Customer pipeline

A new inquiry needs an owner and a reason to advance. Sales Rep records the company, contact and source, then follows the lead from New through Contacted to Qualified. A poor fit can be marked Unqualified with a reason such as budget, no response or duplicate identity. The notes should explain the decision well enough for another seller to resume the conversation.

Qualification leads to an opportunity with an amount, currency and expected close date. Sales Manager uses the forecast category and probability to review the pursuit. The actual close date belongs to a won or lost outcome; moving an expected date does not establish that the sale closed.

• Lead ownership. The assigned employee owns qualification and the next contact. Activity due dates make the next action visible even while commercial details are still being discussed.
• Customer identity. Conversion links the account and contact before the opportunity advances. Reuse an existing customer when the company is already known, retaining the lead’s connection to the resulting records.
• Forecast review. The opportunity carries its stage and forecast category separately. A committed forecast remains subject to commercial review and does not release an order for delivery.

Agree how Sales Rep identifies an existing account and which contact should become the primary contact. Company names alone can be ambiguous. Review the entity, email and available account detail before deciding to create another customer. Decide who resolves conflicting contact information when a referral points to an existing buying organization.

Sales Manager should define what qualifies a pursuit for Pipeline, best case or Commit and who can change its owner. Set the expected follow-up cadence using activity due dates. Decide how reassignment affects open activities so the next seller does not inherit an opportunity without the conversation that supports it.

Use a referred replacement-parts inquiry from a company already buying from the business. Sales Rep finds the existing account, confirms the contact and qualifies the lead. Conversion should retain that customer identity, create the linked opportunity and assign the next activity. Repeat the conversion request and check that it returns the same linked customer and opportunity.

Next, move the opportunity from Discovery to Proposal and change its expected close date after the customer delays a decision. Sales Manager checks the revised forecast and the next step. When the customer eventually declines, retain the lost reason and actual close date. The earlier forecast should remain explainable from the opportunity and follow-up record.

• My Leads — Leads assigned to the seller, with their current qualification state and recent activity dates.
• Opportunity Forecast — Open pursuits with amounts, currencies, forecast categories and expected close dates for manager review.

Continue with Lead to approved order and review the Quotes and sales orders handoff before promising delivery.