Glossary
The language of lead-to-revenue.
No jargon for its own sake — just clear definitions of the terms that describe how leads actually become paying jobs.
- Lead
- Any person who has expressed potential interest in your service — a form submission, phone call, text, email or referral. A lead is raw interest, not yet a qualified opportunity.
- Opportunity
- A lead that has been qualified as a real, workable chance to win a job. Opportunities have an estimated value and a defined next step.
- Pipeline
- The set of stages an opportunity moves through from first contact to closed job — for example new, contacted, qualified, appointment, estimate, won or lost. A pipeline makes it visible what's in progress and what needs attention next.
- Revenue attribution
- Connecting closed revenue back to the source that produced it — a specific ad campaign, referral, channel or salesperson. Attribution turns marketing spend from a guess into a measurable investment.
- Source
- Where a lead originally came from: website, phone, Google Ads, Facebook, referral, walk-in and so on. Tracking source is what makes attribution possible.
- Lead response time
- How long it takes for someone to make first meaningful contact after a lead comes in. Faster response consistently correlates with higher contact and conversion rates because the customer is still deciding.
- Follow-up automation
- Automatically sending the right message at the right time so important touches don't depend on a person remembering. It handles the repetitive nudges and surfaces a human only when one is truly needed.
- Reactivation
- Re-engaging old leads, unsold estimates or past customers who went quiet. The demand you already paid to generate often still has value months later.
- Estimate pipeline
- The specific track for opportunities where a quote or estimate has been sent. It tracks what was sent, whether it was viewed, and what follow-up is due — the stage where a lot of revenue quietly slips away.
- Lead qualification
- The process of determining whether a lead is a genuine fit — right service, right timeframe, real intent and realistic budget — before investing sales time in it.
- Revenue event
- A recorded outcome that ties money to an opportunity, such as a job marked won with its value. Revenue events are what make attribution and reporting trustworthy.
- Close rate
- The percentage of opportunities that become paying customers. Small improvements in response and follow-up often move close rate more than generating additional leads.
- Customer lifecycle
- The full relationship over time: lead, opportunity, customer, repeat work, reviews and reactivation. Thinking in lifecycle terms is how a single job becomes ongoing revenue.