Field

Description

Opportunity
(mandatory)

In this field you should enter a short, descriptive title of the Opportunity. Every Opportunity is given its own name so you will be able to easily identify it when viewing the Opportunities list.

To save time, you can customize this field and select “template” values from a drop-down list rather than enter a new title each time. Even when using the drop-down list to name the Opportunity, we still recommend that you consider modifying the Opportunity title a little so it can be easily identified when appearing in the Opportunities list. To customize the drop-down list, select the “Edit List” option in the field's pull-down menu.

Manager

The Manager field should be used to assign an Opportunity to a specific employee. Each employee can then easily see which Opportunities are assigned to them and perform the actions required to win the sales.
This field can also be used in dedicated Opportunities reports, in which you can sort Opportunities by manager, allowing you to see forecasted sales by employee. This information is also helpful with performance reviews.

Note that by using Commit’s Privilege features you can also define whether a user can view all Opportunities or just the ones assigned to them. Click here for more details about the Privileges features in Commit.

Opportunity Type

(abbreviated as Oppty Type)

In this field, the user can classify the Opportunity into a category from a number of predefined types that come with the system, or into categories that the business has created for its specific needs. For example, you can use it to distinguish between Opportunities for existing customers and new ones, hardware sales opportunities, server-oriented opportunities etc.
This is a customizable field. The user can either enter values or add values to the possible values list by selecting the “Edit List” option in the field's pull-down menu. This way you can easily customize the system to the relevant sales opportunities types in your business

Stage

In this field you should enter the stage the project is currently at in the sales cycle. The system comes with predefined values for this field such as: first contract; trial installation; advanced negotiations; and purchased.

You may also add values to the possible values list by selecting the “Edit List” option in the field's pull-down menu. This way you can easily customize the system to the relevant sales stages in your business.

You can also use this field to filter Opportunities by stage, allowing you to view only those Opportunities that are in specific stages. (For example, you can view all sales Opportunities in the “First Contact” stage and make sure to  follow-up with a phone call or sending collateral.)

Amount
Probability
Amount by %

These three fields can help in forecasting future revenues. In the “Amount” field, you should enter the expected revenue for this Opportunity. In the “Probability” field, you should assign a probability of succeeding in this Opportunity. The “Amount by percentage” field is then automatically generated from these two figures, providing a figure that can be used in revenue forecasting.

For example: the “Amount” of a new server Opportunity is $5,000, meaning that the customer will pay this amount for a new server. The Commit user estimates the probability of winning this opportunity at 80 percent (chances of winning the opportunity are fairly high). The system then automatically calculates the “Amount by percentage” field,  in this example $4,000, which is the amount used in forecasting future revenues. Click here for more details on this feature.

By choosing one of these buttons, a user marks the current status of the Opportunity. By default, an Opportunity is created with a status of Open. If you change the status of an Opportunity from Open to any of the other options (either Won, Lost, or Cancelled/on hold), the opportunity will be “closed.” The Close date is then automatically updated and a new window opens allowing you to enter the closing information. For more information about closing an Opportunity, see the Closing an Opportunity section.

Close By

In this field you should use enter your estimate of when the opportunity will be closed (i.e. won/lost). This date can then be used for revenue forecasting or to help prioritize your actions and determine which sales opportunities require the most immediate attention.
 
Opportunity Status vs. Close By
Note that the Opportunity Close By date is not connected to the Opportunity Status. It is possible to be in the initial stage of the sales process with a Close-by date very close, and vice-versa.
 

For example, let's say a customer contacts you and wants to buy new hardware in a few days—in this case, the Stage may be defined as “First Contact,” yet the Close By date might be only two days ahead.

In a different case, this may be a case where the real decision making is due in only 6 weeks from now. In this case the Stage can be 'Advanced Negotiations' however, the Close By date will be set to 6 weeks ahead.

Source

In this field you should enter how the customer reached you, or how you contacted the customer (online advertisement, conference, internet site, magazine ad, etc.). You may add values to the values list by selecting the “Edit list” option in the field’s pull-down menu, allowing you to easily customize the system to reflect the relevant marketing sources in your business.

You may also filter Opportunities by their Source, allowing you to analyze the ROI of your marketing activities.

Territory

In this field you can define the geographical area of an Opportunity. This is a customizable field. You can add values to the list by selecting the “Edit List” option in the field's pull-down menu.

Using this field can help you assign Opportunities to the appropriate sales rep, analyze performance by territory (by using reports), etc.

Opportunity ID

(abbr: Oppty ID)

The Opportunity ID field allows you to assign an internal ID to a specific sales opportunity.  Although this is not a mandatory field, it can often be helpful for managing an Opportunity.

When closing an opportunity by changing its status from Open to any other status (Won, Lost, Canceled/On-Hold), this triggers a window which allows you to update the opportunity closing fields.
See more details in the Closing Opportunities section.