Sales Opportunity
A sales opportunity is a qualified prospect with explicit buying intent moving through defined sales stages — distinct from leads in that opportunities have validated need, budget, timeline, and decision authority worth pursuing through formal sales process.
Why This Matters
Opportunity creation is the major qualification milestone in B2B sales — marking transition from speculative lead to active deal pursuit. Standard opportunity stages: discovery (need confirmed), qualification (BANT/MEDDIC criteria validated), proposal (formal proposal submitted), negotiation (terms under discussion), and closed-won/closed-lost (deal resolution). Modern CRMs (Salesforce, HubSpot) center opportunity tracking as the core deal management framework. Opportunity-stage conversion analytics (movement between stages) reveals sales process bottlenecks and informs methodology refinement.
Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
When should a lead be converted to an opportunity?
When prospect demonstrates explicit buying intent with validated qualification criteria — confirmed need, identified budget range, decision timeline, and decision-maker engagement. Premature opportunity creation inflates pipeline; too-late opportunity creation loses tracking discipline. BANT or MEDDIC frameworks formalize the qualification threshold.
How are opportunity stages typically structured?
Common 5-stage structure: Discovery (need confirmed), Qualification (BANT/MEDDIC validated), Proposal (formal proposal), Negotiation (terms discussion), Closed-Won/Closed-Lost. Mature operations may use 6-8 stages with more granular progression tracking. Stage progression rates inform sales process optimization.