Prerequisites
You'll need CRM Admin rights in order to follow the steps in this article
It's useful to have identified your Sales Model first, before reading this article
Why do we need to set these up?
Whether you're managing a new business sale or a repeat business deal with a long-term customer, Opportunities in the CRM help your whole team keep track of its progress.
By setting up Opportunity Pipelines, customer-facing teams can manage every sale in an efficient, logical manner. This not only ensures everyone follows a predefined process during a sale, but it enables you to identify why some sales fall through the net (and at what stage), as well as where you had successes - in turn, helping you refine and improve your process going forward.
Not ready to manage a potential lead through a full sales pipeline? Check out CRM Enquiries - these are ideal for recording basic information about a lead and don't require you to set up pipelines. From there, you can always convert them into an Opportunity if the sale progresses!
What are Opportunity Statuses & Opportunity Pipelines in the CRM?
Opportunity Statuses
These represent the key stages that happen (or could happen) when managing an opportunity. For example, your first Status may be 'Unqualified' and the next could be 'Meeting Booked', then finally having either 'Sold' or 'Lost' as your closing Status within an Opportunity Pipeline.
Opportunity Statuses need to be set up first, before they can be slotted into Opportunity Pipelines.
Opportunity Pipelines
Opportunity Pipelines are essentially funnels or journeys which should depict your sales opportunity process. When you set these up, you can choose the order in which your Statuses should appear for each Pipeline, so that your teams take the right actions at the right time.
Please note: lots of CRM customers have more than 1 Opportunity Pipeline, especially if they have different types of sales processes which require a different approach. So, it's important to think about the types of Statuses you want, and the types of Pipelines you'll need.
Pipeline Top Tips
Create the perfect pipeline with these top tips in mind!
Keep Pipelines simple
Use multiple Pipelines rather than one-size-fits-all e.g. the steps required to sign up a new customer will be quite different to a weekly repeat order
If you aren't reporting on a stage, decide whether you even need it
Use Statuses to avoid having too many steps
Consider using a separate custom field (e.g. Yes/No) for recording important out-of-flow steps
How do I set all of this up?
Step 1: Navigate to Opportunity Pipeline Setting
First, navigate to the Opportunity Pipeline setting option by clicking here. Here you'll be presented with a list of your current Opportunity Pipelines.
Step 2: Editing Existing Opportunity Pipelines
If you just need to edit one of your existing Opportunity Pipelines, click the pencil icon.
A side bar will appear where you can edit the current Statuses within the Opportunity
Pipeline.
Step 3: Creating New Opportunity Pipeline
To create a new Opportunity Pipeline, click on the plus icon in the top right-hand corner of the screen.
Step 4: Add Opportunity Pipeline Details
You'll then be asked to give the new Opportunity Pipeline a Description. Make sure this is relevant to the sales opportunity that the pipeline will be used for. Once happy, click 'Create'.
Step 5: Editing New Opportunity Pipeline
Your new Pipeline will be added to the list of Opportunity Pipelines. To edit the newly created Pipeline, click the pencil icon.
Step 6: Adding Opportunity Statuses to Pipeline
To add a new Opportunity Status to the Pipeline, click the plus icon from the Status or Closing Statuses section, depending on what type of Status you're adding (Open or Closing).
You'll then be presented with a list of Statuses that are already set up within the CRM. If you wish to add a Status that already exists to your Pipeline, simply select the required Statuses. If you wish to create a new Status, click the 'Manage List' button.
Step 7: Creating New Opportunity Status
To add in a new Opportunity Status, click on the plus on the right-hand side.
Step 8: Add Opportunity Status Details
You'll then be asked to give the new Opportunity Status a Description. Make sure this is as relevant as possible for all CRM users, and it's a good description of what this Status should be used for. e.g. 'Unqualified' or 'Push For Close'.
Then, click 'Create'.
Step 9: Choose Additional Preferences
Now you've created one of your Opportunity Statuses, you'll need to choose some additional preferences for this Status by clicking the pencil icon next to the newly added Status.
The below side panel will appear with some additional drop-down menus for you to configure.
Task Required: In the CRM you can ensure users take ownership of a record by setting them a Task at a particular Status in the Pipeline.
Closed State: If this Status is going to be a closed Status, such as 'Sold' or 'Lost', then ensure this is selected.
Status Outcome: For reporting purposes, you can choose whether the Status is a positive, neutral or negative outcome. For example, 'Lost' may be a negative outcome, whereas 'Won' is likely a positive outcome.
Guttometer: If you'd like the Guttometer % to be updated to a specific value when an Opportunity is moved to this Status, add this here.
Allowing Editing: You can choose whether the Opportunity, once in this particular Status, can be edited, read only or only Admin users can edit.
Obsolete: If you no longer need a Status, you can choose to mark it as 'Obsolete', meaning users will no longer be able to choose this Status from the drop-down.
Status Detail: Status Detail can be helpful when further clarifying the current Status. For example, 'Lost' doesn't really explain why this Opportunity fell through, so you may include Status Detail options like 'Lost to Competitor', 'Lost due to price' etc.
Once happy with your amendments, click away from the side panel and your changes will be saved automatically.
You'll need to follow this process to create every single Status.
Now, we need to add your Opportunity Statuses to an Opportunity Pipeline!
Step 10: Go to Opportunity Pipeline Setting
To go back to the Opportunity Pipeline setting option, simply close the Configure Opportunity Status window.
Step 11: Add Statuses to Pipeline
Now you've created the Opportunity Pipeline and Statuses, you'll need to add in the required Statuses by clicking the plus icon on the right-hand side of the Status heading.
You'll then be presented with a list of all the active Statuses you currently have configured within the CRM. Here, you can select the Statuses you wish to add to the Opportunity Pipeline by simply ticking the boxes next to them.
Once happy with your choices, click 'Update'.
Step 12: Re-order your Statuses
Now they've been added to the Opportunity Pipeline, you can then drag and drop the Statuses into the desired sequence (the Status at the top of the list will be the first to appear in the Pipeline).
Step 13: Set up Closing Statuses
Finally, you'll need to add in your your closing Statuses by clicking the plus icon on the right-hand side of the 'Closing Status' section.
You'll then be presented with a list of all the closing Statuses already configured within the CRM. Again, select the closing Statuses you wish to add to the Opportunity Pipeline by simply ticking the boxes next to them. Click 'Update' once happy with your selection.
You're all set! You've now created Opportunity Statuses and added these into a new Opportunity Pipeline! Customer-facing teams can now use these when managing a sales Opportunity!