Setting Up Sales Methodologies

Access the Sales Methodology - Manage {Methodology Name} form.

Default

Select this option to specify that this is the default sales methodology. When you enter a new sales opportunity, the system automatically populates opportunity records with the default sales methodology. If necessary, you can change the methodology. You can have only one active default sales methodology at any time. The default methodology must have at least one sales cycle step with a probability greater than zero.

Inactive

Select this option to specify that the methodology is no longer active. You can reactivate a methodology at any time by deselecting this option.

Inactive

Select this option to specify that a sales cycle step is inactive. You can reactivate the sales cycle step at any time by deselecting this option.

Name

Enter the name of the sales cycle step.

Probability

Enter the numeric probability, in whole numbers, that the sale will eventually close successfully. For example, if there is a 10 percent chance that sales that are currently in the Proposal step will close successfully, enter 10 in the Probability field for the Proposal sales cycle step. Values are 0 to 100.

The Probability field is used in these ways:

When the sales cycle step is selected in an opportunity record, the value in the Probability field is multiplied by the value in the Potential Amount field on the opportunity. The resulting amount is included in the pipeline. The value in the Probability field is also used to determine in which bracket of the Pipeline tab the result of the previous equation displays. For example, if the Probability is 25 percent, and the value in the Potential Amount field is 1,000,000, then 250,000 would be added to the pipeline in the 20-29 percent bracket.

Months to Close

Enter the number of months it should take a sales representative to close the sale from the time the specified sales cycle step begins. For example, if it should take 3 months to close a sale from the time that the Proposal sales cycle step begins, enter 3in this field for the Proposal sales cycle step.

This field is used to populate the Closed Date field on the Opportunity Detail form. The Closed Date is calculated by adding the number of months entered to the date the Cycle Step was selected on the Opportunity Detail form.

Step #

Enter the sequence number associated with the sales cycle step. This field controls the order in which the system displays the sales cycle steps on the Sales Methodology and Opportunity Detail forms.

Pipeline Exclude

Select this option if you do not want any monetary amounts associated with this sales cycle step to be included in the pipeline.

Action Plan

Enter the action plan associated with this sales cycle step.

The activities of the selected action plan will be assigned when the sales representative selects this sales cycle step on the opportunity record.

Category

Enter the category code that best defines a customer or opportunities main concerns or motivators associated with a sale. Values for this field are stored in UDC 90CB/CA.

Short Description

Enter a short, descriptive title that represents the customer or opportunities concern or motivator. For example, you might enter Budget issues are main concern in this field.

Long Description

Click the link to access a free-form text box. You can enter additional information about the concern or motivator in this text box.

Importance

Enter the importance of the sales driver, using a numeric value. This value assists sales representatives in identifying how important the information captured in the sale driver is to the client and their business.