From the Free Sales Email Grader
Sales glossary
What common sales terms and methods mean, in plain words, and what each one means for a sales email. Sales methods are frameworks, not study results, and this site is not affiliated with any of their authors.
- AIDA
- Attention, Interest, Desire, Action: a classic order for persuasive writing.
- BAB
- Before, After, Bridge: a credible picture of today, a picture of better, and the step between.
- BANT
- Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline: an older list for judging whether a deal can happen.
- Call to action
- The one thing you ask the reader to do at the end of the email.
- Challenger Sale
- Teach the buyer something useful about their own problem, tailor it to them, and take control of the next step.
- Champion
- Someone inside the buyer's company who wants the change and will make the case for it.
- Cold email
- A sales email to someone who has not talked with you before.
- Command of the Message
- A way to state your point: how you are different, what the buyer needs to do, and the outcome it serves.
- Consultative Selling
- Diagnose before you prescribe: real questions, a peer tone, and advice after you understand the problem.
- Discovery call
- An early conversation where the seller learns about the buyer's situation and problem before proposing anything.
- Economic buyer
- The person who can spend the money or give the final yes on a purchase.
- FAB
- Feature, Advantage, Benefit: what it is, what it does, and why this buyer should care.
- Follow-up email
- A later email in the same thread, sent when the first one got no reply or after a conversation.
- Gap Selling
- Name the current state, the future state, and the gap between them, before the product.
- Jolt Effect
- Deals often stall because deciding feels risky. Make the decision feel safer, not scarier.
- LAER
- Listen, Acknowledge, Explore, Respond: a way to answer a concern without steamrolling it.
- MEDDPICC and MEDDIC
- A checklist for judging whether a large deal is real. MEDDIC is the shorter, older version.
- Miller Heiman
- A map of the people who influence a purchase: Economic, User, Technical, and Coach.
- NEAT
- Need, Economic impact, Access to authority, Timeline: a qualification list where need and impact come first.
- Pain point
- A specific problem the buyer has, the reason a change might be worth their time.
- PAS
- Problem, Agitate, Solution: name a real problem, show the cost of leaving it, then offer a path.
- Personalization
- Showing the email was written for this person, with a real detail tied to their priorities.
- Sandler Selling
- A mutual-qualification style: agree how the next talk will go, including the option to say no.
- SNAP Selling
- A method for busy buyers: keep it Simple, be iNvaluable, always Align, raise Priorities.
- Solution Selling
- Help the buyer see their pain and the future they want before they see your product.
- SPICED
- Situation, Pain, Impact, Critical event, Decision: a checklist for recapping what you learned from a buyer.
- SPIN Selling
- Situation, Problem, Implication, Need-payoff: a questioning method that puts the problem before the product.
- Subject line
- The short line a reader sees in the inbox before deciding whether to open the email.
- Value proposition
- What you do for the buyer and why it matters to them, said in their terms.
- Value Selling
- Sell the business outcome, not the product tour, with a value hypothesis the buyer can correct.
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