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Opportunity Stages

Updated

Overview

You can create a list of stages for your opportunities to indicate the current status of an opportunity or to track the progress of an opportunity, e.g., whether an opportunity is ongoing, lost, won, or closed. This custom list is useful in identifying various completion stages of opportunities from prospects to clients. For example, Prospecting, Qualification, Needs Analysis, Negotiation/Review, Pricing, Closed Won or Closed Lost, and so on.

Each stage can also have a default probability and a workflow action. The default probability updates an opportunity's Probability % when the opportunity moves into the stage. A workflow action prompts you to create a Pursuit Project or an Execution Project when an opportunity moves into the stage. You can set both on the Opportunity Stages screen.

When an opportunity arises, a sales representative or business development agent can be at various stages in the sales process. Whether it be understanding the needs of a client, negotiating a quote or closing the sale, it is important to be able to quickly understand where you are. It also helps your company to track and forecast potential revenue and allow managers to do performance reviews of their sales agents based on the opportunities lost or won. Click to watch this video on creating opportunity stages in BQE CORE Pursuit.

opp list thumbnail.png

Field Descriptions

How To

Add Opportunity Stages

Set Up Workflow Actions

View Reports

Export Opportunity Stages

Mark Screen as Favorite

Field Descriptions

Field Name Field Description
Pursuit > Opportunity Stages >
Opportunity Stage Name of the stage of an opportunity.
Stage Type Categorizes the stage as Initial, Ongoing, Won, or Lost. You can create multiple stages of the same type, for example, separate Lost and Abandoned stages that both report as Lost. Your pipeline must always have at least one Won-type stage and one Lost-type stage; this is enforced only when you try to delete a stage.
Workflow Action 

The action CORE prompts you to take when an opportunity moves into this stage. This field is optional. The options are:

  • Pursuit Project: CORE prompts you to create a Pursuit Project. A Pursuit Project is a CORE project linked to the opportunity before it is won. It records the time and expenses your team spends pursuing the work.
  • Execution Project: CORE prompts you to create the Execution Project, the project for the work you deliver when you win the opportunity. Set this action on your Won stage to be prompted when an opportunity is won.

A workflow action is a prompt, not a requirement. You can skip it and create the project later. If the opportunity already has a linked project of that kind, CORE does not prompt you again. If an opportunity moves back to an earlier stage, CORE does not delete the projects that were already created.
Probability 

The default probability of winning for this stage. This field is optional.

When an opportunity moves into this stage from a different stage, CORE sets the opportunity's Probability % to this value and recalculates its Weighted Value. A value of 0% counts as a default and sets Probability % to 0.

If you leave this field blank, an opportunity that moves into this stage keeps its current Probability % and Weighted Value. For example, if Negotiation has a probability of 70% and Evaluation is blank, an opportunity that moves from Negotiation to Evaluation keeps its 70% probability.

CORE applies the default only when the stage actually changes. Selecting the stage that an opportunity is already in does not change its probability. The same rule applies wherever you change the stage, including the card view, the Snapshot panel, the opportunity page and Batch Update. You can still change the probability on an individual opportunity after any stage change.
Active Indicates whether an opportunity stage is active and available to be used in the opportunities.

Add Opportunity Stages

To add an opportunity stage, watch this video or follow these steps:

  1. Open the Opportunity Stages screen from the side menu > Settings > Pursuit.


     
  2. In the list view, click Add Stage and enter the required information. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
    • Opportunity Stage
    • Stage Type: whether Initial, Ongoing, Won, or Lost.
    • Workflow Action: Pursuit Project or Execution Project, if needed
    • Probability: the default probability for the stage, if needed
    • Active
  3. Changes save automatically. The new stage is displayed in the grid. 
  4. To reorder a stage, drag it using the handle on its row.

Set Up Workflow Actions

A workflow action prompts you to create a project when an opportunity moves into a stage. For example, set your Won stage to Execution Project so that CORE prompts you to create the project for the work when you win an opportunity. Set an earlier stage to Pursuit Project so that CORE prompts you to start tracking the time and expenses you spend pursuing the work.

To set up a workflow action on a stage, follow these steps:

  1. Open the Opportunity Stages screen from the side menu > Settings > Pursuit.
  2. In the list view, find the stage you want to automate.
  3. In the Workflow Action column for that stage, select one of the following:
    • Pursuit Project: prompts you to create a Pursuit Project when an opportunity moves into this stage.
    • Execution Project: prompts you to create the Execution Project when an opportunity moves into this stage.
  4. Changes save automatically.

When an opportunity moves into a stage that has a workflow action, CORE prompts you to create the project. The prompt appears when you change the stage from any of the following:

  • The Overview tab of the opportunity.
  • The Snapshot panel.
  • The card view of the Opportunities screen, when you drag the card to another stage.

You can create the project from the prompt or skip it.

Note: Moving an opportunity back to an earlier stage does not delete a project that CORE created from a workflow action. The project stays linked to the opportunity.

View Reports

To view a report, watch this video or follow these steps:

  1. Open the Opportunity Stages screen from the side menu > Settings > Pursuit.

    opp stage reports.png
     
  2. In the list view, click More > View Reports.
  3. Select a report from the Report List dialog. It opens in the viewer.
  4. Preview the report and then choose to export or print it.

You can also check the detailed video on running and managing reports in BQE CORE.

Export Opportunity Stages

In CORE, you can export the opportunity stages to the Comma Separated Values file format. CORE exports data from all available columns and not just the columns visible in the grid.

To export opportunity stage records to a .CSV file, watch this video or follow these steps:

  1. Open the Opportunity Stages screen from the side menu > Settings > Pursuit.

    opp stage export.png
  2. In the list view, click More > Export as CSV.
  3. A .csv export file is created and saved on your system at the default download location, say your desktop. Click to open the spreadsheet.

You can also check the detailed video on exporting data in CORE.

Mark Screen as Favorite

You can mark or flag the most-often used and important screens in CORE as your favorites up to a maximum of ten. These favorite screens then display separately on the side menu under the Favorites list. You can manage all your favorite screens in CORE from User Settings.

To mark this screen as your favorite, watch this video or follow these steps:

  1. Open the Opportunity Stages from the side menu > Settings > Pursuit. 

    Opportunity Stages - Mark as fav.png
     
  2. Click favorites.png on the top right.
  3. You can access this screen from the side menu under Favorites.

You can also check the detailed video on marking screens as favorite in CORE.

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