Creating an Opportunity

Create a new record each time you identify an opportunity.

Note: Each time a new opportunity record is created, a primary Revenue record is automatically created for the opportunity.

This task is a step in Process of Managing Opportunities.

To create an opportunity

  1. Navigate to the Opportunities screen, then the Opportunities List view.

  2. In the Opportunities List, create a new record, and complete the necessary fields.

    Some fields are described in the following table.

    Field Comments

    Revenue

    Type the currency amount of the opportunity. If you are using the Products, Quotes or Revenue views, then you can make sure your summary revenues are calculated and are in sync. This amount affects forecasting.

    Committed

    Select the check box to indicate a high probability that the deal will close, and that the deal will be included in your revenue forecast.

    Probability %

    Select a percentage for the confidence you have that the deal will close with the specified revenue on the specified close date. The sales stage of the opportunity determines an automatic adjustment of the probability. You can manually override the probability value.

    Sales Method

    Select the sales methodology.

    Sales Team

    Select the employees in the sales team for the opportunity. Only the manager of the primary sales team member, or an administrator, can change or delete the sales team member identified in the Primary field.

    You can set a Priority flag for individual members of the sales team. If an opportunity is a priority for all team members, then the Priority Flag is set in the Opportunity List and Explorer views.

    Currency

    Select the currency type associated with the opportunity. The selected value does not affect forecasting.

    Sales Stage

    Select the sales stage associated with the selected sales method.

    Lead Partner

    Select the lead partner. This field is automatically populated when the source of the opportunity is a campaign with a lead partner.

    If you create an opportunity from a response, and the response had a campaign associated with it, then the opportunity inherits the lead partner from the campaign.

    If you create a new opportunity and select a campaign as the source, then the opportunity inherits the campaigns lead partner, if it has a lead partner.

    Close Date

    Select the expected date on which the opportunity closes. The default date is the same as the Created Date. It is important to modify the date, if the opportunity closes on a different date, because this date is used in revenue forecasting.

    Primary

    Displays the user ID of the primary sales team member. This value defaults to your user ID if you are creating a new opportunity.

    Executive Priority

    Select the check box to indicate a significant opportunity. Sales executives can query for high-priority opportunities for tracking purposes.

    Revenue Type

    Select a value for the kind and source of the expected revenue. For more information, see About Revenue Class and Revenue Type.

    Territory

    Displays the territory for the opportunity. The default value is based on the territories that your company defines. Your system administrator controls the territory assignment function set up by your sales manager.

    Revenue Class

    Select a value for the quality of the expected revenue. For more information, see About Revenue Class and Revenue Type.

    Channel

    Select the sales channel from which the opportunity comes.

  3. Drill down on the Opportunity Name field of the record, and navigate to the More Info view to complete more fields.

    Some fields are described in the following table.

    Field Comments

    Source

    Select the source of the sales lead for the opportunity. Typical source values include specific events, campaigns, or conferences.

    Source Type

    Displays the category of the primary source. For example, a specific seminar that is the source of the opportunity is identified with a value of Seminar in this field.

    Organization

    Select the organizations associated with the opportunity. The default value is the organization name associated with the person creating the opportunity. Your system administrator sets up organizations in your application. You can associate multiple organizations with an opportunity.

    Partner Approval Status

    Select the approval status of the lead partner for the opportunity.

    Expected Value

    Displays a currency value that is calculated using the potential revenue field multiplied by the value in the probability field. A lower percentage in the probability field reduces the expected value that is included in your revenue forecast.

    Best Case

    Type the amount the deal might generate in the best-case scenario. This amount is higher than the value in the Revenue field.

    Worst Case

    Type the currency amount the deal might generate in the worst-case scenario. This amount is lower than the value in the Revenue field.

    Cost

    Type the amount of expense associated with the opportunity.

    Margin

    Displays the revenue amount minus the cost amount.

    Reason Won/Lost

    Select a value for the reason that the opportunity was accepted, rejected, rerouted, won, or lost.