CRM 101 · 30 terms · Updated July 2026
CRM Glossary
Plain-English definitions for the 30 terms a CRM buyer actually encounters: from CRM itself to lead scoring, MQL/SQL, sub-accounts, and the 2024-2026 wave of AI-agent features.
- CRM
- Customer Relationship Management. Software that stores every customer interaction in one shared system: contacts, deals, emails, calls, notes. The category covers everything from per-user pipelines (Pipedrive) to all-in-one platforms (HubSpot, GoHighLevel).
- Pipeline
- The stage-by-stage view of active deals. Stages typically include Lead, Qualified, Proposal, Negotiating, Closed-won, Closed-lost. Rendered as a kanban board in most CRMs.
- Deal
- A sales opportunity record. Holds value, stage, owner, expected close date, linked contacts, and activity history. One deal usually maps to one company.
- Contact
- An individual person in the CRM database. Holds name, email, phone, role, custom fields, and a complete activity history. Every other entity (deal, task, note) links back to a contact.
- Lead
- A prospective customer who has not yet been qualified. The lead → contact → deal progression is the standard funnel shape: leads are qualified, then become deals, then close (or don't).
- Lead scoring
- Assigning a numerical score to each lead based on behavior (email opens, page visits, form fills) and attributes (job title, company size). Higher score = hotter lead. Routes top leads to sales faster.
- Sales funnel
- The journey from awareness to purchase: top-of-funnel (TOFU) = awareness, middle-of-funnel (MOFU) = consideration, bottom-of-funnel (BOFU) = decision. Marketers segment campaigns by funnel stage.
- Sales sequence
- A pre-scheduled series of outbound touches: email day 1, LinkedIn day 3, call day 5, email day 7. Sequences run automatically in modern CRMs (HubSpot Sequences, Outreach, Salesloft).
- Marketing automation
- Software that runs email campaigns, nurture sequences, and segmentation without a marketer pressing send each time. Examples: ActiveCampaign, Mailchimp, HubSpot Marketing Hub.
- Workflow
- An automation rule in a CRM. Trigger (something happens) + action (the CRM does something). Modern workflow builders let you branch on conditions, add time delays, and chain multiple actions.
- Trigger
- The event that fires an automation. Examples: form submitted, deal stage changed, contact tag added, no activity for 7 days, date reached.
- Tag
- A label attached to a contact for segmentation. Tags are non-hierarchical: a contact can have many. Common tags: lead source, vertical, status, campaign membership.
- Segment
- A dynamic group of contacts defined by criteria (contains tag 'X', country = 'US', last interaction < 30 days). Segments update automatically as contacts change.
- Custom field
- A user-defined data field beyond the CRM's built-in fields. Examples: 'Industry,' 'Annual Revenue,' 'Renewal Date.' Most CRMs allow unlimited custom fields at the paid tier.
- Custom object
- A user-defined entity beyond Contacts, Companies, Deals. A real-estate CRM might add 'Properties.' A SaaS CRM might add 'Subscriptions.' Available in HubSpot Enterprise, Salesforce, Zoho.
- Pipedrive Activity
- An interaction logged against a deal or contact: call, email, meeting, task. The activity timeline is the 'what happened, when' history every CRM ships.
- Drip campaign
- A scheduled series of emails sent over time to a segment. 'Drip' refers to the time-delayed pacing. Often used for onboarding sequences and lead nurture.
- Nurture sequence
- A drip campaign focused on warming up cold leads with educational content over weeks or months before sales outreach. The marketing-automation core use case.
- MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead)
- A lead that marketing has scored as ready for sales outreach based on behavior or attributes. The first qualification gate in many B2B sales processes.
- SQL (Sales Qualified Lead)
- A lead that sales has accepted as worth working: usually after a discovery call or qualification process. Distinct from MQL because sales now owns it.
- ICP (Ideal Customer Profile)
- The characteristics of the customer most likely to buy and stay. Used for targeting (advertising), qualification (sales), and segmentation (marketing). Usually 5-10 attributes.
- Sub-account
- A CRM tenant inside a parent CRM instance: usually for agencies running CRM on behalf of multiple clients. GoHighLevel and Vendasta ship sub-accounts natively.
- White-label
- Rebranding the CRM as your own product. Custom domain, custom logo, no vendor branding visible to end clients. Agency-specific feature. See best CRM with white-label.
- SaaS Mode
- GoHighLevel-specific: the ability to resell GoHighLevel sub-accounts as a SaaS product under your own brand. Distinct from general 'white-label' because pricing and signup are agency-controlled.
- Missed-call text-back
- An automation that texts a caller if a call goes unanswered: 'Sorry we missed you, can we help?' Drives huge ROI for service businesses because most callers who don't connect never call back.
- AI agents (in CRM context)
- Autonomous AI assistants embedded in CRMs that take actions on the user's behalf: draft emails, summarize meetings, qualify leads, suggest next steps. The 2024-2026 wave.
- Webhook
- A real-time HTTP callback that fires when an event happens in the CRM. Used to push data to external systems instantly (vs polling). Most CRMs support outbound webhooks at the paid tier.
- Zapier / Make
- No-code integration platforms that connect CRMs to other tools without writing code. Zapier supports 6,000+ apps; Make is similar with deeper visual workflow building.
- BAA (Business Associate Agreement)
- A contract required under HIPAA when a covered entity (healthcare provider) uses a vendor (CRM) that handles PHI. Few CRMs sign BAAs: verify before buying for healthcare use cases.
- Aggregate rating
- A composite score from multiple reviews. CRMs displayed on G2 and Capterra carry aggregate ratings; we cite them in our reviews with the source and retrieval date.