Growth & AI Automation Glossary

A structured action plan for the first 100 days after a PE acquisition, focused on quick wins, team assessment, and laying groundwork for the value creation plan.

A B2B strategy where marketing and sales target specific high-value accounts with personalized campaigns instead of casting a wide net.

Using artificial intelligence to handle repetitive business tasks automatically: answering calls, routing inquiries, drafting follow-up, and processing documents, with staff keeping control of decisions.

Using AI to automatically evaluate and score inbound leads based on fit, intent, and likelihood to convert before passing them to sales.

An AI phone system that answers calls, understands caller intent, books appointments, and answers common questions, with escalation to staff for anything that needs human judgment.

A CRM system enhanced with artificial intelligence to automate data entry, predict deal outcomes, recommend actions, and surface insights automatically.

Determining which marketing touchpoints receive credit for conversions, from simple last-click models to complex multi-touch attribution.

The percentage of customers who stop using your product or service over a given period, indicating retention health and product satisfaction.

AI systems that engage in natural language conversations with customers across phone, chat, email, and messaging to handle inquiries and complete tasks.

The systematic process of increasing the percentage of website visitors who take a desired action like purchasing, signing up, or requesting a quote.

Average costs to acquire one customer across different industries, used to evaluate whether your marketing spend is competitive or wasteful.

The total cost to acquire one new customer, calculated by dividing all sales and marketing spend by the number of new customers acquired.

Documenting every touchpoint a customer experiences from first awareness to purchase and beyond to identify friction and opportunities.

The total revenue a business expects from a single customer over the entire duration of their relationship.

Marketing programs that create awareness and interest in your product, building sustainable pipeline through content, SEO, paid media, and thought leadership.

Expenses added back to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization to reflect the true recurring profitability of a business.

A part-time Chief Marketing Officer who provides senior marketing strategy and leadership without the full-time salary, typically $300K or more.

Franchise marketing splits responsibilities between corporate (brand, national campaigns) and franchisees (local execution), creating unique coordination challenges.

A marketing strategy that addresses every stage of the buyer journey: awareness, consideration, decision, and retention, rather than optimizing only one stage.

A comprehensive plan for bringing a product or service to market, covering audience, messaging, pricing, channels, and sales approach.

AI technology that reads, understands, and extracts data from documents (invoices, contracts, forms) regardless of format or layout.

Building relationships with prospects through targeted content and communication, moving them through the sales funnel until they are ready to buy.

Software and workflows that automate repetitive marketing tasks like email campaigns, lead nurturing, and customer segmentation at scale.

The quantified revenue lost when a business fails to answer incoming phone calls, calculated from your own call volume, booking rate, and average customer value.

MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead) shows interest through engagement. SQL (Sales Qualified Lead) has been vetted by sales and confirmed as a real opportunity.

Marketing strategies designed specifically for businesses with multiple physical locations, balancing brand consistency with local market relevance.

Managing business operations across multiple physical locations while maintaining consistency, efficiency, and quality at every site.

The percentage of recurring revenue retained from existing customers over a period, including expansions and contracting, excluding new customers.

Building automated workflows using visual drag-and-drop tools that require no programming knowledge, enabling non-technical teams to automate processes.

The assessment of a target company's operations, technology, processes, and team before acquisition to validate assumptions and identify risks.

A systematic approach for transitioning a business from founder-dependent to scalable, typically moving from $1M to $10M+ revenue.

The total cost to acquire one new patient, including advertising, staff time, and technology, critical for healthcare practice profitability.

Results-driven marketing where advertisers pay for specific measurable actions like clicks, leads, or sales rather than impressions.

A platform company is the initial PE acquisition that serves as the foundation for growth, while bolt-ons are smaller companies acquired and integrated into it.

Standardized financial and operational reporting that PE portfolio companies provide to their investors, typically monthly or quarterly.

The multiplier applied to a healthcare practice's earnings or revenue to determine its market value, varying by specialty, size, and growth rate.

Strategic and operational support for companies within a PE firm's portfolio, focused on driving growth, improving margins, and preparing for exit.

Analyzing and improving business processes to increase efficiency, reduce costs, and eliminate waste, often combined with AI automation.

The point where your product satisfies strong market demand, evidenced by high retention, organic growth, and customers actively seeking you out.

Aligning sales, marketing, and customer success operations under one function to drive predictable revenue growth and eliminate silos.

Total annual revenue divided by the number of full-time employees, measuring operational efficiency and how effectively a company uses its workforce.

RPA (Robotic Process Automation) mimics human clicks on screens. AI agents understand goals, make decisions, and adapt to changing conditions.

Annualized revenue projection based on current performance, used to estimate future revenue by extrapolating a recent period's results.

Providing sales teams with the content, tools, training, and data they need to sell effectively and close deals faster.

Revenue growth at existing locations compared to the same period last year, isolating organic growth from growth driven by opening new locations.

Using technology and data to assign the right technician to the right job at the right time, minimizing travel and maximizing billable hours.

Evaluating and consolidating a company's technology tools to eliminate redundancy, reduce costs, and improve data flow between systems.

The percentage of a technician's available work hours spent on billable, revenue-generating tasks versus non-billable time like travel or admin.

A PE firm's strategic roadmap for increasing a portfolio company's enterprise value between acquisition and exit, typically over 3 to 7 years.

Workflow automation follows fixed rules (if X then Y). AI automation understands context, handles unstructured data, and makes decisions independently.