Opportunities are the foundation of sales and drive growth for any business. Working on an opportunity involves moving from one stage to the next as you get closer to closing a deal. This is referred to as a pipeline or funnel in some organizations. The reason it is called a pipeline or funnel is that you usually have more opportunities in the earlier stages of a deal—the top of the funnel—and fewer opportunities in the later stages—the bottom of the funnel. Each stage is tied to a percentage of the likelihood of closing the opportunity. These percentages tie into the forecasting of future sales.
The following topics are discussed in this chapter:
- Using opportunities and understanding their creation
- Understanding the opportunity stages and their contribution to the sales process, as well as the sales path and how it ties into...