A Salesforce Opportunity is similar to a flower in a garden in that if you don’t periodically take care of it, it’s going to die.
Chances are that a Salesforce Opportunity that has sat for a week or two without being contacted is going to die. As a rule of thumb, record at least one activity every week or two if you want to keep your Salesforce Opportunity alive.
Here are a few tips to help keep your Salesforce Opportunities alive and thriving:
Be sure to have a well-understood sales process
Your Salesforce opportunity stages directly affect your sales pipeline and forecast. Be sure you are using Salesforce opportunity stages that everyone on your sales team agrees on. When in doubt, have fewer stages and keep things simple.
A Salesforce Opportunity Close Date should never be in the past
The “Close Date” is your best estimate of when you expect to close the sale. This will change as you work the sale. It should never be set in stone as it affects your sales pipeline. If it is in the past then you need to attend to your Opportunities more often.
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Keep your Salesforce Opportunities up to date
An opportunity that has sat for a week or more without a firm follow-up time set is most likely going to be lost. You should record at least one activity per week (or more) per opportunity, even if it is just an update email.
When using line item Products in Salesforce, be sure to utilize the Salesforce Quotes feature
Send your customers Quotes with line items. This gives them something tangible to get their budget approved for the sale.
Finally, If you’re on Salesforce Enterprise Edition set up automated workflow to be notified via email if an opportunity is more than X days old and has not been modified.
Use the power of Salesforce to improve you chances of winning every opportunity!
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