Opportunity (Deal)

What is an Opportunity?

An opportunity is a qualified potential sale. It represents a prospect who has expressed clear buying intent and meets your ideal customer criteria.

Opportunity vs Lead

Lead: Unqualified interest; may or may not be a good fit
Opportunity: Qualified prospect; active sales pursuit; committed resources

Key Opportunity Fields

• Amount: Expected deal value
• Close Date: When you expect to close
• Stage: Current position in sales process
• Probability: Likelihood of closing (often tied to stage)
• Owner: Sales rep responsible
• Products: Solutions being considered
• Next Steps: Immediate actions required

Opportunity Qualification (BANT)

Budget: Can they afford it?
Authority: Are you talking to decision-makers?
Need: Do they have a problem you solve?
Timeline: When do they need to implement?

Managing Opportunities

Update regularly with latest information, move through stages based on progress not time, keep close dates realistic and current, log all activities and interactions, identify and engage key stakeholders, document objections and concerns, and define clear next steps after every interaction.

Opportunity Best Practices

Create opportunities only for qualified prospects, maintain accurate data for forecasting, review pipeline weekly, identify stuck deals for coaching, and close lost deals promptly with reasons.