CRM glossary

A CRM — short for Customer Relationship Management — is software that keeps every contact, company, and deal in one place, along with the next step for each, so a sales team can follow up reliably and never lose track of an opportunity.

MCP — the Model Context Protocol — is an open standard that lets AI assistants such as Claude, ChatGPT, and Cursor connect to external tools and data through a single, consistent interface. A product that exposes an MCP server can be operated directly by an AI assistant, which can read and act on your data on your behalf.

A sales pipeline is the visual sequence of stages a deal moves through from first contact to closed won or lost. It shows, at a glance, what you are working on, where each deal stands, and what is likely to close — so a team can prioritise and forecast.

A follow-up-first CRM is one built around the next action: every open deal must have a single next step with a due date, and the tool surfaces what is overdue or due today so deals never go quiet. It is designed so the pipeline stays current as a by-product of normal work, rather than through separate admin.

Next-action selling is the discipline of always defining the single next step for every open deal, with a due date. It turns follow-through from something you try to remember into something the system guarantees, which is the difference between a pipeline that reflects reality and one that goes stale.