Creating opportunities

When and how to create opportunities in the CRM so pipeline stays clean and duplicate-free. Steps are shown for a Salesforce-style CRM; adapt the field names to your system.

When to create an opportunity

Create an opportunity when a seller has confirmation from a prospect of interest in or a need to purchase your solution, whether by email, a call, a website demo request, or an in-person conversation. Do not create opportunities on assumptions of need. The person and organization do not have to be fully qualified at creation, but an opportunity should always be tied to a person, never created from scratch.

Creating from a lead

1. Open the lead record in the CRM.
2. Mark the lead Converted on the record's path or status bar and save the selection.
3. On the convert screen, search existing Accounts first to avoid duplicates; select the match, or create a new Account if none exists.
4. Do the same for the Contact: select an existing match or create a new one.
5. For a net-new deal, create a new Opportunity in the opportunity section.
6. Set the record owner to whoever will manage the deal, leave the status Converted, and convert.
7. Open the newly created opportunity to begin managing it.

Creating from a contact

1. Open the contact record in the CRM.
2. In the Opportunities related list, choose New.
3. Complete all required fields on the new-opportunity screen and save.

What's next

Once the opportunity exists, manage it through the full sales cycle using your sales workflow and stage discipline.

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