Glossary
Plain-language definitions of the terms Crescendo uses with clients, written to be quotable.
Total revenue divided by users in a period. The numerator of most pricing math.
The percentage of customers who buy a specific add-on, module, or upsell alongside the primary purchase. A measure of bundle design, sales discipline, and product-market fit on the secondary product.
What goes into each tier and what gets sold a la carte.
Customers or revenue lost in a period.
LTV multiplied by funnel. A one-number health check that combines per-customer value with whether you have enough of them.
Getting new pricing into the world. Sales enablement, billing systems, contracts, the page.
The system that turns a rep's product selections into a priced, approved quote a customer can sign. CPQ enforces packaging logic, discount rules, and approval workflows in real time.
A survey method for measuring relative willingness-to-pay across product attributes by forcing trade-offs between bundles.
Lost revenue from existing customers who stay but spend less.
A set of tools, people, and processes to help deliver deal velocity and customization as needed.
A meaningful price cut to win the deal or the segment. Cheap to offer, expensive to take back.
Additional revenue from existing customers through upsell, cross-sell, or higher usage.
Time-limited full access. The customer evaluates against a deadline, then pays or loses access.
A permanently free tier used to acquire users who convert later. Works when usage creates value the user feels before they hit a wall.
Customers outgrow the model. They go direct, demand unsustainable discounts, or self-build.
Revenue from existing customers excluding expansion. Caps at 100%. Measures pure stickiness.
The customer for whom the product flies off the shelf. Big pain, big wallet, cheap to service, low churn, low CAC, lots of them.
Billed after the period of usage rather than in advance. Common in usage-based pricing where consumption can't be known until after it occurs. Friendly to the customer's cash flow; tougher on the seller's working capital.
Get in cheap on a beachhead, grow through the account.
The total revenue a customer generates over the life of the relationship.
Revenue from existing customers including expansion, contraction, and churn. Above 100% means the base grows without new logos.
Pricing that is derived based on an outcome generated in the business. Very difficult to do unless the seller can take full responsibility for the outcome without any input or support from the buyer (rare).
The macro structure of the offer. How many tiers, whether they nest or split by segment, what sits in each.
Customer pays for a scoped evaluation period. Filters for serious buyers and establishes price as part of the relationship from day one.
The degree to which quantity demanded responds to a change in price. Elastic markets shift meaningfully on small price moves. Inelastic markets don't.
The actual number. Set by customers and the market, not the spreadsheet.
How the metric relates to time and volume. Tiers, caps, minimums, overages, commitments.
The amount of pricing power a business has based on its cost structure and growth.
The amount of influence a business has over its prices in the market given switching costs, network effects, brand positioning, and other structural advantages. See Hamilton Helmer's 7 Powers.
How you get non-customers to buy, and when, if ever, you discount.
The end-to-end revenue motion from rep-generated quote through cash collection. Spans CPQ, contracting, billing, collections, and revenue recognition. The gap between a signed deal and money in the bank.
Customers and revenue that return after leaving for some period.
Customer starts on a paid tier with full features, then downgrades to a free tier when the trial ends. Anchors expectations to the paid experience.
Sacrificing volume to elevate brand and price.
Recurring fixed fee for access. Predictable, but caps capture if value scales faster than the fee.
A reconciliation at the end of a contract period that adjusts billing based on actual usage versus the committed minimum. Customer pays the difference if they overshot the commit; the unused portion typically expires.
Charging on consumption. The metric and the time horizon are separate questions.
The job the customer hires the product to do. Often more predictive of WTP than firmographics.
Pricing that aligns with WTP rather than purely usage, costs, or competitive positioning.
The reason a customer picks you over an alternative.
The unit you charge per. The most consequential pricing decision. Must scale with customer value.
The intersection of utility and wallet size. You need both. Build things people want, comma, to pay for.
