Editing an opportunity allows you to change anything about the opportunity such as its name, close date, account name, sales rep, etc...

Once you make your changes, click on 'Update' and the information will be updated and you will be taken back to the Summary page of that opportunity.

If you decide not to edit the opportunity, click on 'Cancel' and you will be brought back to the Summary page of that opportunity. You have the option to edit the opportunity again or return back to the Listings page.

Grading opportunities by forecast categories (Omitted, Pipeline, Best Case, and Commit) gives all members of your organization a common language when discussing revenue predictions. These categories segment the sales cycle into distinct groupings that describe the likelihood of realizing revenue from the opportunity by the expected close date. Below are the definitions of what Partnerpedia means by each forecast category as defined by Bluetide Management.

Omitted

Technically, Omitted is not a forecasting category, but there needs to be a way to identify opportunities that have been lost for some reason (purchase of a competitor's solution; decision to internally develop; decision to not proceed with any solution). Note that this is for lost opportunities only. If the decision has been stalled and the prospect will revisit it in the future, then the opportunity should be downgraded and the date should be moved out.

Pipeline

To safeguard the integrity of the overall sales pipeline, all of the following elements of the Pipeline category must be present before an opportunity can be created.

At least one contact with true influence over a purchase has been engaged.

The contact does not necessarily have to be the final decision maker. There will be other influencers identified later on in the sales cycle. This contact must, however, have true influence over the purchasing decision. If not, then the creation of an opportunity associated with the Pipeline category should wait until an appropriate contact has been made.

Once a contact has been established for the opportunity:

• The contact agrees that the company is experiencing a pain that your solution may resolve.
• The contact has indicated that there is a rough Return on Investment (ROI) that is worthwhile investigating.

The rough calculation for ROI is: (gain for the contact's organization from implementing your company's solution) minus (cost of your company's solution). The gain should take into consideration the scope of the pain currently being experienced due to your solution's absence.

A formal product evaluation or decision making cycle has not yet begun. As such, the timeline to purchase is not yet known.

Because the timeline to purchase is not confirmed, it is unlikely that the client will purchase your product this quarter unless your average sales cycle length is less than 90 days. To maintain the integrity of your revenue forecast, Pipeline opportunities should generally not be forecasted to close in the current quarter - they are simply a growing pool of opportunities that you are cultivating for future quarters.

The sales rep has received a written response from the contact.

The written response is a great way to ensure that the sales pipeline has integrity. It stipulates that the contact must confirm in writing - usually via email - that all of the elements in the Pipeline category are true.

There is a possible exception to the rule that Pipeline opportunities should not show up on the current quarter forecast. This exception breaks from the normal forecasting rules and as such should be seldom invoked. It is a great practice to leverage the objectivity of the sales rep's first-line manager to gut-check the opportunity and remove any Pipeline opportunity from the current quarter unless the following two criteria are true:

• The sales rep has established great rapport with a contact that has true influence over a purchase.*
  *An important cautionary note: sales reps can sometimes fall into the trap of talking with a contact that has no influence over a purchase. Being so close to the contact, it may be difficult for a sales rep to see the warning signs of a weak opportunity.
• The opportunity does not yet satisfy the requirements of the Best Case or Commit categories but the sales rep strongly believes that this opportunity has a chance to close.

Best Case

The Best Case category identifies opportunities that are not guaranteed to close this quarter, but that may close if everything goes as planned. The following elements should be in place:

• The prospect is in a formal evaluation process comparing your solution with competing options (which can include your competitors' solutions, internal development, or doing nothing at all).
• The sales rep believes he or she is winning the evaluation process.
• Most (preferably all) of the decision-making authorities are known.
  *There are at least two reasons why it is important to be engaged with more than one contact in the opportunity. One contact will invariably go out-of-town once in a while, effectively putting the opportunity on hiatus until he or she returns. If that happens at quarter end, it will add pressure to find a last-minute replacement opportunity. Also, every contact will know only part of the selection landscape. Capturing feedback from the other stakeholders will give you a deeper understanding of your position in the opportunity, and enable you to grade the opportunity more accurately.
• There is a known compelling event that requires the prospect to implement a solution this quarter.
  *A compelling event is one driving the prospect to make a decision and implement a solution by a certain date within this quarter. If the compelling event is not known, then the opportunity is at risk and you need to either have a good backup opportunity, or your should downgrade the opportunity to the Pipeline category. If the compelling event is known, and it indicates a purchase date outside of this quarter, then the opportunity close date should be set relative to the compelling event. Junior sales reps will often associate an opportunity with the Best Case or Commit categories but skip this important step. Unfortunately, panic will inevitably set in when it looks like the opportunity close date will slip past its initial projection. To compound the problem, the sales rep may start pressuring the prospect to issue the purchase order or offer unnecessary discounts. Both of these tactics are weak strategies. Pressuring prospects will often result in a disintegration of trust, and offering discounts usually does not give them an incentive to purchase sooner but rather simply sets a lower price threshold when they are ready to buy.

Commit

The definition of this category is simple: these are opportunities that will definitely close this quarter. The close date of Commit opportunities should not slip under any circumstances. The aggregate Commit number should not be missed under any circumstances. Therefore some very strong Best Case opportunities should exist to replace any Commit opportunity that may slip for whatever reason. The following elements should be in place:

• A contact - preferably the final decision maker - has confirmed that your solution has been chosen.
• There is a known compelling event which indicates the client will issue a purchase order this quarter.
  Knowing the compelling event to purchase dramatically improves your forecast accuracy and enables reps to better allocate their time.
• The purchase process is known.
  An area where junior sales reps sometimes make a mistake is to not understand the prospect's purchase process. Invariably what happens is that the opportunity gets committed, the client promises the purchase order, and then on the last day of the quarter it slips because one of the signing authorities went away on vacation. To avoid this type of situation, consider asking the prospect the following questions:
  1. 'Can you help me understand who signs the purchase order?'
  2. 'Once those people have signed the purchase order, can anyone else veto it?'

Once you have filled out the opportunity information, you have three choices:

• Save: Will save the entered data and will bring you to the Summary page of the opportunity.
• Save and New: Will save the entered data and return you to the same page so you can add another new opportunity.
• Cancel: Won't save the information and return you to the Listings page.

Additional information allows you to select a Lead Source to the opportunity, what the next steps are and the website address of theopportunity. The Description text box lets you provide more details on the opportunity.

Listing your opportunity by stage (Prospecting, Qualification, Needs Analysis, Proposal/ Price Quote, Negotiating/Review, Closed Won, Closed Lost) allow managers and members of a sales team to easily track their sales process. Setting up opportunity stages also enables sales forecasting and marketing efforts to be more accurate.

Prospecting

Prospecting is where the people and the companies decide if they want to work together and if the products fit the need. Discovery happens during the first few meetings, where the prospect and the seller size each other up and get the problems fully fleshed out. This is where chemistry is so vital for any successful sale to happen; otherwise, the future deal dies here.

Qualification

This is truly a qualified inquiry. They have an immediate need, a budget, a projected time frame for purchase, and usually a few other 'custom' thresholds that have been reached so that it is a genuine sales lead.

Needs Analysis

At this stage, the proof of concept begins to assert itself. Whether it is through a demonstration, free trial, free sample, web seminar, reference checks, etc., 'Needs Analysis' is the stage where someone has to finally say, 'Yep, I think this will work the way we need it to.'

Proposal/Price Quote

Whether it is a quote or a proposal, 1 page or 50 pages, somewhere in the process a number will have to be given to the buyer. Every company should know the closing ratio of its proposals. Once that proposal is laid on the prospect's desk you should know within a barrow percentage what your chances are.

Negotiating/Review

Some companies know that the negotiation stage can take time. Once in this area the outcome is reasonably predictable. Unless the salesperson has not done his homework or the two companies have not properly identified any serious outstanding issues, the outcome should not be in question; only the final value and terms and conditions are being discussed.

Closed Won

After all your hard work on this opportunity, you successfully got the business. Now you can go give yourself and your sales team a pat on the back for a job well done. You might want to give a detailed account on the reasons why the deal was won in the Description text box located under Additional Information.

Closed Lost

Even after all your hard work in pursuing this opportunity, for some reason the customer decided to go with someone else and the opportunity has been lost. You may want to note reasons why you lost the deal in the Description text box located under Additional Information.