CRM glossary
CRM glossary - the terms, in plain words
CRM basics
- CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
- A CRM is one place to keep every customer, lead, conversation, quote and bill, so your whole team works from the same picture instead of scattered spreadsheets, notebooks and WhatsApp chats. A good CRM captures each enquiry, reminds you to follow up, and shows the owner exactly where every deal stands. What CIPHER CRM is →
- Industry-specific CRM
- A CRM that arrives already set up for how one trade sells and serves - the sales stages, fields and reminders match your sector from day one - instead of a blank tool you configure yourself. CIPHER CRM ships 31 industry editions across 465 sub-industries. Browse 31 industry editions →
- Cloud CRM
- A CRM you use through a browser or app, hosted online, so there is no server to buy or software to install. Your team can open it from the office, home or the field, and updates reach everyone at once.
- Mobile CRM / field CRM
- A phone app that lets field staff capture leads, update deals and raise invoices on the road, even on a weak signal, with everything syncing back once they are online. It keeps the office and the field on the same page. See the Android field app →
- CRM implementation / onboarding
- The work of setting a CRM up for your business - configuring stages and fields, importing your existing data, connecting channels, and training the team. Done well, it is why a CRM actually gets used instead of abandoned. CIPHER handles this for you, and most teams go live in 1 to 3 days.
- Data migration
- Moving your existing leads, contacts and records from spreadsheets or an old tool into the new CRM, cleanly, so nothing is left behind and nobody has to retype anything.
Leads & sales
- Lead
- A person or business that has shown interest in what you sell - an enquiry from your website, a WhatsApp message, a phone call or a walk-in - but has not yet bought. The first job of a CRM is to catch every lead so none slip away.
- Lead management
- Capturing every enquiry into one place, giving it an owner, and tracking it through follow-ups until it is won or lost - so no lead sits forgotten in someone’s inbox or personal phone. See lead management →
- Sales pipeline
- A visual view of your deals as they move through stages - for example New, Contacted, Quoted, Negotiation, Won - so you can see at a glance what is likely to close this month and where each deal is stuck. See deals & pipeline →
- Pipeline stage
- One step in your sales process. Clear stages that match how you really sell make the pipeline honest, so forecasts mean something and nothing falls between two steps.
- Deal / opportunity
- A specific chance to sell to a customer, with an estimated value and an expected close date, tracked from first interest to signed order.
- Lead scoring
- Ranking leads by how likely and how ready they are to buy, so your team spends its time on the ones most worth chasing instead of treating every enquiry the same. See lead scoring →
- Lead assignment
- Automatically routing each new lead to the right salesperson - by area, product or turn - so enquiries get a response fast and nobody wonders whose job it was.
- Follow-up
- The next planned contact with a lead or customer. Most deals are lost to forgotten follow-ups, not to price, which is why a CRM turns every follow-up into a task with a name and a date on it. See follow-up reminders →
- Conversion rate
- The share of leads that turn into customers. Tracking it stage by stage shows exactly where deals leak, so you can fix the weak step instead of guessing.
- Sales cycle
- The typical time from first enquiry to closed sale. Knowing yours helps you forecast revenue and spot deals that have gone quiet for too long.
Billing & payments
- GST invoice
- A tax invoice that carries the GST details Indian businesses need - GSTIN, HSN/SAC, tax breakup and totals - so your billing is compliant. A CRM that makes GST invoices in a couple of clicks saves hours of spreadsheet work every week. See invoicing & billing →
- Estimate / quotation
- A priced proposal you send a customer before the sale. When a quote can turn into an invoice in one click, there is no re-typing and nothing gets lost between the two. See estimates & quotations →
- Recurring invoice
- A bill that goes out automatically on a set schedule - useful for AMCs, retainers, subscriptions and rentals - so you never forget to raise a repeat invoice. See recurring invoices →
- Credit note
- A document that reduces or reverses an invoice - for a return, an over-charge or an adjustment - keeping your books and the customer’s account correct.
- Payment & collection tracking
- Seeing what is received, pending and overdue against every customer, so chasing dues is a quick, organised job instead of a guessing game at month end. See payment tracking →
- Multi-currency billing
- Billing overseas customers in their own currency from the same CRM, so exporters and service firms do not need a second tool for foreign invoices. See multi-currency →
Communication & marketing
- WhatsApp CRM
- A CRM with WhatsApp Business built in, so a team can message customers and keep every chat against the right customer record instead of a personal phone. In CIPHER CRM, WhatsApp Business messaging arrives in the next release phase; today you log each conversation against the record, put a date on the follow-up, and send SMS. See where WhatsApp fits →
- Omnichannel
- Handling customers across every channel they use - WhatsApp, calls, email, web forms, walk-ins - in one place, so the conversation carries on smoothly no matter where it started.
- DLT (SMS registration)
- DLT is India’s system for registering business SMS sender IDs and templates with the telecom regulator, so approved messages get delivered. A CRM that sends SMS should support DLT-registered senders and templates. See SMS management →
- Lead nurturing
- Keeping in useful touch with leads who are not ready to buy yet - a helpful message, a timely reminder, a relevant offer - so you are the one they call when they are ready.
- Segmentation
- Grouping customers or leads by something they share - area, product, value, stage - so you can talk to each group with a message that actually fits, instead of one blast to everyone.
Automation & productivity
- Workflow automation
- Letting the CRM do the repetitive steps - assign a lead, send a reminder, raise a recurring invoice, notify a manager - the moment a trigger happens, so your team spends the day on customers instead of admin. Read the automation guides →
- Task management
- Handing out work with a name and a date on it, and tracking it to done, so follow-ups and jobs stop living in someone’s memory. See task assignment →
- Reminders
- Automatic nudges for the next call, the pending payment or the renewal that is due, so the important-but-easy-to-forget things actually get done.
- Reports & dashboards
- Live views of sales, leads, billing and team activity, so owners and managers can see performance at a glance and answer their own questions without waiting on anyone or opening Excel. See reports & analytics →
- KPI (Key Performance Indicator)
- A number you watch to know if things are on track - leads this week, conversion rate, revenue collected, overdue payments. A CRM makes KPIs live instead of a monthly scramble.
Service & retention
- Customer portal
- A login your customers use to check their own orders, invoices and support requests, which cuts the back-and-forth and makes your business feel organised. See the customer portal →
- Client onboarding
- The steps a new customer goes through after they buy. A standard, tracked onboarding means every new client gets the same smooth start instead of depending on who is handling them. See client onboarding →
- Retention & churn
- Retention is keeping the customers you already won; churn is losing them. Since winning a new customer costs far more than keeping one, timely follow-ups and renewals are some of the highest-value work a CRM helps with.
- Upsell & cross-sell
- Selling more to a customer you already have - a bigger plan (upsell) or a related product (cross-sell). A CRM that remembers what each customer bought makes these the easiest sales you will make.
Data, access & security
- Role-based access control
- Deciding what each person can see and change based on their role, so a salesperson, an accountant and the owner each see only what their job needs, and every action stays traceable to a name. See role-based permissions →
- Inactivity auto-logout
- Automatically signing out an idle session, so an unattended screen in a busy office is never an open door to your customer data. See auto-logout →
- Encryption in transit
- Locking the data travelling between you and the CRM using HTTPS/TLS, so it cannot be read on the way. It is the basic protection every business tool should have. How CIPHER protects your data →
- Uptime
- The share of time a service is up and working, usually shown as a percentage. A 99.9% uptime posture means the CRM is built to be there whenever your team needs it.
No term matches that. Ask us on WhatsApp →
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From the words to the working CRM
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