Sales Process Tab

You can attach a sales process to an open opportunity, or replace the assigned sales process with another, as long as the opportunity is still open.

To attach a sales process to an opportunity

• In the Sales Process box, click the drop-down arrow and select one of the sales processes.

The stages and steps for the selected process appear in the grid.

You can change the sales process attached to an opportunity, even if some steps in the process have been completed. You can also remove attached sales processes by clicking None.

The grid on the Sales Process tab shows stages and the steps they contain. Stages group steps. For example, the steps in a stage called Qualify might include Solicitation Call, Send Information, and Follow-up. Each stage shows the stage name and the percentage likelihood that you will win the opportunity when the stage is completed. The stage shows as complete when the user selects the check box next to the last step in the stage.

To complete a step

1. On the Sales Process tab, locate the stage you want to work on.

The Complete column shows if the step has been completed, the Step column shows the name of the step, and the Description column shows the action contained in the step. If the steps are not visible, click the chevron button to the right of the stage name.

2. In the Step column, click the step name.

The step name looks like a hyperlink (in blue and underlined).

3. Do one of the following:

• If the Description column says None, follow the instruction in the Step column.
• If the Description column contains an action (for example Meeting or Mail Merge), click the hyperlink and enter information in the activity dialog boxes. (if available).

4. When you have completed the action detailed in the step, select the check box in the adjacent column.

The date completed is automatically entered in the Completed On column.

You can schedule steps, complete steps, or skip steps within the sales process. Ordinarily, you will want to work on steps in order. However, you have the flexibility to jump between stages to work on steps.

You close a step by selecting the check box in the column next to the step name. Once you complete all steps within a stage, the Probability percentage (shown in the Snapshot box) updates. However, if you reopen a step (by clearing the check box), the probability percentage does not decrease. The probability percentage does not decrease. The probability percentage will not update if the stage has any open steps, or if the previous stage is still open.