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When to Convert a Lead to an Opportunity | The Galvin Blog

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Salesforce: When to Convert a Lead to COMMENTS RELATED POSTS

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Posted By : Gary Galvin   Posted On : August 26th, 2014
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No two companies use the exact same sales methods primarily
because of the different factors and strategies that each company has.
These factors and strategies could include the type of service
provided, the product that is sold, how a company views their revenue
or even the method in which a company handles their clients. An
entire sales process could take a few days or it could take years and
sale methods can be an unpredictable process.

Because of all of the variables, knowing and recognizing when to

convert a lead to an opportunity isn’t always easy. One of the most
common questions we get from our Salesforce clients is how to
properly use the lead and the opportunity object, two of the four CRM LATEST TWEETS

objects within Salesforce.

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In order for your Salesforce management module to meet the

expectations of a company, we need to first define how to classify a
lead verses someone who is classified as an account or contact. The
underlying principle that helps define this is to define how your
company measures the sales funnel. The sales funnel only reports
against the opportunity object and leads are not included in the funnel.

To begin the process, we need to first define each of the objects. For
example, below is a list of the four CRM objects within Salesforce and
how most of our clients define them:

1. Accounts – Any company that is qualified to some day do business

with our company. Each account is defined by type: prospect,
partner, vendor, etc.
2. Contacts – Any person that is qualified to professionally work with
our company.
3. Opportunities – An opportunity is best defined as having legitimate
potential for creating a revenue generating event.
4. Lead – Contacts or accounts that have not been qualified. These
are generally people and companies that do not fall under accounts
or contacts.

Overview of Leads, Account and Contacts in

Salesforce

.‫ﺑﺎﺷﺪ‬  ‫ﻧﻤ‬ ‫ﭘﺬﯾﺮ‬ ‫ﺍﻣﻜﺎﻥ‬ ‫ﺷﺪﻩ‬ ‫ﻓﺮﺍﺧﻮﺍﻧﺪﻩ‬ ‫ﺗﺎﺭﻧﻤﺎﯼ‬ ‫ﺑﻪ‬  ‫ﺩﺳﺘﺮﺳ‬

.‫ﮐﻨﻴﺪ‬ ‫ﮐﻠﻴﮏ‬ ‫ﺍﯾﻨﺠﺎ‬ ‫ﺷﮑﺎﯾﺎﺕ‬ ‫ﻭ‬ ‫ﻫﺎ‬ ‫ﮔﺰﺍﺭﺵ‬ ‫ﺑﻪ‬ ‫ﺭﺳﻴﺪﮔﯽ‬ ‫ﺟﻬﺖ‬

‫ﻋﻠﻤﺎ‬ ‫ﻭ‬ ‫ﻣﺮﺍﺟﻊ‬
‫ﺍﺳﻼﻣﯽ‬ ‫ﻣﻨﺎﺑﻊ‬ ‫ﻭ‬ ‫ﻣﻌﺎﺭﻑ‬
‫ﻗﺮﺁﻥ‬
‫ﻫﻨﺮ‬ ‫ﻭ‬ ‫ﺳﻴﻨﻤﺎ‬
‫ﺍﺳﻼﻣﯽ‬ ‫ﺍﻧﻘﻼﺏ‬
‫ﻣﻘﺪﺱ‬ ‫ﺩﻓﺎﻉ‬ ‫ﻭ‬ ‫ﺷﻬﺪﺍ‬
‫ﻣﺬﻫﺒﯽ‬ ‫ﭼﻨﺪﺭﺳﺎﻧﻪ‬

When to Add a New Lead

Leads are generally people or other companies that have been
obtained from sources such as your website, a trade show or a phone
call.Because new leads are unqualified, it is up to the sales
representative to qualify them and then convert them.

Not all Qualified Leads Convert to an Opportunity

Once the representative has determined that this is a contact and
account that the company could some day do business with, it
becomes qualified. However, just because a lead has been converted,
it does not mean that there is an immediate opportunity. In this
situation, the lead was converted to an account and contact, but an
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8/6/2015 Salesforce: When to Convert a Lead to an Opportunity | The Galvin Blog

opportunity was not created. It is now up to the sales representative to

nurture this account over time so that when the situation arises, the
account can be moved to opportunity.

Identifying an Opportunity

The other scenario when converting a lead is whether or not the sales
rep has determined if there is an opportunity that can be added to the
sales pipeline.

The three fundamental rules that are involved in recognizing the

appropriate time to create an opportunity from a lead include: Product
Interest, Budget and Purchasing Timeframe.

The general idea is to implement a legitimacy test procedure which

will allow you to determine whether the recently labelled opportunity is
legitimate or not. An example is finding out that the client is looking for
a product that your company offers. Being able to identify these
miniscule indicators will allow you to determine if a lead can be or
should be converted into an opportunity; an opportunity being a
confirmed potential revenue generating event.

Common Issues with Undefined Opportunities

The most common issue that companies face with this is that they fail
to fully establish the definition of an opportunity. This results in their
sales staff operating on different frequencies which results in
numerous lost opportunities or empty opportunities, opportunities that
will lead nowhere, receiving too much attention.

Close the Deal

Now that a lead has been converted, the next obvious course of
action is to track the account, contact and opportunity from the first
point of engagement. Work towards actualizing the potential revenue
generation event and bringing it to a close, or, an actual sale.

Related Posts
Automate Your Sales Process in Spring ’14

How Effective Sales People Turn Inbound Leads into Clients

Your Next Website Project Should Focus on Leads; Not Design

Announcing Galvin’s Salesforce QuickStart Program

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