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Working with Opportunities

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In any sales organization, potentials are the most important records to generate the real revenue for the organization. In a typical B2B organization all potentials have to undergo a complete sales cycle, which starts with identifying the hot prospect and ends with prospects being won or lost. The activities within this sales cycle that has to be completed are; sending product information to potentials, product demonstrations, sending sales quotations and business negotiations. Precisely, potential provides the following information for the sales management:

  • Sales cycle 
  • The potential sales volume (Product units and price)
  • The sales status and the estimated sales probability in each sales stage
  • Reasons for the sales status (Won/Lost)
  • Competitors of the potential
  • Forecast for the next quarter/year sales

Navigate Potentials

Search Potentials

Create Custom List Views

(Access Privilege: Read/Write)

The Potentials Module has a View option that consists of standard view modes (that are predefined by default) and custom view modes (that can be created by the user). These options enable you to view the records based on the selected mode. For example, when you select "Unread Potentials", you can view only the unread potential records. You can do the following:

  • Standard Views: You can modify the standard views and sort the order of the columns in the list. You can delete this view mode, provided you have been given the access to do so by the administrator.
  • Custom Views: You can create new view modes, modify, delete, and sort the order of the columns in the list.

By default, the following standard view modes are available in the Potentials module:

  • Standard Views
    • All Potentials
    • My Potentials
    • New This Week
    • New Last Week
    • Closing This Month
    • Closing Next Month
    • Unread Potentials
  • Recent Views
    • Recently Created Potentials
    • Recently Modified Potentials
    • Recently Viewed Potentials

Note: User created list views are displayed under User Created Views category in the View drop-down list.

To create custom views

  1. Click the Potentials tab.
  2. In the Potentials Home page, click the Create View link.
  3. In the Create New View page, do the following:
    • In the View Information section, enter the View Name.
    • In the Specify Criteria section, specify the filter criteria.
    • In the Choose Columns section, select the columns to be displayed in the view mode that you create.
    • In the Accessibility Details section, define the user accessibility to view the custom lists.
  4. Click Save.
Note: In the View drop down list, the standard view modes are displayed. You can only rearrange the order of the columns or add more columns.

Create Potentials

(Access Privilege: Read/Write)

In Zoho CRM, you can create potentials by:

  • Entering data in potential details form
  • Importing potentials from other sales force automation applications
  • Converting Leads into potentials
Note: Some of the standard fields listed below may not be visible/editable depending on your organization business process and field-level security settings. In case your organization added/modified fields, please contact your System Administrator for more details about usage of the other fields.

To know the List of Standard Potential-related Fields, click here.

Create Potentials Individually

 You can create individual potentials by:

  • Filling details in the potential creation form.
  • Using Quick Create option; a quick create component present in left pane of the Potentials Home page
  • Duplicating the potential with a few changes from the existing potential details

To create potentials individually

  1. In the Potentials module, click New Potential.
  2. In the Create Potential page, enter the potential details.
  3. Click Save. For more details, refer Associating Potentials with Other Records.

To create potentials instantly

  1. Click the Potentials tab.
  2. On the left pane of the Home page, select "Potentials" from the Quick Create list.

  3. Enter the relevant details, and then click Save.

To create duplicate potentials

  1. In the Potentials tab, click a particular potential that you want to be duplicated
  2. In the Potential Details page, click Clone.
  3. In the Clone Potential page, modify the required details.
  4. Click Save.

Import Potentials

Convert Leads to Potentials

Associate Potentials with Other Records

(Access Privilege: Read/Write)

You can create a 360-degrees view of the potential to display all the associated details, such as open activities, history of the completed activities, contacts, products, sales stage history, attachments, and notes.

To associate potential with other records

  1. In the Potential Details page, you can update the following details:
    • Sales Stage History: To view the history of the sales stage.
    • Competitors: To associate competitors
    • Attachments: To attach documents
    • Notes: To add notes
    • Open Activities: To create tasks and events
    • Closed Activities: To display the completed tasks and events
    • Products: To add products
    • Quotes: To create quote for the potentials
    • Sales Orders: To create sales order for the potential
    • Contact Roles: To select contacts associated
    • Emails: To send emails to the primary contact of potential. You can also view received emails from primary contact.
    • Cases:  To create cases
To add products
  1. In the Potential Details page, the existing attachment details, if any, are displayed.
    • Click Product Name, Product Code, Product Active, Manufacturer, Support Start Date, or Support Expiry Date links to sort the display order of the records.
    • Click the relevant Del link to delete the record. 
  2. Click Add Product. 
  3. Select the check box(es) corresponding to the product. Note, that the products will be available in the list only if you add them using the "Product" module.
  4. Click Add to Potential.
To create a task or event
  1. In the Potential Details page, the existing task or event details, if any, are displayed.
    • Click Subject, Activity Type, Status, Due Date or Owner Name   links to sort the display order of the records.
    • Click the relevant Edit, Del, or Close links to modify, delete, or close the task respectively.
  2. Click New Task/New Event. 
  3. Do the following:
    • The system displays the name of the Task Owner. Click to change the task owner.
    • Enter the Subject name, or click to select the subject name from the list.
    • Enter the Due Date in mm/dd/yyyy format, or select the date from the calendar displayed.
    • Enter the Contact name in the box.
    • Select the Status and Priority from the respective lists.
    • Select the Send Notification Email check box, if required.
    • Select the Remind At check box, if required.
    • Enter the Description in the text box. 
  4. Click Save.
Note: Once the activity is over, you can close the activity using the Close link.

To send e-mails
  1. In the Potential Details page, the existing e-mail details, if any, are displayed.
    • Click Sent Or Received, Subject, Date or Sent By links to sort the display order of the records.
    • Click the relevant Del link to delete the mail details.
  2. Click Send Mail. 
  3. In the Send Mail page, compose the e-mail message and send it. Make sure that you have a valid e-mail address.
To add notes
  1. In the Potential Details page, the existing note details, if any, are displayed.
    • Click Title, Note Content, Modified Time, Created Time, or Owner Name links to sort the display order of the records.
    • Click the relevant Edit or Del link to modify or delete the notes respectively.
  2. Click New Note.
  3. Do the following:
    • Enter the Title. It is mandatory.
    • The system displays the Owner Name. Click to change the owner's name. 
    • Enter the Note Content in the text box.
  4. Click Save.
To create quotes
  1. In the Potential Details page, the existing quote details, if any, are displayed.
    • Click Subject, Quote Stage, Valid Till date, or Carrier  links to sort the display order of the records.
    • Click the relevant Edit or Del link to modify or delete the quotes respectively.
  2. Click New.
  3. Enter the relevant details.
  4. Click Save.
To create sales order
  1. In the Potential Details page, the existing sales order details, if any, are displayed.
    • Click Subject, Status, Customer No., Due Date, Excise Date, or Sales Commission links to sort the display order of the records.
    • Click the relevant Edit or Del link to modify or delete the sales orders respectively.
  2. Click New.
  3. Enter the relevant details.
  4. Click Save.
To create cases
  1. In the Potential Details page, the existing cases details, if any, are displayed.
    • Click Subject, Case Reason, Email, Status, Priority, or case Type  links to sort the display order of the records.
    • Click the relevant Edit or Del link to modify or delete the cases respectively.
  2. Click New.
  3. Enter the relevant details.
  4. Click Save.

Associate Competitors with Potential

(Access Privilege: Manage Competitor)

Most of the companies prefer to purchase products after analyzing different vendors. If you are working with a highly competitive market, where your competitors are directly competing with you in winning the deals, it is always better to know their strengths and weaknesses well in advance so that you can propose your offering in a better way.

This feature enables you to add the competitor's strengths and weaknesses.

To associate competitors with potential

  1. In the Potential Details page, the competitor details, if any, are displayed.
    • Click Product Name, Product Code, Product Active, Manufacturer, Support Start Date, or Support Expiry Date links to sort the display order of the records.
    • Click the relevant Del link to delete the record. 
  2. Click New, to add competitor details.
  3. Do the following:
    • Enter the Competitor Name. It is mandatory.
    • Enter the competitor's Website.
    • Enter the Strengths and Weaknesses in the respective text boxes.
  4. Click Save.

Attach Documents

This feature enables you to attach documents, spreadsheets and presentations to the potential. You can attach them in the following ways:

Map Contact Roles

(Access Privilege: Read/Write)

While prospecting, you may need to contact different persons (contacts) to finalize the sales deal. It is always better to know the contact's role in your prospecting organization, so that you always have a right discussion with the right person. For example, explaining about product price and discounts is always better with Financial Manager, whereas explaining product features with the Product Manager. This kind of approach helps you to negotiate with the prospecting organization in a better way and cut short the sales lead-time.

To map contact roles

  1. Click the Potentials tab.
  2. In the Potentials Home page, select the required potential.
  3. In the Potential Details page, the contact details, if any, are displayed.
    • Click Contact Name, Phone, Email, or Role Name links to sort the display order of the records.
    • Click the relevant Del link to delete the record.
  4. Click Add Contact Role.
  5. In the Contact Roles Mapping page, for each contact select the role from the Contact Role drop-down list.
  6. Once you have completed associating roles to all the contacts, click Save.

Customize Contact Roles

(Access Privilege: Customize contact Role)

By default some of the contact roles, such as Decision Maker, Product Management, Purchasing and other roles are available. You can customize the contact roles according to your business process.

Note: Users with "Administrator" privilege can customize the contact roles. Please contact your System Administrator in case you need some additional roles.

 

To add/modify contact roles
  1. Click the Setup link.
  2. In the Setup page, under the Potential Settings section, click the Contact Roles link.

  3. In the Edit Contact Roles page, do the following:
    • Click the Add Role link and enter the new contact role.
    • Select the required check box(es) that you want to delete, and then click the Delete Role link.
    • Modify the existing roles.
  4. Click Save. 

Change Potentials Owner

(Access Privilege: Read/Write)

Potential Owner refers to the user who follows up with the potential and converts the potential to a customer.   Occasionally it may be very useful to change the owner of some of the potentials. You can change the owner of an individual or a group of potential.

To change owner of potentials individually

  1. Click the Potentials tab.
  2. In the Potentials Home page, click the record.
  3. In the Potential Details page, do one of the following:
    • Click the Change link next to the Potential Owner details. In the pop up window, select the owner from the list, and then click OK.
    • Click Edit. In the Edit Potential page, change the owner .
To change owner of potentials in bulk

  1. Click the Potentials tab.
  2. In the Potentials Home page, select the required check boxes.
  3. Under More Actions, click Change Owner.
  4. In the Change Potential Owner page, click and then select the new user from the Change Owner pick list.
  5. Click OK.
Note: Potentials ownership will be changed to another user, irrespective of its existing owner. Use this operation carefully, otherwise potentials belonging to different users will be changed to new user. To overcome this problem, first you may search the potentials with a required owner name then change the owner in bulk.

View Reports

(Access Privilege: Read)

Zoho CRM reports are the detailed and informative list of records. Each report provides access to important data required for various purpose. You can directly access some of the standard reports pertaining to potentials from the Potential Reports section in the Potentials Home page.

The following are the standard reports:

  • Pipeline by Stage
  • Potentials Closing by this Month
  • Sales Person's Performance Report
  • Lost Potentials
  • Potentials by Type
  • Open Potentials
  • Pipeline by Probability
  • Sales By Lead Source
  • This month sales
  • Today's Sales
  • Stage Vs Potential Type Report

Note: You can view the other reports related to Potentials by clicking the Other Reports link. This will take you to the Reports module, where you can generate various other reports.

To view potential reports
  1. Click the Potentials tab.
  2. In the Potentials Home page, click any of the reports' link under the Potential Reports section. (Pipeline by Stage , for example)


  3. In the Reports page, the system displays the Filter Options and the selected report details.
  4. You can do the following:
    • Export: Use this option to export and save the report in Excel, PDF, or CSV format in your local disk. 
    • Save As: Use this option to save the report with a new name. This option is useful when you filter a specific set of data and save it for future reference.
    • Customize: This feature is used to customize the report with regards to the report types, columns, grouping, filter criteria in the report, etc. For more information, refer Customize.
    • Reload: Use this option to update or refresh the contents of the screen.
    • Hide Details/Show Details: Click Hide Details to hide the details of the report and click Show Details to see the hidden details of the report.
    • Create Chart: This feature enables you to create charts, (such as Bar diagrams, Pie charts, Line charts, Funnel charts) based on the selected report details.
  5. Do any of the following, and then click Apply Filter to filter records and view report based on the filter options specified:
    • Select Last Created Time or Last Modified Time from the Column list.
    • Select the option from the adjacent list. (Next FQ, for example). On selecting this option, the system will automatically display the Start and End date in the respective boxes.
    • Enter the Start Date and the End Date in MM/DD/YYYY format, or select the date from the calendar displayed.

Note:

  • FQ refers to Financial Quarter and FY refers to the Financial Year.
  • You can view a maximum of 2000 records in a report.

Print Potentials Details

(Access Privilege: Print)

You can view the potential details in printable form and print them using browser’s print function.

To print potential details

  1. Click the Potentials tab.
  2. In the Potentials Home page, click the required record that you want to print.
  3. In the Potential Details page, click Print Preview. 
  4. In the pop up window, click Print Page.

To print potential records

  1. Click the Potentials tab.
  2. In the Potentials Home page, click the Print View link.


  3. In the Print Preview page, the system displays the list of potential records.
  4. Click Print Page.

Delete Potentials

(Access Privilege: Read/Write/Delete)

Occasionally you may need to remove some of the unnecessary potentials from the Zoho CRM system for a better organization of data. You may consider removing potentials that are not useful for future reference.

Note: The deleted potentials are temporarily stored in the Recycle Bin. If required, you can restore the deleted potentials again but if you delete from the Recycle Bin, you cannot restore them again.

To delete potentials individually

  1. Click the Potentials tab.
  2. In the Potentials Home page, click the record. 
  3. In the Potential Details page, click Delete.

Note: You can also point to the potentials record, and then click (Delete icon) to delete the record. To delete records in bulk, see Mass Delete Potentials.

Set up Big Deal Alert

You can use the Big-deal Alert function to notify your management/Colleagues about a chance of winning a big deal, that you would like to share with them. Sometimes, executive board members may be interested to know all the Big-deal information well in advance. You can send the Big-deal alert as an e-mail notification to all the Zoho CRM users or to the selected users and colleagues not registered as Zoho CRM users.

To configure big deal alert

  1. Click the Setup link.
  2. In the Setup Home page, under Potentials Settings section, click the Big Deal Alert link.
  3. In the Workflow Rule page, the Big Alert rule details are displayed.
    The default criteria is "Amount >= 1000 and the probability = 100". 
  4. Do the following:
    • Click Edit to modify the Rule Details.
    • In the Related Alerts section, the alert details are displayed.
      The default alert and e-mail template is "Big Deal Alert". You can change the Alert details by editing the existing alert.
    • In the Related Tasks section, you can add tasks for the alert rule.

For more details, refer Managing Workflow

Configure Sales Stage Pick List

To add/edit pick list value
  1. Go to Setup > Potential Settings > Field List.
  2. In the  List of Fields page, click the Edit link corresponding to the fields.

  3. The system displays the existing pick list values.
  4. Modify the existing details, and then click Save.

Note: You can modify the default stage for new and converted leads.

Map Stage and Probability Values

Sales Stage is a very important criteria to identify the performance of organization-wide Sales pipeline. In the Stage-Probability mapping page you can perform the following operations:

  • Create different types of Sales stages according to your organization-wide Sales process
  • Associate Probability values to the Sales stages
  • Associate Forecast types (Open, Closed-won, or Closed-lost) to Sales stages
  • Associate Forecast categories (Pipeline, Closed, Omitted, Best Case, Committed) - Refer Managing Sales Forecasts, for more details.

 Tips:

  • For a better sales pipeline analysis assign different probabilities to sales stage values.
  • For each stage assign probability in the range of 0 to 100.
  • You may consider using probability value as 100 when the deal is closed-won and 0 for deal closed-lost.
To map sales stage to probability values, forecast types and forecast categories

  1. Click the Setup link.
  2. In the Setup: Home page, under Potentials Settings section, click the Stage-Probability Mapping link.
  3. In the Stage-Probability Mapping page, the existing sales stages are displayed.
    • Click the Add Stage link and add new stages.
    • Click the Delete Stage link and delete new stages.
  4. Do the following:
    • Enter the Stage Name, its Probability (%), and the Sort Order in the respective boxes.
    • Select the Forecast Type and the Forecast Category from the respective lists.
  5. Click Save.

Customize Potential Module

(Access Privilege: Customize ZohoCRM)

Customization of the Potentials module includes, renaming the tab name, modifying the pick list values in standard fields, adding new custom fields, modifying Potential page layout, and show/hide the related list views according to your requirements.

For more details, refer Customizing Zoho CRM

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