Opportunity Pipeline

A Relationship Owner starts with the organization, the counterparty and a subject that the team can recognize. The opportunity also carries an expected close date and expected value. Those fields make the pipeline useful for planning, while the current status shows what work remains. A new inquiry stays New until qualification evidence supports a change. The owner should record that evidence as an activity linked to the same opportunity.

A record number identifies the case during handoffs. The revision distinguishes the record reviewed by a Sales Manager from later edits. When a proposal is prepared, lock its revision for review before moving the opportunity to Proposal. When negotiation begins, the team should know which activity supports that change. Keep the expected value even when the final result differs; it remains part of the original planning history.

• Intake. Create the opportunity under an active organization and select its counterparty account.
• Progress. Record qualification activity, proposal scope and the start of negotiation before advancing status.
• Outcome. Put acceptance or loss evidence before an independent reviewer, then record Won or Lost with its date or reason.

Agree who owns a new inquiry, how counterparties are identified, and what counts as enough activity to qualify it. Decide how the team writes subjects so a manager can recognize an engagement without opening every attachment. The owner and Sales Manager should also agree when proposal work has truly started and when a negotiation has actually begun. A status change should follow the work, not substitute for it.

Set a practical rule for close dates and expected value. A date that nobody maintains can mislead the pipeline review. For each organization, agree who may see the opportunity and its internal evidence. Where an account has a similar name to another counterparty, use its code and organization during selection.

A Relationship Owner creates an opportunity for a prospective engagement with a counterparty account, expected close date and value. They log a meeting and its outcome. After checking the current revision, they qualify the opportunity. The resulting receipt identifies the attempted action. Before the client accepts a proposal, a conflict check is submitted and reviewed. The owner records the proposal scope and next activity, then a Sales Manager reviews the locked revision before the owner moves the opportunity to Proposal. When negotiation starts, the owner records the next activity and advances the opportunity. A Sales Manager later reviews the exact revision and the acceptance evidence. If approved, the owner records the won date. If the client declines, the loss reason is kept instead. The earlier activities and expected value remain available for review.

• Active opportunity pipeline — Review open engagements by owner, counterparty, close date and status.
• My opportunities — Give a Relationship Owner a focused list of assigned work.
• Closing decisions — Bring late-stage records and their revisions into a manager’s review.

Use qualification and outcome review to rehearse the decision points.