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 Lead Nurturing? Lead nurturing is the process of building relationships with potential customers at every stage of their journey. Not everyone who shows interest in your product is ready to buy right away. Lead nurturing is all about staying top-of-mind and providing value to them over time
What is Lead Qualification? Lead qualification is the process of determining whether a lead is a good fit for your business and is likely to become a paying customer. It's about separating the hot prospects from the tire-kickers. A common framework for this is to distinguish between a Marketing Qua
What are Lifecycle Stages? Lifecycle stages are used to describe the different phases a person goes through in their relationship with your company. It's a way of tracking their progress through your sales and marketing funnel. Typical lifecycle stages include subscriber, lead, Marketing Qualified
What is Lifetime Revenue (LTR)? LTR, or Lifetime Revenue, represents the total amount of revenue a customer is expected to generate for your business throughout their entire relationship with you. It's a simple, top-line number. This is different from Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV), which looks at
What is a Listing Fee? A listing fee is a charge that a manufacturer or vendor pays to a retailer or distributor in order to have their product placed on their shelves or included in their catalog. This is very common in the traditional retail world. The fee is meant to cover the costs associated w
What is Low-Touch? A low-touch sales or service model is one that involves minimal direct human interaction. The focus is on automation and self-service. This approach is typically used for lower-priced, simpler products where customers don't need a lot of hand-holding. A company with a low-touch
What is a Loyalty Program? A loyalty program is a marketing strategy designed to encourage customers to continue shopping at or using the services of a business. These programs reward customers for their repeat business. Common examples include points-based systems where you can redeem points for r
What is Managed Service Provider (MSP)? A Managed Service Provider, or MSP, is a company that remotely manages a customer's IT infrastructure and/or end-user systems, typically on a proactive basis and under a subscription model. Instead of a business hiring its own IT staff, it can outsource its I
What is a Margin? In a sales context, margin refers to the difference between the price a partner sells a product for and the price they paid the vendor for it. It's the partner's profit on the sale. For example, if a reseller buys a software license from a vendor for $70 and sells it to the end cu
What are Market Development Funds (MDF)? Market Development Funds, or MDF, are funds that a vendor provides to its channel partners to help them with their local sales and marketing efforts. It's a form of co-operative marketing. A partner can apply for MDF to help pay for activities like hosting a
What is a Market Leader? A market leader is the company that has the largest market share in a particular industry. A market leader often has significant advantages, such as strong brand recognition, economies of scale, and the ability to set industry trends. Other companies in the market are often
What is Market Penetration? Market penetration is a growth strategy where a company focuses on selling more of its existing products to its existing target market. It's about increasing your market share. Tactics for market penetration can include lowering prices, increasing marketing and promotion
What is a Marketplace? An online marketplace is an e-commerce site that connects buyers and sellers, but doesn't own the inventory itself. Think of platforms like Amazon, eBay, or the Apple App Store. These marketplaces provide the infrastructure for third-party sellers (including partners) to list
What is a Master Agent? A master agent is a type of channel partner that acts as a middleman between a large group of smaller, independent sales agents and a vendor, typically in the telecommunications or cloud services industry. The master agent holds the contract with the vendor and provides the
What is a Milestone? A milestone is a specific point along a project's timeline that marks the completion of a major phase or a significant achievement. Milestones are used to break a large project down into smaller, more manageable parts. They act as checkpoints to help the project team track the
What is a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)? A Minimum Viable Product, or MVP, is a version of a new product that has just enough features to be usable by early customers, who can then provide feedback for future product development. It's the most basic version of a product you can launch to start learn
What is Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)? Monthly Recurring Revenue, or MRR, is a key metric for subscription-based businesses that shows the predictable and recurring revenue a company can expect to receive every month. It's the monthly equivalent of ARR. To calculate MRR, you simply add up the mo
What is Negotiation? Negotiation is the process of discussion between two or more parties with the goal of reaching a mutually acceptable agreement. It's a back-and-forth communication designed to resolve points of difference. In a business context, people negotiate all the time, over things like c
What is Net Promoter Score (NPS)? Net Promoter Score, or NPS, is a widely used metric for measuring customer loyalty and satisfaction. It's based on a single question: "On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend our company/product to a friend or colleague?" Respondents are grouped into Pr
What is Net Revenue Retention (NRR)? Net Revenue Retention, also known as Net Dollar Retention (NDR), is a crucial metric for SaaS and subscription businesses that measures how much your recurring revenue has grown or shrunk from your existing customers over a specific period. It takes into account
What is Network Effect? The network effect is a phenomenon where a product or service becomes more valuable as more people use it. A classic example is the telephone; a single telephone is useless, but the value of a telephone network increases with every new person who joins. Social media platform
What is Networking? In the business world, networking is the process of building and maintaining relationships with other people, particularly in your industry. It's about making connections that can lead to new opportunities, new knowledge, and new partnerships. Networking can happen at industry e
What is a Niche Market? A niche market is a small, specialised segment of a larger market characterized by its own distinct needs and preferences. Rather than aiming to appeal to a broad audience, businesses targeting a niche market concentrate on serving a compact, clearly defined group of custom
What is a Non-Compete Clause? A non-compete clause is a part of a contract where one party (usually an employee or a partner) agrees not to enter into or start a similar profession or trade in competition against another party (usually the employer or vendor). These clauses are designed to protect
