Partnerships Glossary
Your guide to partner program terminology and concepts. Clear definitions and explanations for all the key terms you need to know.
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What is Footprint? In business, a footprint usually refers to a company's physical presence or market reach in a particular geographic area. A company with a large footprint has many offices, stores, or a significant customer base in that region. When recruiting partners, a vendor will often look f
What is Forecasting? Sales forecasting is the process of predicting future sales revenue over a specific period, like a month, quarter, or year. It's a crucial activity for any business, as it informs decisions about budgeting, hiring, and resource allocation. Accurate forecasting is both an art an
What is Franchise? A franchise is a type of business partnership where an established brand (the franchisor) grants a license to another individual or company (the franchisee) to operate a business using their brand name, business model, and processes. The franchisee pays an initial fee and ongoin
What is Freemium? Freemium is a popular business model, especially for software companies, where a company offers a basic version of its product for free, with the option to upgrade to a premium, paid version with more features. The "free" part of the model is designed to attract a large user base
What is a Front-line? The term "front-line" refers to the employees or partners who have direct, day-to-day contact with customers. This includes salespeople, customer service representatives, and technical support staff. These individuals are the face of the company and have a huge impact on the c
What is Fulfilment? Fulfilment is the entire process of getting a customer's order from the warehouse to their doorstep. It includes all the steps involved after a sale is made: picking and packing the order, shipping it, and managing any returns. For companies that sell physical products, having a
What is a Funnel? A sales funnel (or marketing funnel) is a visual representation of the journey a potential customer goes through, from first becoming aware of your brand to making a purchase. The funnel is wide at the top (awareness), where there are many potential customers, and gets narrower as
What is a gatekeeper? A gatekeeper is a person who controls access to someone else, typically a key decision-maker within a company. This could be an executive assistant, a receptionist, or a junior manager. In B2B sales, getting past the gatekeeper is often one of the first and biggest challenges.
What is Geo-targeting? Geo-targeting is a marketing tactic where you deliver specific content or ads to a user based on their geographic location. This can be as broad as a country or as specific as a zip code. For example, a retailer could use geo-targeting to show an ad for their local store to p
What is Global System Integrator (GSI)? A Global System Integrator, or GSI, is a very large consulting firm that helps big enterprise companies with their complex technology projects. Think of companies like Accenture, Deloitte, or Capgemini. GSIs work on massive, multi-million dollar projects, hel
What is Go-to-Market (GTM) Strategy? A Go-to-Market (GTM) strategy is a company's comprehensive plan for how it will launch a new product or enter a new market. It's the playbook that covers all the bases: who the target customer is, what the product's value proposition is, what the pricing will be
What is Gray Market? The gray market refers to the sale of official, genuine goods through unofficial or unauthorised distribution channels. For example, if a reseller in one country buys a product and then sells it in another country where they are not authorised to do so (and often at a lower pr
What is Gross Margin? Gross margin is a key profitability metric that shows how much profit a company makes from selling its products, after subtracting the direct costs of producing them (known as the Cost of Goods Sold, or COGS). It's usually expressed as a percentage. For example, if a product s
What is Gross Merchandise Value (GMV)? Gross Merchandise Value, or GMV, is a metric used to measure the total value of all goods and services sold through a particular marketplace or platform over a specific period. It's most commonly used by e-commerce companies like Amazon or eBay. GMV is differe
What is Growth Hacking? Growth hacking is a marketing approach that focuses on finding clever, low-cost, and creative ways to rapidly grow a business's user base. It's all about experimentation and finding scalable growth strategies. A classic example is Hotmail, which grew exponentially by adding
What are Guaranteed Payments? Guaranteed payments are a type of compensation structure sometimes used in partnerships, particularly with professional services firms. In this model, a partner receives a fixed, regular payment from the partnership, regardless of the company's profitability in a given
What is Halo Effect? The halo effect is a type of cognitive bias where our overall impression of a person, brand, or product influences our feelings about their specific traits. For example, if we see a person as friendly, we are also more likely to think they are intelligent. In partnerships, the
What is a Hand-off? A hand-off is the point in a process where responsibility for a task or a customer is transferred from one person or team to another. In a sales process, there might be a hand-off from a BDR who qualified a lead to an account executive who will work on closing the deal. In a par
What is Hard Launch? A hard launch is when a new product or company is released to the public with a big, coordinated marketing push. It's the opposite of a "soft launch," where a product is released quietly to a small group of people first. A hard launch aims to generate as much buzz and media att
What is Headcount? Headcount is simply the total number of people employed by a company. It's a common way to measure the size of a business. When a company is planning its budget, it will often have a headcount plan that outlines how many new people it intends to hire in each department. One of th
What is High-Touch? High-touch is a term used to describe a sales or service model that involves a lot of direct, personal interaction with the customer. It's a hands-on approach where the focus is on building a strong relationship and providing a personalised experience. This model is typically
What is a Horizontal Market? A horizontal market is one where a product or service is designed to be used by a wide range of customers across many different industries. For example, software like Microsoft Office or a CRM system is a horizontal product because businesses in almost every industry c
What is House Account? A house account is a customer account that is managed directly by the vendor's own sales team, rather than by a channel partner. These are often the company's largest and most strategic customers. Having a clear policy on house accounts is very important for avoiding channel
What is Hubspot? While there are many great CRMs, HubSpot is a well-known example of a platform that is central to many companies' sales and marketing efforts. It's an all-in-one platform that includes a CRM, marketing automation, sales tools, and a customer service hub. Many partners build their o
