Pipeline5 min read
Opportunities and the pipeline
An opportunity is a qualified lead with a value, a service and a stage. The pipeline board is the CRM screen most teams keep open, and it is the source for every pipeline and conversion report.
The board
/dashboard/opportunitiesFive columns, left to right: Discovery, Proposal, Negotiation, Won and Lost. Drag a card between columns to move the deal. The change saves immediately and reverts if it fails, so the board never shows a stage that did not stick.
What an opportunity carries
/dashboard/opportunities- Title
- What the deal is, in your own words.
- Value and currency
- What it is worth. Pipeline value on the dashboard is the sum of open deals.
- Service
- What you would be delivering. Drives the service level reports.
- Company and contact
- Who the deal is with.
- Lead
- Where it came from, kept so attribution survives the conversion.
- Owner
- Who is responsible for closing it.
- Expected close date
- Used to spot deals that have gone quiet.
Stalled deals
/dashboardThe dashboard surfaces opportunities that have not moved in a while. It is the cheapest way to catch a deal that quietly went cold.
Winning a deal
/dashboard/clientsMoving an opportunity to Won is the trigger for the delivery side of the CRM. From there you create a client, and from the client you create projects, quotes, invoices and revenue records.