The Leadbot is a dynamic contact form from Leadinfo that is always visible on your website. Unlike a traditional contact form that is located somewhere on a page, the Leadbot is an interactive widget that allows visitors to contact you on every page. Visitors can use the Leadbot to call, send a WhatsApp message, send an email, submit a callback request, request a quote or make an appointment.

Lifecycle stages describe the successive statuses that a contact or company goes through from initial interaction to customer and beyond. Commonly used stages are subscriber, lead, MQL, SQL, opportunity, customer and evangelist. They provide marketing and sales with a shared language to determine where a prospect is in the buying process and what follow-up is appropriate. In CRM systems, lifecycle stages are used to set up workflows, reports, and responsibilities for each phase, so it is clear which team is responsible for the contact at any given time.

LinkedIn Ads is LinkedIn’s advertising platform that allows you to target ads based on professional characteristics such as job title, industry, company size, seniority and specific companies. LinkedIn is the most effective social advertising channel for B2B because it allows you to reach the right decision-makers in a highly targeted manner. Advertisement formats include Sponsored Content, Message Ads, Lead Gen Forms and Document Ads. LinkedIn Ads is relatively expensive per click, but the quality of the reach usually compensates for this in B2B. By exporting website visitor data to LinkedIn Matched Audiences, you can retarget companies that have already shown interest.

M

Marketing automation is the use of software to automate repetitive marketing tasks based on pre-set rules and triggers. Examples include automated email sequences, lead scoring, segmentation and forwarding qualified leads to sales. The aim is to provide relevant communication on a large scale, tailored to the behaviour and stage of the prospect, without each action having to be carried out manually. Marketing automation forms the bridge between lead generation and sales by automatically qualifying prospects and transferring them at the right moment.

A Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) is a lead that has been assessed as promising based on marketing criteria, but is not yet ready for direct contact with sales. The MQL is in the orientation or consideration phase of the customer journey. There is interest, but no concrete purchase intention yet.

MEDDIC and its expanded variant MEDDPICC are qualification frameworks for complex B2B sales processes. MEDDIC stands for Metrics (measurable value for the customer), Economic Buyer (the budget holder), Decision Criteria (assessment criteria), Decision Process (decision-making process), Identify Pain (core problem) and Champion (internal advocate). MEDDPICC adds Paper Process (contractual and legal procedures) and Competition (competition) to this. The framework is more thorough than BANT and helps sales teams to qualify and predict complex deals with multiple stakeholders and long sales cycles in a structured manner.

A messaging framework is a structured document that sets out how a company communicates about its product, value and unique selling points. It contains the core message, value proposition, key benefits, frequently used phrases and tone of voice for each target group or buyer persona. The aim is consistency: whether it’s a landing page, advertisement, sales pitch or presentation, everyone within the company uses the same message. In B2B, where multiple teams and channels are involved in the buyer journey, a messaging framework prevents the message from becoming diluted or contradictory as more people contribute to it.

Multi-touch attribution is an attribution model that distributes value across multiple touchpoints in the customer journey. Unlike first-touch or last-touch models, it recognises that multiple channels and interactions contribute to a conversion. Commonly used variants are linear (equal distribution), time-weighted (more recent touchpoints receive more value) and U-shaped (first and last touchpoints receive the most). Multi-touch attribution provides the most realistic picture in B2B, where purchasing processes typically involve multiple touchpoints over weeks or months.

O

An opportunity is a qualified sales lead that has been accepted into the sales pipeline with an estimated deal value and expected closing date. It is the stage at which an SQL is concrete enough to be registered as a potential deal in the CRM. An opportunity is usually linked to an amount, a stage in the sales process and a probability percentage. Opportunities form the basis for revenue forecasts and pipeline reports and provide sales and management with insight into the expected revenue for a specific period.

Orchestration is the coordination of all marketing and sales activities surrounding an account so that they form a coherent experience. It goes beyond alignment, the coordination of goals and definitions, and focuses on the actual execution: what message is delivered to the account, when, through which channel and by which team. Effective orchestration prevents a prospect from receiving a cold email from sales and an awareness advertisement from marketing at the same time, or multiple team members approaching the same account without knowing about each other. It requires shared data, joint planning and tooling that connects marketing and sales activities at account level.

Outbound is a marketing approach in which you actively approach prospects instead of waiting for them to come to you. In B2B, this includes channels such as cold email, telephone acquisition, LinkedIn messages and targeted advertising. The approach is proactive and usually delivers faster results than inbound, but it is more labour-intensive and depends on the quality of your targeting and message. Modern outbound combines contact data with intent signals and website visitor data, so you no longer make blind calls but approach prospects who have already shown interest. Effectiveness increases as outbound and inbound become more closely aligned.

Outreach cadences are structured schedules that determine through which channels, with what frequency and with what message a prospect is approached. A cadence typically combines email, LinkedIn and telephone contact over a period of several weeks. The goal is to create multiple contact moments without becoming intrusive. Effectiveness depends on personalisation, timing and channel mix. Cadences are set up in sales engagement platforms and linked to data from CRM and website visitor identification to tailor the message to the prospect’s behaviour.

P

Partner marketing is a strategy in which two or more companies work together to strengthen each other’s reach, credibility and lead generation. In B2B, this takes the form of co-marketing campaigns, joint webinars, integration partnerships or reseller programmes. The advantage is access to a relevant audience that would be more difficult to reach independently, combined with the trust transfer of the partner relationship. Partner marketing is most effective when both parties serve a similar target group with complementary products or services.

Personalisation in B2B involves tailoring content, messages and interactions to the specific situation, characteristics and behaviour of a company or contact person. This goes beyond including a first name in an email: it means that landing pages, advertisements, outreach and sales conversations are adapted based on industry, role, stage in the buying process and demonstrated behaviour. In a market where decision-makers receive generic messages on a daily basis, relevant personalisation is a distinguishing factor. The basis is data: the more you know about the account and the contact person, the more targeted your communication can be.

A pipeline is a comprehensive overview of all active opportunities in the sales process, organised by phase from initial contact to closed deal. The pipeline provides insight into the number of deals in progress, their combined value and progress per stage. A healthy pipeline contains sufficient volume in each stage to achieve sales targets. Marketing feeds the top of the pipeline with qualified leads, while sales works on the middle and bottom towards closing a deal. Pipeline management is a core activity for every B2B sales team.

Pipeline attribution is the process of determining which marketing activities and channels actually contribute to your sales pipeline and revenue. Instead of measuring superficial metrics such as clicks or reach, you track the entire customer journey from initial website visit to closed deal and assign value to each touchpoint. This is particularly complex in B2B because purchasing processes involve multiple contact moments over weeks or months. Without end-to-end attribution, you don’t know which channel actually generates pipeline and which channel only generates traffic. By linking analytics, CRM and website visitor identification, you create a complete picture that allows you to allocate budgets to the channels that really matter.

Pipeline velocity is the speed at which opportunities move through the sales pipeline and generate revenue. The metric is calculated based on four variables: the number of opportunities, the average deal value, the win rate and the average duration of the sales cycle. By working on each of these variables, you can increase revenue velocity: create more opportunities, close bigger deals, win a higher percentage or shorten the turnaround time. Pipeline velocity provides insight into where the greatest leverage for revenue growth lies.

Playbooks are standardised scripts that guide sales staff step by step through specific situations in the sales process. A playbook describes what actions to take, what questions to ask and what content to use in a particular scenario, such as following up on an inbound lead, approaching a target account or handling an objection. Playbooks ensure consistency in the sales approach, shorten the training period for new employees, and make best practices scalable within the team.

Positioning is how a company distinguishes itself in the minds of its target group from its competitors. It determines what associations customers and prospects have with your brand, product or service and why they would choose you. Strong positioning answers three questions: who are you there for, what problem do you solve and how are you different from alternatives? In B2B, positioning is particularly important because purchasing processes are long and decision-makers conduct extensive research before making contact. Companies that clearly communicate their position are more likely to stand out in the orientation phase and make it onto the shortlist more quickly. Positioning forms the basis for all communications, from website content and advertisements to sales conversations, and must be consistent across every touchpoint of the buyer journey.

PR (Public Relations) is the strategic management of a company’s public perception through earned media, press relations and communication. In B2B, PR focuses on gaining visibility in trade media, industry publications and news platforms followed by the target group. The aim is to build credibility and authority through editorial coverage, which is perceived as more objective than paid advertising. PR contributes to brand awareness and thought leadership, thereby strengthening the top of the funnel.

Product-led growth is a growth model in which the product itself is the primary driver for customer acquisition, activation and retention. Users experience the value of the product directly through a free version or trial period, without the need for a sales conversation first. Conversion to a paid subscription is based on usage and perceived value. PLG works best with products that have a low barrier to entry, fast time-to-value and the option of self-service. PLG is increasingly being used in B2B, although for more complex products it is often combined with sales to serve larger accounts.

Product-market fit is the point at which a product or service demonstrably meets a real need in a clearly defined market. PMF occurs when customers not only buy your product but also continue to actively use it, recommend it and are willing to pay for it. Without product-market fit, scaling up makes little sense: a larger marketing budget will only lead to more traffic that does not convert or customers who quickly drop out. In B2B, you can recognise PMF by signals such as a shorter sales cycle, increasing retention, organic word-of-mouth advertising and a growing share of inbound leads. Achieving PMF is not a one-off event but an ongoing process: markets change, competitors evolve and customer needs shift. Companies that continuously measure how their target group responds to their offering can adjust their proposition in a timely manner and maintain PMF.

A Product Qualified Lead is a user who has experienced value through the product itself, for example through a free trial period or freemium version, and thereby indicates that they are ready for a commercial discussion. PQLs are qualified based on product usage: which features have been activated, how often they log in, and how much value has already been achieved. PQLs are typical of a product-led growth model and generally convert better than traditional MQLs because the prospect has already experienced the solution rather than just read about it.

A prospect is a lead that has been assessed and fits within your target group or Ideal Customer Profile. Whereas a lead can be any interested party, a prospect is specifically qualified as potentially relevant. The transition from lead to prospect takes place after an initial assessment of characteristics such as industry, company size and location. In the sales process, a prospect is someone who is actively approached or followed up, as opposed to an unqualified lead who is still in the marketing phase.

R

Remarketing is often used as a synonym for retargeting, but strictly speaking, it focuses on re-approaching existing contacts via your own channels, such as email. Whereas retargeting works via paid advertisements on external platforms, remarketing utilises channels where you already have a direct relationship with the recipient. In practice, Google and other platforms use the terms interchangeably. The principle is the same: re-engaging prospects who have previously interacted with your brand with a relevant message at the right moment in their buying process.

Reports are automated overviews of website visitors that you receive by email at fixed intervals: daily, weekly or monthly. They provide insight into which companies have visited your website and how they behaved, without you having to actively look into the tool yourself. For each report, you define a segment — all visitors, visitors with a specific label, or visitors who meet certain criteria such as industry, location or pages visited. This ensures that sales staff only receive leads that are relevant to them. In Leadinfo, you set up reports from the portal. You can duplicate existing reports as new reports or as triggers for further automation. The number of reports available depends on your subscription package. For more extensive analyses, Leadinfo also offers a dashboard and the option to export data or link it to Google Looker Studio.

Retargeting is the process of re-approaching website visitors with advertisements after they have left your site. The goal is to bring back prospects who have shown interest but have not converted. Traditionally, retargeting works on the basis of cookies, but with the disappearance of third-party cookies, the approach is shifting to cookie-free methods. In B2B, you can identify companies through website visitor identification and export them as target groups to platforms such as LinkedIn Ads and Google Ads, allowing you to retarget at company level without relying on cookies.

ROI stands for Return On Investment and is a financial measure that expresses the return on an investment as a percentage. The calculation is: (return − investment) / investment × 100. An ROI of 200% means that for every pound you invest, you get two pounds back in profit. ROI makes it possible to objectively compare the effectiveness of different investments.

Revenue Operations is an operational model that brings marketing, sales and customer success under one strategy, dataset and process structure. The goal is to manage the entire revenue cycle from first touchpoint to renewal as a whole, rather than as separate departments with their own tools, data and KPIs. RevOps focuses on removing silos between teams, standardising data and processes, and creating a shared view of the pipeline. In B2B, RevOps is gaining importance as purchasing processes become more complex and the need for end-to-end attribution and predictable revenue growth increases.

ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) is the return per euro invested in advertising. It is calculated by dividing the total revenue from a campaign by the advertising costs. A ROAS of 5 means that every euro spent on advertising generates five euros in revenue. ROAS is more specific than ROI because it focuses exclusively on media budget and does not take into account other costs such as personnel and tooling. In B2B, ROAS is more difficult to measure due to longer sales cycles, which means that revenue only becomes visible months after the advertising expenditure.

S

A Sales Accepted Lead is an MQL that has been accepted by the sales team for follow-up. SAL is an intermediate status that confirms that sales has assessed the lead and agrees to approach it. This phase prevents leads from falling between the cracks: marketing transfers, and sales actively confirms that the lead is of sufficient quality. Without SAL as an intermediate step, there is often uncertainty about whether a lead has actually been picked up, leading to missed opportunities and recriminations between teams.

The sales cycle is the average time that elapses between the first contact with a prospect and the closing of the deal. In B2B, sales cycles are typically longer than in B2C because multiple decision-makers are involved, budget approval is required, and prospects conduct extensive research. The length varies from a few weeks for simple products to months for complex solutions. A shorter sales cycle means faster turnover and lower acquisition costs. Factors that shorten the cycle include rapid follow-up, good qualification, and providing the right information at the right time.

Sales-led growth is a growth model in which the sales team is the primary driving force behind customer acquisition. Marketing generates leads and transfers them to sales, which guides the prospect through the buying process via personal contact, demos and conversations. SLG is suitable for products with a higher deal value, longer sales cycles and multiple decision-makers, which is often the case in B2B. The model requires well-coordinated collaboration between marketing and sales, clear qualification criteria and tooling that provides sales staff with the right data and context at the right time.

A sales funnel is a visual model that describes the journey a potential customer goes through, from initial introduction to purchase. The funnel is wide at the top, where many potential customers enter, and narrow at the bottom, where ultimately a smaller number convert into paying customers. Each stage in the funnel represents a step in the decision-making process.

A Sales Development Representative (SDR) is a sales employee who focuses on the first part of the sales process: identifying, approaching and qualifying leads. The SDR is the link between marketing and the closing sales colleagues. The goal is not to close deals, but to create qualified sales opportunities that an Account Executive or Senior Sales can follow up on.

Sales enablement is the systematic provision of the sales team with the right content, tools, data and training to sell more effectively. The goal is for sales staff to have the information they need at every stage of the sales process to conduct relevant conversations and close deals. In B2B, this includes case studies, battle cards, product demos, CRM data and real-time insights into the behaviour of prospects. Sales enablement bridges the gap between marketing and sales by ensuring that marketing content is actually used in the sales process.

Sales enablement signals are data points that help sales staff approach the right company, at the right time, with the right message. They are a combination of behavioural signals — such as pages visited, session duration, visit frequency and origin — and profile data such as industry, company size and ICP match. Together, these signals provide context for a sales conversation even before the first contact takes place. Instead of cold calling, a sales representative knows exactly which solution a prospect has viewed, how often the company has returned, and whether it fits the ideal customer profile. In Leadinfo, these signals are made available in real time via the inbox, CRM synchronisation, and notifications by email, Slack, or Microsoft Teams. Triggers and segments ensure that only the most relevant signals reach the right colleague.

A Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) is a lead that shows concrete purchasing intent and is ready for direct contact with sales. The SQL has passed the orientation phase and is now in the decision phase of the customer journey. The company fits your Ideal Customer Profile and has demonstrated through its behaviour that there is a realistic chance of a deal.

An SDR is a sales representative who focuses on the first part of the sales process: identifying, approaching and qualifying leads. The SDR creates qualified sales opportunities and transfers them to an Account Executive who closes the deal. SDRs form the link between marketing and closing sales and work with both inbound leads and outbound prospecting. Modern SDRs combine cold outreach with intent signals and website visitor data to approach prospects who have already shown interest.

SDR outreach is the set of activities through which a Sales Development Representative approaches prospects to create qualified sales opportunities. This includes cold emails, LinkedIn messages, phone calls and following up on inbound leads. The modern SDR combines these activities with data from website visitor identification, intent signals and CRM information to approach the right company at the right time with a relevant message. The goal of SDR outreach is not to close deals but to create SQLs that are transferred to the sales team.

Segments are groups of website visitors or leads that you categorise based on shared characteristics or behaviour. By segmenting your leads, you create clear lists that help you follow up in a targeted manner. Instead of treating all website visitors as one group, you distinguish between them based on criteria that are relevant to your sales and marketing process.

SEA (Search Engine Advertising) is paid advertising in search engines, with Google Ads being the most commonly used platform. Advertisers bid on search terms and pay per click. In B2B, SEA is effective for demand capture: you reach prospects who are actively looking for solutions. The power lies in the intention behind the search query; someone searching for a specific solution or comparison is further along in the buying process than someone reading a blog article. By combining website visitor identification with SEA, you can see which companies are coming in through advertisements and whether they fall within your ICP.

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is the process of optimising your website and content to appear higher in organic search results. In B2B, SEO focuses on search terms that prospects use during their orientation and comparison, from informative searches to purchase-oriented terms. SEO includes technical optimisation, content creation, and building authority through backlinks. The advantage over paid channels is that organic traffic continues without ongoing media costs. With the rise of AI overviews and generative search engines, Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) is becoming an increasingly important addition to traditional SEO.

The Serviceable Available Market is the part of the TAM that you can actually serve with your current product, channels and geographical reach. SAM filters the total market to the segments that are realistically within your reach. A B2B software company that only operates in the Benelux has a smaller SAM than TAM, even though the product may be relevant worldwide. SAM helps you determine your go-to-market focus and prioritise market segments.

The Serviceable Obtainable Market is the part of the SAM that you can realistically capture within a certain period, taking into account competition, capacity and market position. SOM is the most practical of the three market sizes and forms the basis for revenue forecasts and sales planning. Whereas TAM and SAM describe the potential, SOM gives a realistic picture of what you can actually achieve with your current resources and market position.

Signal-based marketing is an approach in which marketing activities are driven by real-time signals from prospects rather than static lists or fixed campaign calendars. Signals are behavioural indicators such as website visits, returning sessions, viewing specific pages, engagement with content or changes within a company. Based on these signals, automated campaigns, notifications or outreach are triggered. The advantage is relevance and timing: you respond to what a prospect is doing rather than what you hope they will do.

Social proof is the principle whereby prospects allow their decisions to be influenced by the choices and experiences of others. In B2B, social proof takes the form of customer logos, testimonials, reviews, case studies, certifications and figures such as the number of customers or users. Social proof reduces the perceived risk of a purchase and strengthens trust, especially among prospects who are in the comparison phase. It is most effective when it is recognisable to the target group: a testimonial from a similar company in the same industry is more convincing than a generic recommendation.

Social selling is the use of social platforms, particularly LinkedIn, to build relationships with prospects and create sales opportunities. It is not about direct sales via social media, but about sharing valuable insights, participating in conversations and building a personal brand as an expert. Social selling is effective in B2B because decision-makers conduct extensive research of their own, consulting the profiles and content of sales staff and experts. It complements traditional outreach, rather than replacing it.

T

Tags, also known as labels, are categories that you assign to leads to organise your database and keep it clear. A tag is a short label with a name and colour that you link to a company to see at a glance what the status, origin or relevance of that lead is. Think of tags such as ‘Hot lead’, “Customer”, ‘Google Ads’, ‘Not interesting’ or the name of a responsible sales colleague.

Target accounts are companies that you want to actively approach because they are the best fit for your product or service. They are selected based on your Ideal Customer Profile and form a defined list of priority accounts that marketing and sales focus on jointly. In an account-based marketing approach, you focus your campaigns, content and outreach specifically on this list rather than on the broader market. The advantage is focus: instead of chasing thousands of leads, you concentrate your resources on the companies with the highest chance of conversion and the greatest potential deal value. In Leadinfo, you can monitor when target accounts visit your website. You can label your account list via bulk tagging, after which triggers and segments ensure that sales receives an immediate notification as soon as a target account is active on your site.

Technographics zijn gegevens over de technologieën, software en tools die een bedrijf gebruikt. Denk aan CRM-systemen, marketingautomatiseringsplatforms, ERP-software of e-commerceoplossingen. In B2B zijn technographics waardevol voor targeting en personalisatie: als u weet welke software een prospect gebruikt, kunt u uw boodschap afstemmen op integratiemogelijkheden, migratieprocessen of specifieke pijnpunten van die technologie. Technografische gegevens worden vaak gecombineerd met firmographics om een completer beeld van een account te krijgen.

Third-party data is data collected by an external party and does not originate from your own channels. In B2B, this includes firmographic databases, technographic data, intent data from external platforms, and contact details from data suppliers. Third-party data is used to supplement your own data and gain a broader picture of your market and prospects. The disadvantage is that the quality and timeliness vary and that you are dependent on the collection methods and privacy compliance of the external party.

Thought leadership is a marketing strategy in which a company or individual positions themselves as an authority and knowledge leader within a specific field. The goal is not to sell directly, but to build trust and credibility with your target audience. By consistently sharing valuable insights, analyses, and visions, you become the company that prospects think of first when they need a solution.

The Total Addressable Market is the total market size for a product or service, expressed in terms of revenue or number of companies, if you were to serve 100 percent of the market. TAM represents the theoretical ceiling and is used to assess the growth potential of a market. In B2B, you calculate TAM by multiplying the total number of companies that would benefit from your solution by the average annual revenue per customer. TAM is particularly relevant for investors and strategic planning, but says little about what you can realistically achieve in the short term.

A trigger is an automated rule that performs a specific action when a website visitor meets predetermined conditions. A trigger consists of two parts: the rules that a visitor must meet and the action that is automatically performed when those rules are met. Consider a company from a specific industry with more than five employees that visits your pricing page. The trigger recognizes this and automatically performs the set action.

U

UTM parameters are tags that you add to a URL to record the source, medium, and campaign through which a visitor arrives at your website. UTM stands for Urchin Tracking Module. The five standard parameters are source (e.g., LinkedIn), medium (e.g., CPC), campaign (campaign name), term (keyword), and content (ad variant). By consistently using UTM parameters, you can see exactly which campaigns generate traffic, leads, and ultimately revenue in your analytics and CRM. In Leadinfo, the UTM information is recorded for each company visit, so you can automatically assign labels based on campaign origin via triggers.

V

A value proposition is the core promise with which a company makes clear what value it delivers to a specific target group. It describes what problem you solve, for whom, and why your solution is better than the alternatives. Whereas positioning is about how you want to be seen in relation to competitors, the value proposition translates this into a concrete promise to the customer. In B2B, a sharp value proposition is essential because decision-makers compare multiple solutions and want to quickly understand the added value for their specific situation. An effective value proposition is therefore not generic but focused on the pain points and goals of your Ideal Customer Profile. It appears on your most important landing pages, in advertisements, in sales presentations, and in every other contact moment where a prospect decides whether you are relevant enough to investigate further.

Visitor identification is the technology that allows you to recognize which companies visit your website, even if they do not fill out a form or leave contact details. The identification works at the company level—not at the individual level—by matching the visitor’s IP address with a company database. The identified company is then enriched with firmographic data such as company name, industry, revenue, location, and number of employees, combined with behavioral data such as pages visited, session duration, and visit frequency. Because on average less than two percent of B2B website visitors convert via forms, visitor identification makes the remaining 98 percent visible and usable for sales and marketing.

W

Webinar marketing is the use of online seminars as a means of generating leads, demonstrating expertise and guiding prospects through their purchasing process. In B2B, webinars are effective because they offer depth, enable interaction and give participants an accessible way to get acquainted with your expertise. Webinars function both as demand generation (knowledge sharing without a direct sales message) and lead generation (registration provides contact details). The recording can then be reused as on-demand content for long-term value.

The win rate is the percentage of opportunities that result in a closed deal. It is calculated by dividing the number of deals won by the total number of closed opportunities, both won and lost. The win rate is one of the most important sales metrics because it reflects the effectiveness of the sales process. A low win rate may indicate insufficient qualification, a weak proposition or poor sales skills. By analysing the win rate per channel, segment or sales employee, you can identify areas for improvement.

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Calculate your price

Your price tier is based on the unique companies we identify monthly – roughly 30% of your website visitors.

Don’t worry; after the trial, we’ll send you a tailored proposal. You’ll never pay more than you want! 

Companies identified

Monthly cost

0- 50

€ 49

51 – 100

€ 79

101 – 250

€ 129

351 – 500

€ 149

501 – 750

€ 199

751 – 1000

€ 269

1001 – 1500

€ 399

1501 – 2000

€ 449

1501 – 2000

€ 499

Companies identified

Monthly cost

0- 50

€ 59

51 – 100

€ 99

101 – 250

€ 149

351 – 500

€ 179

501 – 750

€ 259

751 – 1000

€ 339

1001 – 1500

€ 449

1501 – 2000

€ 549

1501 – 2000

€ 599