Glossary
Half of outbound vocabulary is vendor marketing
Each entry defines the term the way the industry uses it first, and only then says what we do about it. Where a word means different things at different companies, the entry says that rather than picking the flattering one.
Finding people
Finding people
Ideal customer profile (ICP)The description of the kind of company and person worth selling to, precise enough that a list can be built from it.Intent dataObserved behaviour suggesting a buyer is in market. Content consumed, roles hired for, topics engaged with.Buying signalA dated, public event that makes an account more likely to buy right now.Trigger eventThe specific thing that happened which makes today the right day to reach out.Total addressable market (TAM)Every company that could plausibly buy, before any filter for who will.Warm vs cold outreachWhether the recipient has done something that makes contact expected, or has not.
Data and enrichment
Data and enrichment
Sending and deliverability
Sending and deliverability
DeliverabilityWhether your mail reaches the inbox rather than the spam folder or nowhere at all.SPF, DKIM and DMARCThe three DNS records that let a receiving server verify mail claiming to be from your domain.Domain warmupRamping volume on a new sending domain slowly, so receiving providers build a reputation for it.SequenceThe ordered set of touches a contact receives, with waits and conditions between them.CadenceThe rhythm of a sequence. How many touches, on which days, over what span.Multichannel outboundReaching the same person across more than one channel in one coordinated motion.Connection requestA LinkedIn invitation, optionally with a note, and the scarcest resource in social selling.Rate limitThe ceiling a platform puts on how much you may do per account per day.PersonalisationWriting to a specific person from something specific about them, rather than merging a field into a template.Sender rotationSpreading volume across several from-addresses so no single one exceeds a safe daily rate.
Compliance
Compliance
Data provenanceThe record of where each field about a person came from, how it was collected, and when.Data retentionHow long personal data may be kept before it must be deleted, and the rule that computes the date.Suppression listAddresses, domains and profiles that must never be contacted again.Opt-outA recipient telling you to stop, in any form, which you must honour.CAN-SPAMThe US federal law governing commercial email: no deceptive headers, a working opt-out, a physical address.GDPRThe EU regulation governing personal data, under which cold B2B outreach needs a lawful basis and a notice.Legitimate interestThe GDPR lawful basis most B2B outreach relies on, and the balancing test it requires.Controller vs processorWhether a vendor decides the purposes of processing (controller) or acts on your instructions (processor).
Agents and AI
Agents and AI
AI SDRSoftware that performs the sales development role. Sourcing, writing, sending and handling replies, without a person doing each step.Agentic workflowA process where a model chooses which tools to call rather than following a fixed script.Model Context Protocol (MCP)An open protocol for giving an AI assistant tools and context from an external system.Human in the loopA design where a person reviews or approves machine output before it takes effect.
Metrics
Metrics
Lead scoringRanking contacts by how likely they are to convert, usually as a single number.Bounce rateThe share of sends rejected by the receiving server. Hard for permanent failures, soft for temporary ones.Reply rateThe share of contacted people who answer. The only top-of-funnel metric that survives contact with reality.Positive reply rateThe share of replies that express interest rather than a refusal.Meetings bookedThe number the whole motion is actually for.Conversion rateThe share of one funnel stage that reaches the next.
Missing a term? The glossary grows from support questions, so telling us is the fastest way to get one added.
Everything above, running on your list
Describe the company, confirm the keywords, connect a channel. The agents take it from there, and Supervised mode is available when you want to review before sending.
Start with sales. $2,000 or $5,000 onboarding, then at least $250 monthly credit funding.