Everything we know about selling without losing leads.

By industry

By role

Pipeline

The stages a deal moves through, from first contact to won or lost, with every open deal shown at its current stage. How to set the stages.

Lead

A person or business that has shown interest but has not yet been qualified.

Deal (opportunity)

A qualified lead with a likely value, an owner and a next step.

Pipeline stage

One step in the pipeline with a clear rule for leaving it, such as “quote sent”.

Lead response time

The time between an enquiry arriving and the first real reply. What the studies say.

Follow-up cadence

The planned order and timing of follow-ups after a first contact or a quote. How many follow-ups.

Lead owner

The one person responsible for the next step on a lead, so nobody has to ask whose it is.

Stalled deal

An open deal with no activity for an agreed number of days.

Weighted pipeline

The total of each open deal’s value multiplied by its chance of closing.

Win rate

Deals won divided by all deals closed, won plus lost, over the same period.

Sales cycle

The average time from first contact to a won deal.

Unified inbox

One place where WhatsApp, email, SMS and social messages arrive, so the whole team answers from it.

WhatsApp customer service window

The 24 hours after a customer’s last message, when a business can reply freely instead of using an approved template. The 24-hour rule.

Message template

A message approved by Meta that a business uses to start, or restart, a WhatsApp conversation outside the 24-hour window.

Click-to-WhatsApp ad

An ad that opens a WhatsApp chat with your business. Meta keeps messages in the 72-hour window that follows free of its per-message charges. Following up these leads.

Automation

A rule that does a task by itself, such as sending an instant reply or creating a follow-up task.

AI agent

Software that answers enquiries, asks qualifying questions and books meetings, and hands over to a person when it should.

Lead source

Where a lead came from (an ad, a form, a referral, an event), recorded so you know what works.

Closed-lost reason

The recorded reason a deal was lost, so patterns show up before they cost more deals.

Data import

Moving contacts and deals from a spreadsheet or another system into a CRM. How to do it cleanly.

Lawful basis

Under UK GDPR and Nigeria’s data protection law, the legal reason you hold and use someone’s data, such as consent or legitimate interests.

PECR

The UK rules on marketing by email, text and phone, which sit alongside UK GDPR.