How to: Process Sales Opportunities

Article
06/06/2017

After you create an opportunity, there are several features for managing the opportunity and moving it through to completion.

To view opportunities

The existing sale opportunities are available from the Opportunity List window. There are different ways to access this window for processing sales opportunities:

To view opportunities for	Then
All salespeople and contacts	Choose the icon, enter Opportunity List, and then choose the related link.
A specific sales person	Choose the icon, enter Salespeople, and then choose the related link. Select the salesperson, choose the Opportunities action, and then choose the List action.
A specific contact	Choose the icon, enter Contacts, and then choose the related link. Select the contact from the list, and then choose the Opportunities action.

Each of these tasks opens the Opportunity List window.

To close opportunities

You can close opportunities when the negotiations are over. When closing an opportunity, you can specify whether it was won or lost, and the reasons for closing it. To specify a reason, you must set up closed opportunity codes.

In the Opportunity List window, select the opportunity, and the choose the Close action. The Close Opportunity window opens.
Fill in the relevant fields, and then choose the OK button.

The Close Opportunity Code and Date Closed fields are required fields and must be filled in before you can choose the OK button.

In the Close Opportunity Code field, you can choose from one of the existing close opportunity codes or add a new code. To add a new code, from the drop-down list, choose Select from full list, and then choose new. On the new blank line, fill in the Code, Type, and Description fields, and then choose the OK button.

To create quotes for opportunities

You can create sales quotes for contacts that are not recorded as customers.

In the Opportunity List window, select the opportunity, and then choose the Assign Sales Quote action. The Sales Quote window opens.
Fill in the relevant fields.

To create sales orders for opportunities

You can make sales orders from the sales quotes that you have created for your opportunities. Before you can create sales orders for your contacts, you must create the contact as a customer. For more information, see Create a Customer, Vendor, or Bank Account From a Contact.

In the Opportunity List window, find the opportunity that you have created a sales quote for.
Choose the Assign Sales Quote action. The Sales Quote window opens to show the sales quote that you have assigned to the opportunity.
Fill in the additional fields, and then choose the Make Order action.

When handling sales opportunities, you may need to create a quote for the contact that the opportunity is linked to.

To delete opportunities

You can delete opportunities, for example, after you have concluded a deal. However, you can only delete closed opportunities. There are two ways to delete closed opportunities. You can delete individual closed opportunities from the Opportunity List window or you can run the Delete Closed Opportunities batch job to delete multiple opportunities based on a specified criteria.

To delete closed opportunities from the Opportunity List window, select the opportunity, and then choose the Delete action.

To delete closed opportunities by using the Delete Closed Opportunities batch job, follow these steps:

Choose the icon, enter Delete Opportunities, and then choose the related link.
In the Opportunity section, set up the filters that specify the closed opportunities to delete.
Choose the OK button.

After you have deleted an opportunity, it is removed it from the Opportunity List window.

To move an opportunity through sales cycle stages

If an opportunity follows a sales cycle, you can move it forward or back through the different stages, such as moving the next or previous stage, and even skipping a stage.

In the Opportunity List window, choose the Update action. The Update Opportunity opens,
Use the Action Type field to move the opportunity through the sales cycle stages:
- Next moves the opportunity forward one stage.
- Skip moves the opportunity forward one or several stages in the sales cycle, which you specify in the Presentation field. You can only skip stages that have been set up to allow skipping.
- Previous moves the opportunity back one stage.
- Jump moves the opportunity back one or several stages in the sales cycle, which you specify in the Presentation field.
- Update enables you to change information (such as to modify your evaluation of their chances of success and estimated values) without moving to another stage.
Fill in the other fields as needed, and then choose the OK button.

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