Opportunities
An Opportunity is a potential sale from a lead or other source. Tracking your Opportunities in Act! lets you take action by:
- Using the provided Sales Processes, or creating your own, to manage Opportunities from the initial request to closing the sale.
- Adding your Products or Services to the Opportunity so that you can establish a value for the sale.
- Creating quotes to send to the potential buyer.
- Associating a Contact, Group, or Company to the Opportunity so that all parties involved in the transaction can be tracked and communicated with.
- Scheduling Activities, such as a Meeting, with all parties involved in the decision-making process.
- Including other information about the transaction, such as adding notes and attaching pertinent documents.
- Running reports on your sales activity and pipeline using the included Opportunity reports.
- Customizing several Opportunity fields to fit your business needs.
You view, enter, and change opportunity information on the Opportunity Detail view and the Opportunity List.
Sales Processes and Stages
A Sales Process is a series of Stages that let you determine how close you are to winning a sale. Several default Sales Processes are provided to help you get started managing your Opportunities. You can customize these processes or create new ones to suit your needs. For more information on managing Opportunity processes, please refer to the following Knowledgebase Answer:
How do I manage Opportunity Processes in Act! versions 2010 and later?
Answer ID: How do I manage Opportunity Processes in Act! versions 2010 and later?
Answer ID: How do I manage Opportunity Processes in Act! versions 2010 and later?
Each Stage of a Process has an associated Probability for closing. The Probability, along with the total value of the Opportunity, determines the Weighted value of the Opportunity.
You can change the Stages or adjust the Probabilities if they do not accurately reflect how close you are to winning the sale. You can run reports and view your Opportunities' pipeline in graphs by Stages.
Products and Services
You can add Products and Services in the Opportunity's Products/Services tab. The sales amount, and any discounts for a Product or Service, can help determine the value of an Opportunity and your overall sales pipeline. You can select Products and Services from a list or add them by typing them in the Opportunity's Products/Services tab.
There are several ways to manage and customize your Products and Services master list. (To add a Product or Service to the master list so it is available for all Opportunities, you must be an Administrator or Manager of the database.) You can also import or export lists. For more information on managing Opportunity Product lists, please refer to the following Knowledgebase Answer:
How do I manage the Opportunity Product List in Act!?
Answer ID: How do I manage the Opportunity Product List in Act!?
Answer ID: How do I manage the Opportunity Product List in Act!?
Quotes and Reporting
Act! also has the ability to create a quote from an Opportunity, or create reports based on desired information. For more information on quotes and reports, please refer to the following Knowledgebase Answer:
How to Create and Modify Quotes in Act!
Answer ID: How to Create and Modify Quotes in Act!
Answer ID: How to Create and Modify Quotes in Act!
How to Manage Reports in Act!
Answer ID: How to run and manage reports in Act!
Answer ID: How to run and manage reports in Act!
Related Information:
How to Create and Modify Opportunities in Act!
Answer ID How to Create and Modify Opportunities in Act!