How to work with a sales pipeline
The sales pipeline is used to analyze opportunities, as well as to plan new opportunities. You can estimate the conversion rate between stages, pipeline completeness, and compare pipelines of individual managers or departments.
•How to set up the sales pipeline
•How to read the sales pipeline
To view the sales pipeline:
1.Open the [Dashboards] view in the [Opportunities] section by clicking the 
button.
2.Go to the [Sales pipeline] tab or the [Compare pipelines] tab.
How to set up the sales pipeline
By default, the pipeline displays the following stages:
1.Qualification
2.Presentation
3.Proposal
4.Contract
5.Closed won
Note
By default, the “Canceled lost” stage is not displayed in the sales pipeline.
You can include or exclude the display of certain stages in your pipeline. You can also set up the opportunity stages displayed in the [Opportunity stages] lookup.
To set up the display of opportunity stages:
1.Open the system designer by clicking the 
button.
2.Go to the [Opportunity stages] lookup.
3.For the opportunity stage to be displayed in the sales pipeline, select the [Y] checkbox in the [Display in pipeline] column. To exclude a stage from the sales pipeline, leave this checkbox unselected.
4.Save the changes.
How to read the sales pipeline
By default, the [Sales pipeline] displays the analytical information on the sales distribution by stages for the current user for the current month.
The diagram element's height corresponds to the number of opportunities with an up-to-date status. Opportunities with “Closed lost”, “Closed won”, “Closed rejected” and “Closed rerouted” statuses are not taken into account.
Select the pipeline slice you need to analyze:
•The number of opportunities displays how opportunities that started during the specified time period are grouped by stages by the end of that period. For example, the “Qualifications” displays the number of opportunities, which have the “Qualification” stage specified on the [Stages] detail, and this opportunity falls within the selected time period.
•Stage conversion rate displays the percentage of opportunities that moved from one stage to another stage during the specified time period. The diagram displays all opportunities that have records for the selected period on their [Stages] detail. The value of the conversion rate is calculated as the ratio of the current stage to the previous one. For example, on the “Qualification” stage, the number of sales in the pipeline is 10. The stage conversion is 100% The number of sales on the “Presentation” stage is 4. The stage conversion rate is calculated as the ratio of the “Presentation” stage to the “Qualification” stage multiplied by 100. In our example, the “Presentation” stage conversion rate is 40%.
Note
If the number of sales is 0 at the upper pipeline stage, then the conversion rate of the next stage will be 100%. If the number of sales is 0 at the “Qualification” stage, then the conversion rate of the “Presentation” stage will be 100%.
•To the first stage — the diagram shows the percentage of leads that moved to the “Qualification” stage. The sales percentage on the “Qualification” stage is always at 100%. For example, on the “Qualification” stage, the number of sales in the pipeline is 10. At the “Presentation” stage the number of sales is 5. The stage conversion rate of the “Presentation” stage is calculated as the ratio of the “Presentation” stage to the “Qualification” stage multiplied by 100. In our example, the “Presentation” stage conversion rate is 50%.
Note
If the “Qualification” stage contains no data, the sales percentage on all stages is 0.
The [Pipelines comparison] tab displays two dashboard components: “Sales rep pipeline” and “Company pipeline“. The “Sales rep pipeline” involves filters settings, whereas the “Company pipeline” does not.
See also
•
