Opportunity stages

Your pipeline’s stages are the steps every opportunity passes through, each with a default probability of winning. This page is for the administrator who sets them up; the stages drive the pipeline board and the sales forecast.

Before you start

You need System Edit to change the stages; System View lets you read them. Plan the list first:

• From 1 to 12 open stages, in the order deals move through them.
• Names of up to 50 characters, different from each other (ignoring capitals), without any of the characters | : ' " < > & ` \. Closed Won, Closed Lost and Close are reserved.
• A default probability for each: a whole number from 1 to 99.

Won (100%) and Lost (0%) are fixed and always come last.

Steps

1. Select System settings in the sidebar, then Sales pipeline in the Sales group. The Opportunity stages list shows each stage’s Default probability and how many Open opportunities are on it.
2. To rename a stage or change its weight, select Edit on its row, change Stage or Default probability and select Save. The box Saving will change lists what the change will do to your records.
3. Use the arrows beside a stage to change the order. The first stage is marked Default stage: new opportunities and converted leads start there.
4. To add a stage, select Add stage, name it, set its Default probability and select Save.
5. To delete a stage, select Delete on its row. A stage with no open opportunities asks you to confirm Delete. If open opportunities are on it, choose where they go under Move to and select Move and delete.

Each of these is saved as soon as you finish it; there is no Save stages button.

What happens next

easySales confirms “Opportunity stages saved.” and applies the changes to your records:

• A renamed stage takes every opportunity on it along, with a Stage history entry. Their probability stays.
• The opportunities on a deleted stage move to the stage you chose, at its default probability, with a Stage history entry.
• When you change a default probability, the box Also update … open opportunities still at the old default is ticked. Open deals still at the old figure take the new one; deals with a different probability keep theirs.
• Adding a stage or changing the order changes only the pipeline.

Won and lost opportunities are not moved.

Rules to know

• If your company still uses the default stages, the page says so; your first save creates your own copy.
• If someone else saved the stages while you were editing, your save is refused. Reload the page and make your changes again.
• A warning lists open opportunities on stages that are no longer in your list. The board shows them in their own column.
• Your company has one list of stages, shared by every user and team.
• Lost reasons are a separate list: the OpportunityLostReason set in the Option sets section of Custom fields, in the Data group. See Custom fields.

Why it works this way

One pipeline for the whole company. When every salesperson moves deals through the same steps, a deal on “Proposal” means the same thing whoever owns it. The board, the forecast and a weekly review then compare like with like.

The probability is your company’s estimate for the stage. A new deal, or a deal moved, takes the stage’s default, so the weighted forecast follows one agreed rule. When you change a default, the deals still at the old figure follow it, and any deal set apart from it is left alone.

No deal falls off the board. A rename carries its deals along, and a delete asks where they go first. Each of those moves is written to the deal’s Stage history, so you can always see why a deal sits where it does.

Won and Lost are fixed. Every deal ends one of two ways, so “won this month” means the same on the board, in the forecast and in every salesperson’s figures.

Work faster

• Rename rather than delete and add. A rename keeps every deal on the stage and its probability; a delete moves them and resets their probability to the new stage’s default.
• Check the count before you delete. The Open opportunities column shows how many deals a change will touch, and Saving will change spells it out before you confirm.
• Put the commonest starting point first. The first stage is the Default stage for new opportunities and converted leads, so move it to the top with the arrows.
• Keep the lost reasons useful. Edit the OpportunityLostReason option set so the reasons match how your customers say no. See Custom fields.
• Review the pipeline weekly. Weekly sales routine shows how to walk the board stage by stage.

Examples

Raising a stage’s probability. Lim & Co’s stages are “Enquiry” 10%, “Site visit” 30%, “Proposal” 50% and “Negotiation” 70%. Daniel Lim finds that about six in ten deals that reach “Proposal” are won, so he selects Edit on it and changes Default probability to 60. Saving will change reads ““Proposal” default 50% → 60%, 6 open opportunities updated”. Six deals at 50% move to 60%; two deals at 40% keep 40%. A SGD 10,000.00 deal at 50% now weighs SGD 6,000.00 instead of SGD 5,000.00.

Deleting a stage. Lim & Co stops doing separate site visits. Daniel selects Delete on “Site visit”, which has three open opportunities. He chooses “Proposal” under Move to and selects Move and delete. The three deals move to “Proposal” at 60%, each with a Stage history entry.

Common questions

• How many pipeline stages can I have? From 1 to 12 open stages, plus Won and Lost, which are fixed.
• What happens to opportunities when I delete a stage? You choose a stage to move them to. They take its default probability and get a Stage history entry.
• Does changing a stage’s probability change existing deals? Only open deals still at the old default, and only while Also update … open opportunities still at the old default is ticked.
• Can I rename Won or Lost? No. They are fixed and always come last.
• Can different teams have different pipelines? No. Your company has one list of stages.
• Who can change the pipeline stages? Someone whose role has System Edit. With System View, the page is read-only.
• Why was my change to the stages refused? Someone else saved the stages while you were editing. Reload the page and make your change again.

Related

• Pipeline board
• Sales forecast
• System settings
• Weekly sales routine