In today's business environment, effective sales management is the cornerstone of success. This is where CRM systems like Svit.One CRM come to the rescue. One of the most important functions of this system is Opportunities (or Deals), which often cause confusion for novice users. This article aims to explain what opportunities are, how they work, and how to use them effectively to grow your business. We will also touch upon topics such as "what is a CRM system," "sales automation," and "customer base management."

What is an Opportunity in Svit.One CRM?

An Opportunity is not just a record in a database. It is a potential sales deal that you are pursuing with a client (contact or organization). It reflects all stages of interaction with the client on the way to closing the deal. Think of an opportunity as a project aimed at selling a product or service.

Opportunities vs. Contacts: What's the Difference?

New users of CRM systems often confuse opportunities with contacts. It is important to understand the key difference:

• Contacts are your database of potential and existing clients (individuals and organizations) with whom you interact. It is a static list, the foundation for customer base management.

• Opportunities are a dynamic process that reflects a potential deal with a specific contact. One person or organization can have multiple active opportunities simultaneously if you offer them different products or services.

Opportunity Stages: The Path from Potential Customer to Successful Closing

Each opportunity goes through certain stages that reflect the progress of the sales process. It is advisable to track leads at the first stage of the sales funnel in Svit.One CRM. A lead is a potential sales opportunity, a contact person, or an organization that may be interested in a company's product or service.

Typical opportunity stages in Svit.One CRM (including leads):

1. Lead (Initial Qualification): At this stage, information about potential customers (leads) is collected from all available sources. Initial qualification is carried out: the overall potential of the lead and its basic compliance with your product/service are determined. For example, the stage can be called "New website lead," "Lead from Facebook ad," "Lead from conference."

2. Qualification (In-depth): At this stage, the lead's needs are further examined, their pain points are clarified, and their readiness to move further along the sales funnel is confirmed.

3. Presentation: Conducting a demonstration of the product/service to the client, highlighting the key benefits and value specifically for their business.

4. Proposal: Forming and sending a detailed commercial proposal tailored to the client's needs and budget.

5. Negotiation: Discussing the terms of the agreement, agreeing on details, dealing with objections, and finding a mutually beneficial solution.

6. Closing: Signing the contract, receiving payment, and successfully completing the deal.

Important: You can flexibly customize the names and number of stages in Svit.One CRM according to the specifics of your business process and the characteristics of your sales funnel.

The Connection of Opportunities with Contacts: The Key to Effective Communication

Opportunities in Svit.One CRM do not exist in a vacuum. They are closely linked to contacts, providing a holistic view of customer relationships. When you create an opportunity, you associate it with a specific contact (person or organization). This allows you to see the entire history of interaction with this client in a single window:

• All active and closed opportunities: Current deals, as well as successfully completed and unsuccessful sales attempts.

• Communication: All calls, emails, meetings, and other means of communication with the client, recorded in the system.

• Tasks and events: Planned and completed tasks, as well as important events related to the opportunity and the contact.

• Tracking Leads at the First Stage of the Funnel: Expanding the Top of the Funnel

As we have already found out, leads are not a separate entity in Svit.One CRM, but it is convenient and advisable to track them at the first stage of the sales funnel. This allows you to centrally collect information about all potential customers, carry out their initial qualification, and convert into opportunities only those who are really interested and ready to buy.

Advantages of tracking leads at the first stage:

• Minimizing the loss of potential customers: All leads are recorded in the system, and you can work with them even if they are not ready for an immediate purchase. You can "nurture" them with useful content, conduct additional qualification, and return to them later.

• Efficient use of resources: You focus the attention and efforts of the sales team on the most promising leads that are more likely to convert into real deals.

• Improved conversion: Due to careful qualification of leads at the first stage, you significantly increase the chances of successfully closing a deal at subsequent stages.

• Transparent and manageable sales funnel: You can clearly see how many leads are at each stage, analyze the effectiveness of different acquisition channels, and adjust the strategy in a timely manner.

Won and Lost Opportunities: Analyzing and Improving

Not every opportunity ends successfully, and that's okay. In Svit.One CRM, you can mark an opportunity as "Won" or "Lost." This feature is crucial for in-depth analysis of your sales performance and identifying both strengths and weaknesses.

• Won opportunities: Allow you to understand which strategies, approaches, and arguments work best, which products/services are in the greatest demand, and which team members demonstrate the highest efficiency.

• Lost opportunities: Require a detailed analysis of the reasons for failure. Svit.One CRM allows you to specify the reason for the loss, which provides valuable information for optimizing the entire sales process: from improving lead qualification to improving the product/service, training the team, and adjusting the pricing policy.

Conclusion: Opportunities in Svit.One CRM - Your Path to the Top of Success

Opportunities in Svit.One CRM are a powerful, multifunctional tool for effective sales management. Use all the capabilities of this CRM system to:

• Systematize and automate the sales process: From the first contact with a lead to the successful closing of a deal.

• Track the progress of each deal in real-time.

• See the complete history of interaction with each client.

• Analyze sales performance, identify bottlenecks and growth areas.

• Significantly increase the number of successfully closed deals.

Implement optimal customer interaction strategies, take into account the specifics of your business, customize opportunity stages to your own needs, carefully analyze the results, and constantly improve your sales approaches. And remember: success will not keep you waiting if you are armed with the right tools and knowledge!