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About Lead Qualification, Sales Methods, and Stages


When you, as a sales representative, accept a lead, you can begin to work on the lead in the Opportunities screen. The records in the Opportunities list include both leads and opportunities. Leads are defined as opportunities that have not yet been qualified.

Lead qualification status is indicated in the Sales Stage field. The list of values in the Sales Stage field varies depending on which sales method you are using.

A sales method is a formalized approach or methodology used during the sales process. A sales method can encompass all activities associated with the sales process, from prospecting to forecasting to closing deals. This approach allows sales representatives to use the method most appropriate for their opportunities.

The application administrator establishes values in your Siebel application that represent the sales methods and sales stages for your company. It is a recommended business practice to designate a default sales method in your Siebel application. This practice allows a sales method to be associated with each opportunity and aids in charting and reporting accuracy.

Sales methods can differ within a company. For instance, a sales method for managing a complex multimillion dollar opportunity can include 15 stages, while a sales method for a simple low-dollar opportunity may require only four stages.

Your application administrator creates and implements the sales stages that your company uses. For more information about creating or implementing sales methods, see Defining a Sales Methodology.

Table 84 shows sales methodologies (Accelerated, Default, Standard, Strategic Selling), and the associated sales stage for each methodology (for example, 01 - Prospecting). The table also shows if the record is a lead or is an opportunity at each sales stage.

Table 84. Sales Methods and Sales Stages
Accelerated
Default and Standard
Strategic
Lead or Opportunity

01 - Prospecting

01 - Prospecting

01 - Universe

Lead

02 - Potential Lead

02 - Above

Lead

02 - Qualification

03 - Qualification

03 - In the Funnel

Opportunity

04 - Opportunity

04 - Best Few

Opportunity

05 - Building Vision

Opportunity

06 - Short List

Opportunity

07 - Selected

Opportunity

03 - Closing

08 - Negotiation

05 - Won

Opportunity

09 - Closed or Won

Opportunity

04 - Lost

09 - Closed or Lost

00 - Lost

Opportunity

Applications Administration Guide