The content on this page is under development as part of a beta test for a new and upcoming feature. Please note, we currently do not have a definitive release date for this new feature. If you are participating in the beta test and you have questions or feedback, please submit your questions in the beta feedback portal. Thank you.
Overview
A sales opportunity (opp) is a type of record that captures sales information for leads and clients. This may include a money value and any products or services that you want to sell. You would work the opportunity through the various stages of a sales pipeline until it is closed. If closed and won, it can be associated with policies.
Also, you can manage your opps on the Sales Pipelines Board and Sales Opportunities List. Each area has unique options for filtering opps.
IN THIS ARTICLE
Creating an opp
Data tracked on an opp
Timeline of events
Filtering the timeline
Moving an opp through a pipeline
At-a-glance status
Creating an opp
Permissions needed
To create and update sales opportunities, you need to be on a team that has access to a sales pipeline, and you must belong to a security group with:
- Access to opps AND
- Opportunity > Visible permission
- Opportunity > Edit permission
- Access to groups or individuals AND
- Group > Visible & Edit permissions
- Individual > Visible & Edit permissions
To get started
- In the Sales Opportunities List or Sales Pipelines Board, select the “New” button.
- You can create sales opportunities (opps) from the +New menu, as well as the right-hand summary of a group or individual.
- Select the opportunity buyer.
- You can create opportunities for individuals and groups.
- Fill in the opportunity info.
- If the Pipeline dropdown list is empty, check with your sales manager or an administrator at your agency and make sure you’re on a sales team. For more on sales teams, see this article.
- Add an opportunity product (optional).
- Add to track products and services you’re selling to the lead/client.
- Save.
- Once the opp has been created, you can update its stage in the Sales Opportunities List or Sales Pipelines Board.
Data tracked on an opp
- Opp Owner - A lead or client that you’re selling products/services to. The opp buyer is always a group or individual record.
- Opp Contact - An advocate/main contact for the opp owner, such as the spouse or POA. The opp contact is always an individual record.
- Current Business With - A competitor agency that already has business with the lead.
- Start Date - The date the opp was actually started. This date can be different from the opp’s create date.
- Value - The money value of the opp.
- Confidence Rating - Your confidence level for winning the opp.
- Expected Close Date - When you expect to close the opp.
- Closed Date - When the opp was actually closed.
- Closed Lost Reason - The reason why the opp was lost.
- Primary Producer & Additional Producers - The person(s) assigned to the opp. A primary producer/additional producer is always an agent record.
Timeline of events
The timeline is a comprehensive history of changes that have been made to the opp or data or records that are associated with the opp. Every change is displayed as an event. Each event includes the date, time, and user that made the change.
Filtering the timeline
You can apply these filters one at a time or all together. Please note, the more filters you use, the fewer results will return. If nothing shows up, try removing a filter or two.
Filters:
- Event Type - Lists all related actions for the selected event type. For example, opportunity changes, stage changes, activity changes, etc.
- Date - Lists dates for events that happened on the opp.
Moving an opp through a pipeline
You can update an opp's stage and pipeline in its header or in the Sales Opportunities List. On the Sales Pipelines Board, you can drag and drop an opp’s card from one stage to another.
When updating an opp’s pipeline/stage, you can:
- Move between stages and/or pipelines - You’ll typically move open opps from one stage to another until they’re closed won or lost. If an opp is put into the wrong pipeline by accident, you can move it to the correct one. Please note, you must have access to both pipelines to make this change.
- Move to closed won - When closing an opp, you can associate it with a new or existing policy or convert it to a new policy.
- Move to closed lost - When closing an opp, you can document what happened in the closed lost reason. This will give you more information to review later and improve your business processes.
At-a-glance status
For a quick pulse-check on its progress, check the opp header. By default, the header always shows a segmented bar. The bar represents a sales pipeline, and the segments represent its stages. Each segment fills in with color as the opportunity moves from stage to stage.
To the left of the bar is a dropdown menu displaying the opp’s current stage. You can update its stage and pipeline from this menu. Please note, this menu won’t be available if the opp is closed won or closed lost.
Also, the header will show how much time has elapsed for the current stage if the pipeline has Stage Aging turned on. If provided, the Expected Close Date will display in the header as well.