Definitions
Definitions: every term we use, and exactly what it means
Published by B2B Lead Growth · Last updated: September 19, 2026
These are the definitions B2B Lead Growth works to. Each term means one thing — on a sales call, in the service agreement, in every report a client receives, and in the code that decides whether something counts.
They are published straight from the operating system that runs the service, so the words on this page are the words the code checks. When a definition changes there, it changes here. Current as of September 19, 2026.
Want to see the documents these terms describe? Sample deliverables shows each one, produced by the same code that produces a client’s.
Who we work with and who we reach
FIT contractor
An established HVAC contractor that already sells and completes commercial work, has someone who quotes and wins those bids, has room to take on more accounts, and has no consistent way to find target accounts and follow up with them. Each of those points is evidenced from a public source before we contact them, and nothing on record rules them out. A contractor with no commercial work is a decline, not a lower score.
- Who decides:
- Our fit screen, in code: FIT needs every deciding qualifier evidenced and no disqualifier recorded. The deciding question, answered by a person with a citation: Can this HVAC company successfully convert a genuine conversation with the right commercial buyer into revenue, while currently lacking a reliable way to consistently create those conversations?
- On record before it counts:
- A cited public source for each qualifier. Missing evidence sends the contractor back to research; it is never permission to contact them.
- Applies to:
- B2B Lead Growth's own sales, not a client plan
- Also read as:
- FIT, ideal customer, ICP fit, qualified contractor, qualified company
- Not the same as Prospect:
- A FIT contractor is who B2B Lead Growth sells its service to. A prospect is a commercial account we contact for a client.
Decision-maker
A named person who can say yes to the work, or whose role buys, specifies or approves it. At a contractor, that is the owner, president, principal or general manager. At a commercial account, it is the property, facility or operations manager, the building owner, or whoever holds that responsibility. A shared inbox such as info@ or office@ is never a decision-maker. When a decision-maker sends us to a colleague, the colleague becomes the contact once that route is on record.
- Who decides:
- Code grades every contact from its recorded name, title and address (named principal, named decision maker, named contact, role inbox or generic inbox). After a reply, a person records whether the buyer decides or sent us to who does.
- On record before it counts:
- A named person with an evidenced role, or the buyer's own words naming who decides.
- Applies to:
- Managed Outbound and Opportunity Engine
- Also read as:
- decision maker, buyer
Prospect
A commercial account, or a contact at one, that matches the targeting requirements the client approved. Always a business: a property manager, a building owner, a facility team or another commercial buyer.
- Who decides:
- The client approves the targeting — the account types, the area and the exclusions — in their own words. Code checks every researched account against it before it counts.
- On record before it counts:
- The client's dated authorization, and a cited public source for the account.
- Applies to:
- Managed Outbound and Opportunity Engine
- Also read as:
- target account, commercial account
- Not the same as FIT contractor:
- A prospect is a commercial account we contact for a client, not a contractor we sell to.
Commercial need
The HVAC work a commercial account needs, and why, in the buyer's own words: maintenance, repair or service, replacement, or a backup-vendor role. A public signal, such as a new building or a new property manager, is a reason to contact an account; it is not a commercial need until the buyer states one. A request for information or a brochure is not a commercial need, and we never assess equipment or scope — that is the contractor's technical discovery.
- Who decides:
- The buyer states it. On the Opportunity Engine, a person on our side validates it with the buyer and records their words; on Managed Outbound, the contractor qualifies it after the handoff.
- On record before it counts:
- The buyer's quoted words and the kind of work.
- Applies to:
- Managed Outbound and Opportunity Engine
- Also read as:
- business need, need
- Not the same as Target-account record:
- The reason for contact comes from a public source. The need comes from the buyer.
How a reply becomes an opportunity
Target-account record
What we hold on one prospect before anyone is contacted: the account, its location and type, why it fits the profile the client approved, the decision-maker's role and how we can reach them, the dated reason to write now, and the public source that shows it. A reason we cannot cite is not recorded.
- Who decides:
- Research proposes it. Code registers it only if it matches the client's approved account types, area and exclusions, and no other client already holds the account.
- On record before it counts:
- A source link, with its date, for the reason to contact the account.
- Applies to:
- Managed Outbound and Opportunity Engine
- Also read as:
- account record, target account record
Interested Prospect
A relevant contact who replied with genuine openness to continuing the conversation, confirmed by a person rather than a keyword match. The step before a qualified conversation.
- Who decides:
- A person reads the reply and confirms the interest. A keyword match never counts.
- On record before it counts:
- The reply itself, and who confirmed it.
- Applies to:
- Managed Outbound and Opportunity Engine
- Also read as:
- interested reply, Tier A reply
- Not the same as Qualified Conversation:
- An interested prospect replied with openness. A qualified conversation was also screened, and the buyer agreed to speak with the contractor.
Qualified Conversation
Qualified Interest: a decision-maker at a commercial account that fits the client's profile — or the colleague they sent us to — who showed genuine interest and agreed to speak with the contractor, confirmed by a person. What Managed Outbound hands off.
- How it is measured:
- We measure the work by qualified conversations — a decision-maker at a commercial account that fits your profile who showed genuine interest and agreed to talk with your team, confirmed by a person — always shown against the accounts contacted and the messages sent to get there. It is a count of what happened, not a commitment to a number.
- Who decides:
- Code moves an opportunity to Qualified Interest only when every required fact is on record; a person confirms the interest.
- On record before it counts:
- The client's agreement is signed and paid, so the work may run; the account is inside the approved area and work types, clear of the client's exclusions, and on no do-not-contact list; who decides is on record; the interest is confirmed by a person; the reply is screened; and the buyer agreed, in their own words, to speak with the contractor.
- Applies to:
- Managed Outbound and Opportunity Engine
- Also read as:
- Qualified Interest
- Not the same as Interested Prospect:
- A reply with openness is an interested prospect, not yet a qualified conversation.
- Not the same as Accepted Sales Opportunity:
- A qualified conversation is what Managed Outbound hands off. The Opportunity Engine carries it further before it hands anything off.
Acceptance criteria
The written list an opportunity must meet before the Opportunity Engine hands it over, agreed with the client at onboarding and dated. The starting list: a commercial property or business inside the agreed service area; work you perform: maintenance, repair or service, replacement, or a backup-vendor role; a named buyer who decides, or who has sent us to the person who does; a stated need and a timing window, in the buyer's words; none of the exclusions you named: an existing customer, an active bid, or an account type you do not take. We check every criterion, with evidence, before the handoff.
- Who decides:
- The client agrees them. A named person on our side checks each one before handoff.
- On record before it counts:
- The agreed list with its date, and a pass or fail with evidence for each criterion.
- Applies to:
- Opportunity Engine
- Also read as:
- opportunity criteria, agreed criteria
Next sales step
A concrete step the contractor's team takes with the buyer, set on a date and confirmed by the buyer: a call with the contractor's estimator, a sales meeting, a site assessment by the contractor's team, a walkthrough or an invitation to bid. The Opportunity Engine coordinates it before the handoff; the contractor's team carries it out.
- Who decides:
- The buyer confirms the step and the date; a person on our side records who coordinated it.
- On record before it counts:
- The kind of step, the date, who it is with, and the buyer's confirmation.
- Applies to:
- Opportunity Engine
- Also read as:
- next step
- Not the same as Appointment:
- The next sales step is the contractor's step with the buyer. It becomes a client appointment once it is on a calendar.
Accepted Sales Opportunity
A qualified conversation whose business need was validated, whose property, account and buyer information was gathered, that was accepted against the client's agreed criteria, and whose concrete next sales step was coordinated. What the Opportunity Engine hands off.
- Who decides:
- A named person on our side checks every agreed criterion with evidence. Code refuses the stage unless the need, the timing and the next step are confirmed by the buyer and the brief is complete.
- On record before it counts:
- The client's agreement is signed and paid, so the work may run; the account is inside the approved area and work types, clear of the client's exclusions, and on no do-not-contact list; who decides is on record; the interest is confirmed by a person; the reply is screened; the buyer agreed, in their own words, to speak with the contractor; the need, in the buyer's words; the timing, in the buyer's words; the property, account and buyer information (unknowns marked unknown); every agreed criterion checked, with evidence, by a named person; a dated next sales step the buyer confirmed; and the opportunity brief, open questions included.
- Applies to:
- Opportunity Engine
- Not the same as Taken on by you:
- An accepted sales opportunity is accepted against the client's criteria by us, before the handoff. "Taken on by you" is the client's own confirmation after it.
- Not the same as Qualified Conversation:
- Managed Outbound hands off at the qualified conversation and never produces this.
The handoff, and what happens after it
Warm Handoff
The handoff record, the account, contact, context and conversation history, a warm introduction by name, the booking path where appropriate, notice to the contractor, and ownership of the conversation passed to the contractor — the opportunity is then handed off.
- The steps, in order:
- create the handoff record; preserve the account, contact, context and conversation history; make the warm introduction; coordinate your booking or calendar path when appropriate; notify you; transfer ownership of the conversation to you; mark the opportunity handed off; keep tracking downstream progress where you report it.
- Who decides:
- Code marks the opportunity handed off only with delivery evidence: the provider's message id, the sent warm introduction, the named owner on the contractor's side and the booking path.
- On record before it counts:
- The delivered handoff record and the sent introduction.
- Applies to:
- Managed Outbound and Opportunity Engine
- Also read as:
- handoff, hand-off, Handed off
Opportunity Brief
The complete written brief that travels with an accepted sales opportunity: the validated need, timing, property, account and buyer information, the acceptance check against the client's criteria, the coordinated next step, and the open questions.
- Who decides:
- Rendered by code from the recorded facts; nothing in it is typed free-hand.
- On record before it counts:
- Each line is a recorded fact, and unknowns are marked unknown.
- Applies to:
- Opportunity Engine
- Also read as:
- client-ready opportunity summary, opportunity summary
Taken on by you
The client confirmed that a handed-off conversation or opportunity is theirs and that they will pursue it. It is recorded only from the client — through a signed link or in their own words — and it is not the same as an Accepted Sales Opportunity, which is our check against the client's criteria before the handoff.
- Who decides:
- The client.
- On record before it counts:
- The client's signed action or their quoted words.
- Applies to:
- Managed Outbound and Opportunity Engine
- Also read as:
- client accepted, taken on
- Not the same as Accepted Sales Opportunity:
- Ours, before the handoff, against the client's criteria.
Appointment
A meeting on a calendar, recorded with its status: scheduled, held, no-show, cancelled or moved. There are two kinds, never mixed: an agency sales call, when a contractor books a call with B2B Lead Growth; and a client appointment, when a buyer's call, meeting or site assessment with the contractor's team is on the calendar — on the Opportunity Engine, that is the coordinated next sales step. An appointment is held only when a named person says so. It is never promised, never a result on its own and never billed.
- Who decides:
- The calendar records it; a named person records whether it was held. Code never decides that a meeting happened.
- On record before it counts:
- The calendar event, and the named person's record of what happened.
- Applies to:
- Managed Outbound and Opportunity Engine
- Also read as:
- meeting, booked call, Meeting Booked
- Not the same as Next sales step:
- A next sales step is agreed with the buyer; it is an appointment once it is on a calendar.
- Not the same as Qualified Conversation:
- A qualified conversation does not need a meeting booked, and a booked meeting is not by itself a qualified conversation.
Engaged call
The only phone call we make, and only on the Opportunity Engine: a call the buyer asked for or invited in their own words, recorded before anyone dials. Managed Outbound makes no calls. A phone number, a score or a silence never starts a call.
- Who decides:
- The buyer's own recorded words, verified by a person or by the deterministic parser.
- On record before it counts:
- The quoted signal that asked for the call.
- Applies to:
- Opportunity Engine
Downstream outcome
What happened after the handoff, as the client reports it: meeting held, site visit / estimate requested, proposal or bid sent, won, lost or stalled. Each carries the client's own words and one attribution: "introduced by this outreach", "known to you before; moved by this outreach", "already in progress before this outreach (no credit taken)" or "attribution not established". An outcome nobody has reported is unknown, never a loss.
- Who decides:
- The client reports it. We never infer one.
- On record before it counts:
- The client's own words, recorded once per stage.
- Applies to:
- Managed Outbound and Opportunity Engine
- Also read as:
- outcome
Plans, price and responsibility
Managed Outbound
$1,500 a month, flat, with no setup fee. Create qualified conversations. We find the right commercial accounts, reach the decision-makers, run the outreach and follow-up, and hand you each prospect who wants to talk — with a warm introduction. What it hands to the contractor: qualified conversations handed off.
- Who decides:
- The signed order form names the plan.
- On record before it counts:
- The executed agreement and the verified first payment.
- Applies to:
- Managed Outbound
Opportunity Engine
$2,500 a month, flat, with no setup fee. Turn qualified conversations into accepted sales opportunities. Everything in Managed Outbound, and we keep going: we validate the business need, gather the property, account and buyer information, confirm the fit against your agreed criteria, and coordinate a concrete next sales step before we hand the opportunity over. What it hands to the contractor: accepted sales opportunities handed off.
- Who decides:
- The signed order form names the plan.
- On record before it counts:
- The executed agreement and the verified first payment.
- Applies to:
- Opportunity Engine
Message cap
The most outreach messages a plan sends in a calendar month, first touches and follow-ups alike: 100 on Managed Outbound and 150 on the Opportunity Engine. It is a capacity limit — not a target, and not the reason one plan costs more.
- Who decides:
- The send gate, in code, at send time.
- On record before it counts:
- The send ledger.
- Applies to:
- Managed Outbound and Opportunity Engine
- Also read as:
- monthly cap
Billable opportunity
There is none. Each plan is one flat monthly price with no setup fee: no per-lead charge, no per-opportunity fee, no acceptance fee, no performance fee and no commission — one flat price per plan. Nothing we count — a reply, a qualified conversation, an accepted sales opportunity, an appointment or a won job — is billed on its own.
- Who decides:
- The plan's flat monthly price, which is set in one place and quoted everywhere from it.
- On record before it counts:
- The order form and the one Stripe price per plan.
- Applies to:
- Managed Outbound and Opportunity Engine
- Also read as:
- billable lead, pay per lead, per-opportunity fee
Agency and contractor responsibility
B2B Lead Growth creates the sales conversation and, on the Opportunity Engine, develops it into an accepted sales opportunity. The HVAC contractor does the technical discovery, estimates, proposes and closes. Managed Outbound owns targeting, account research, decision-maker contact, outreach, follow-up, interest screening, qualified interest and warm handoff. The Opportunity Engine adds business-need validation; property, account and buyer information; acceptance against the client's criteria; next sales step coordination; and opportunity brief. On either plan we never perform technical HVAC discovery, inspections or site assessments; diagnose equipment or building systems; engineer solutions, size equipment or specify equipment; determine the final project scope; prepare estimates, quotes, bids or proposals; set pricing or negotiate price or contract terms; conduct technical field sales or close the sale; deliver the HVAC work; or guarantee contracts, appointments, site visits, qualified conversations, sales opportunities, revenue or sales.
- Who decides:
- The plan's entitlements, checked in code before any validation, acceptance or scheduling.
- On record before it counts:
- The signed order form's plan.
- Applies to:
- Managed Outbound and Opportunity Engine
- Also read as:
- agency vs. contractor responsibility, responsibility boundary, contractor boundary
The stages a client sees in a report
- Researched
- Replied
- Qualified Interest
- Validation in progress
- Accepted Sales Opportunity
- Handed off
- Taken on by you
- Sent back for review
- Declined
- In your sales process
- Won
- Lost
- Not now
- Not a fit
- Do not contact
Names we no longer use
If you read an older page, email or proposal from us, you may meet one of these. Each now means the term shown, or nothing at all.
- Qualified Opportunity → Accepted Sales Opportunity. The earlier name for what the $2,500 plan handed off. The Opportunity Engine now hands off an Accepted Sales Opportunity.
- Accepted Opportunity → Accepted Sales Opportunity or Taken on by you. It meant two different things: our check against the client's criteria before a handoff (now Accepted Sales Opportunity), and the client's own confirmation after it (now Taken on by you).
- Screened Interest (as a handoff) → Qualified Conversation. The earlier name for what the $1,500 plan handed off. Managed Outbound now hands off a qualified conversation; screening survives only as an internal step.
- Structured Handoff → Warm Handoff. The earlier name for the handoff. Both plans now hand off with the same warm handoff.
- Client Follow-Up (as a stage) → Warm Handoff. An earlier name for the handed-off stage in client reports.
- Qualified conversations started → Qualified Conversation. An earlier measure, counted from reply labels. A qualified conversation now counts only when the buyer has agreed to speak with the contractor.
- Interested prospects as the one metric → Qualified Conversation. Interested prospects were once the headline measure. They are now the leading indicator; the one measure is qualified conversations.
- Appointment setting (as the service) → Appointment. The service was once described as appointment setting. No plan promises or bills appointments; an appointment is a calendar fact.
- Billable opportunity (as a fee) → Billable opportunity. A per-opportunity fee was considered and never offered. Billing is one flat monthly price per plan.
- Prospecting (plan) → no current equivalent. An earlier plan name. The $750 plan was discontinued, not renamed.
- Managed Pipeline (plan) → Managed Outbound. An earlier plan name. Its price now buys Managed Outbound.
- Qualified Opportunity Engine (plan) → Opportunity Engine. An earlier plan name. Its price now buys the Opportunity Engine.
- Lead Engine (plan) → no current equivalent. An earlier plan name. The $750 plan was discontinued, not renamed.
- Outreach Engine (plan) → Managed Outbound. An earlier plan name. Its price now buys Managed Outbound.
- Appointment Engine (plan) → Opportunity Engine. An earlier plan name. Its price now buys the Opportunity Engine.
- Starter Lead Engine (plan) → no current equivalent. An earlier plan name. The $750 plan was discontinued, not renamed.
- Recommended Outreach Engine (plan) → Managed Outbound. An earlier plan name. Its price now buys Managed Outbound.
- Premium Appointment Engine (plan) → Opportunity Engine. An earlier plan name. Its price now buys the Opportunity Engine.
Three commercial accounts, researched for your market, free.
3 minutes of questions, then a straight answer — including “no”. If it is a fit, your free pipeline audit follows in writing: 3–5 commercial accounts with source links, plus one sample message. No call is required to receive it, and it is yours to keep either way. It shows the quality of the work, not a promised result.