CRM Glossary for Marketing Agencies

A company or organization that is a customer or prospect. In agencies, this typically represents a client company.

Any interaction logged in the CRM: calls, emails, meetings, notes. Essential for tracking client engagement.

Assigning credit to marketing touchpoints that led to a conversion. Critical for proving ROI to agency clients.

Rules that trigger actions automatically (send email, create task, update status) based on conditions.

Total cost to acquire a new customer. For agencies: (Marketing + Sales Costs) / New Clients Won.

A coordinated marketing effort tracked in CRM to measure its impact on leads and deals.

Percentage of customers/clients who stop doing business with you over a period. Key metric for agency retention.

A deal that didn't close. Important to track reasons why for improving close rates.

A successfully closed deal. The goal of the sales pipeline.

An individual person in your CRM database. Could be a lead, client contact, or referral partner.

Percentage of leads that become customers. Calculated at each pipeline stage.

Software to manage interactions with current and potential clients. The central hub for agency-client relationships.

User-created data field for storing information specific to your agency's needs.

Visual overview of key metrics and KPIs. Should be customizable for different roles.

A potential sale or project being pursued. Also called "Opportunity" in some CRMs.

Average time to close a deal. Calculated as: Sum of all days in pipeline / Number of deals closed.

Automated email sequence sent over time to nurture leads toward conversion.

Gives 100% credit to the first marketing touchpoint that generated the lead.

Prediction of future revenue based on pipeline data and historical close rates.

Visual representation of the customer journey from awareness to purchase.

Connection between CRM and other tools (email, ads, accounting) for data sync.

Gives 100% credit to the final touchpoint before conversion.

A person or company that has shown interest but hasn't been qualified yet.

Rules for automatically assigning leads to sales reps based on criteria.

System that assigns points to leads based on behavior and demographics to prioritize outreach.

Where a lead originated from (paid ads, referral, organic, etc.). Critical for ROI tracking.

Where a contact is in their journey: Lead → MQL → SQL → Opportunity → Customer.

Distributes credit equally across all touchpoints in the customer journey.

Predicted total revenue from a customer over the relationship. For agencies: Average Monthly Retainer × Average Client Lifespan.

A lead deemed ready for sales based on marketing criteria (engagement, fit).

Attribution model that distributes credit across multiple touchpoints.

Customer satisfaction metric based on likelihood to recommend. Important for agency referrals.

Process of building relationships with leads through targeted content and communication.

A qualified deal with potential to close. Synonym for "Deal" in many CRMs.

Visual representation of deals at each stage of the sales process.

A step in the sales process (Discovery, Proposal, Negotiation, etc.).

Formal offer document sent to prospects outlining scope, deliverables, and pricing.

A lead that meets criteria to be worth pursuing (budget, authority, need, timeline).

Recurring fee for ongoing agency services. Key revenue model for agencies.

Revenue generated minus cost, divided by cost. The ultimate metric for agency value.

Lead routing method that distributes leads evenly among sales reps.

A group of contacts sharing common characteristics for targeted communication.

An MQL accepted by sales as ready for direct outreach.

Separate workspace within a CRM for managing individual clients. Key for agencies.

Label applied to contacts for organization and filtering.

An action item assigned to a user with a due date.

Geographic or account-based assignment for sales reps.

Any interaction between a prospect and your agency (ad click, email open, call).

Ability to rebrand CRM software with your agency's branding for client use.

Percentage of deals closed-won vs total deals. Key performance indicator.

A series of automated actions triggered by specific conditions or events.