Opportunity pipeline

An opportunity carries a record number, subject, expected close date, expected value and owner. It points to the customer account and can point to a primary contact. Its status moves through New, Qualified, Proposal and Negotiation before a Won or Lost outcome. The owner can also keep a next step and probability on the record. These fields give the Sales Manager a practical answer to who owns the deal, what is being discussed, when a decision is expected and what should happen next.

The qualification workflow is a real stage action. It logs a qualification activity, moves the opportunity to Qualified and writes an operation receipt. Proposal submission also logs activity, changes the stage and writes a receipt. Closing takes the caller’s outcome and reason, sets Won or Lost and writes a receipt. The manager can examine those linked records when a stage appears to have moved without a clear customer conversation.

• Ownership. Each opportunity has a team member as owner, while the organization and account provide the business context.
• Stage. Status describes where the sales conversation stands; the qualifying, proposal and close actions leave related evidence.
• Timing and value. Expected close date and expected value make open pipeline reviews possible without treating the forecast as a booked order.

Define when a new sales conversation deserves an opportunity and how the team names the subject. Decide how the owner sets expected value and probability. Agree what qualifies a deal and what proposal submission means in day-to-day work. Set a weekly review of open opportunities by owner and expected close date. A status value alone is a thin account of the work; pair it with activity and a next step during review.

A brand representative opens a deal for a partner’s next assortment. The representative assigns the account, primary contact and owner, adds the expected value and close date, and writes the next step. After a qualification conversation, the workflow logs the action and moves the deal from New to Qualified. The manager can see the current stage, then open the activity and receipt to understand the transition. When the proposal is sent, submission logs an email activity and moves the deal to Proposal.

Before closing, have the owner confirm whether the customer accepted or declined. A lost deal can keep a loss reason; a won deal can carry the win date. The close workflow records the outcome and an operation receipt. This is enough to review the sales result without implying that a sale has been fulfilled.

• Open Opportunity Board — The manager sees active deal stages with owner, account and expected value.
• My Open Opportunities — The representative works assigned deals by close date and next step.
• Lost Opportunities — The manager compares reasons after decisions have been recorded.

Follow qualification, proposal submission and closing for the actions behind the stages.