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B2B glossary: enrichment, email, phone, prospecting
The key concepts of B2B data and prospecting, explained simply. Click a term for its full definition and links to neighboring terms.
Enrichment & data
Data enrichmentFilling gaps in an incomplete contact or company record with verified data from external sources (email, phone, job title, company).Waterfall enrichmentQuerying several data providers one after another until a valid result is found, instead of relying on a single source.Coverage rateShare of contacts in a list for which enrichment found at least one data point (email and/or phone).Reachability rateShare of enriched data that actually lets you reach the person (deliverable email, phone that rings).Data providerA service that sells access to a B2B contact or company database, via file, API or integration.Single-source pure playerAn enrichment provider that relies only on its own proprietary database, without aggregating other sources.Lead scoringAssigning a score to a prospect based on fit and engagement, to prioritize sales effort.
Email
Email formatThe pattern a company uses to build employee addresses (first.last, initial+last, etc.).Email permutationGenerating every possible address combination from a first name, last name and domain, then testing them.Email verificationChecking that an address exists and can receive mail, without sending an email, before using it.DeliverabilityAn email's ability to reach the inbox rather than spam or a rejection.BounceA failed email delivery. A hard bounce is permanent (address doesn't exist); a soft bounce is temporary (mailbox full).Catch-all domainA domain set to accept all email, even to nonexistent mailboxes, which prevents verifying an address via SMTP.SMTPThe protocol for sending email, also used to verify an address by dialoguing with the receiving server.MX recordA DNS entry that says which server receives a domain's email. Without an MX, a domain can receive no email.Role-based emailAn address tied to a function rather than a person: contact@, info@, sales@, support@.SPF, DKIM, DMARCThree authentication mechanisms proving an email really comes from the claimed domain, essential to deliverability.
Phone
Mobile vs landlineThe distinction between a mobile number (tied to a person) and a landline (often a shared switchboard).Reverse lookupStarting from an email or phone number to find the person's identity and professional context.HLR lookupQuerying mobile operators' register to check whether a number is active, without placing a call.E.164 formatThe international standard for writing phone numbers: country code + number, no spaces (e.g. +33612345678).
Sales & prospecting
ICP (Ideal Customer Profile)A description of the company and contact type that gets the most value from your offer — prospecting's reference target.LeadA contact identified as a potential prospect, with at least identity and company known, not yet qualified.MQL and SQLAn MQL is a lead qualified by marketing; an SQL is a lead accepted as an opportunity by sales.Cold emailA prospecting email sent to a contact who did not request it, in a legal B2B context.Cold callingA cold prospecting call to a contact who isn't expecting you. Most effective on a direct mobile number.SDR / BDRReps specialized in top-of-funnel prospecting: finding, contacting and qualifying prospects for Account Executives.Multichannel sequenceA planned series of touchpoints (email, call, LinkedIn) toward a prospect, orchestrated over several days.LinkedIn Sales NavigatorLinkedIn's tool to target and track B2B prospects with advanced filters, but with no directly exportable contact details.Intent dataSignals that a company is actively researching a topic or solution, useful to prioritize prospecting.ABM (Account-Based Marketing)An approach that targets a short list of strategic accounts and tailors messaging and effort to each one.
Companies (France)
SIREN / SIRETOfficial identifiers of French companies: SIREN designates the legal entity, SIRET a specific establishment.NAF / APE codeA code assigned to each French company to designate its main activity, useful for industry targeting.Kbis extractThe official document attesting a French company's legal existence and summarizing its identity (directors, head office, activity).INPIFrance's national industrial-property institute, which centralizes the national company register and their directors.FirmographicsThe set of attributes describing a company: industry, headcount, revenue, location, age.
Compliance & GDPR
GDPRThe EU regulation on personal-data protection, which governs how contact data is collected and used.Legitimate interestA GDPR legal basis often relied on for B2B prospecting, provided the outreach is relevant and an opt-out is offered.Opt-in / Opt-outOpt-in: prior consent before contact. Opt-out: the right to refuse afterwards. Their regime depends on channel and context.BloctelFrance's telemarketing opt-out list that B2C calling campaigns must respect.
CRM & operations
DeduplicationDetecting and merging duplicates (the same person or company appearing several times) in a file or CRM.Data normalizationStandardizing data formats (case, accents, phone numbers, company names) so records become comparable and usable.CRMCustomer-relationship-management software that centralizes contacts, companies and sales interactions.Enrichment APIAn interface to enrich contacts programmatically, in real time, from a CRM or an application.CSV column mappingMatching an imported file's columns to expected fields (first name, last name, company, domain) before enrichment.Namesake (homonym)Two different people or companies sharing the same name, a classic source of attribution errors in enrichment.