Managing opportunities (deals) can boost your bottom line if handled appropriately. And to execute this process, you must ensure that your sales rep is equipped with the right opportunity management tools (CRM).
With a well-structured opportunity management system, you can effectively guide prospects through your sales process. This process helps you maximize your sales potential and achieve the desired business outcome.
Here, we’ll discuss opportunity management in detail. Moreover, the guide also outlines why the sales team should incorporate this strategy to multiply the profit by manifolds.
What is opportunity management?
Let’s start with the basics. Opportunity Management refers to tracking and managing sales opportunities. The process mainly includes the following:
- Pursuing leads or accounts with higher sales potential
- Identifying multiple sales opportunities with existing leads and customers.
Opportunity or Deal Management is a more refined version of lead management, as it only deals with qualified leads at the bottom of the sales funnel. Simply put, it is a subset of lead management.
It can be a vital, multifaceted asset to your business. When done effectively, it helps you to know your potential customers and prioritize your interactions based on their interests. This process also evaluates the best way to approach your qualified leads, so you can turn them into customers.
Finally, Opportunity Management allows you to close more deals by establishing a clear-cut process for sales representatives to follow. It is a comprehensive strategy to maximize your sales team’s productivity and performance.
Challenges in opportunity management
Sales Opportunity Management is a critical business aspect you should pay adequate attention to. You have to diligently track the movement of prospects through the sales process and deliver relevant support at every point to turn them into paying customers.
But managing opportunity is easier said than done. Sales reps face numerous challenges in handling opportunities appropriately. These challenges will then translate to low conversion rates and unsatisfactory experiences.
Here’s a quick rundown of challenges in opportunity management.
1. Inadequate knowledge of the number of qualified opportunities currently available
Missing out on the number of qualified opportunities currently available in the sales pipeline is something you cannot afford. Most sales reps have no insights into their sales pipeline, which is why they lose potential opportunities. Hence, you should have clear visibility at each stage for better results.
2. No methodological approach to prioritize high-value leads
The lack of a systematic approach takes your sales nowhere. Businesses give their 100% in finding high-value leads but overlook the importance of following a methodological approach to prioritize them. This further messes up the entire process and leaves all efforts in vain.
3. Delays in follow-ups!
Modern buyers are intelligent and well-informed. They are updated with market trends and tend to ask many questions before purchasing. At this time, a little delay from the sales rep makes them feel neglected, and you’ll lose the lead then and there. Hence, the sales team must follow up on clients’ queries at every stage to make them feel valued.
4. Inability to track the most engaged contacts
While keeping a pulse on your most engaged contacts can be challenging, it’s vital to translate them into paying customers. The sales pipeline might have many deals and interested contacts. But, they slip through the crack if not tracked and prioritized on time. Contact management software is an invaluable tool for businesses of all sizes.
Benefits of deal management tools
Opportunity management software tracks sales in real-time and helps you prioritize potential opportunities. However, since these tools are a decent investment in terms of time, effort, and money, most businesses often overlook them.
Hence, if you are confused and wondering whether you should make such an investment, read on. We have highlighted some key benefits of employing these tools to simplify your decision.
Improved visibility and tracking
Having real-time visibility into the sales pipeline makes it simple to predict sales. Opportunity management software lets you gain insights into the forecasts and help you track the most engaged clients.
Better communication and collaboration
These tools provide you with a 360-degree view of the customer. They inform you of their financial records, interests, and previous purchases, thus helping better collaboration.
Increased efficiency and productivity
Since opportunity management software helps you gain insights into the sales pipeline, it automatically increases sales efficiency and productivity. It helps promote effective team selling, thus streamlining the sales cycle.
Improved win rates
Such tools focus on your efforts on potential opportunities. It further keeps you in an ideal position to see what you should do next, improving opportunity win rates.
Evaluate performance and diagnose issues
Sales opportunity management software enhances opportunity insights and diagnoses areas where you have to put additional focus. It, thus, improves the scope of future revenues.
Types of opportunity management tools
Opportunity Management Software is broadly classified into four major categories: CRM, automation, analytics, and strategic tools. Want to dig more? Scroll down the page and learn about these categories in a bit of detail.
A CRM is an indispensable tool for modern sales reps. It helps build long-lasting customer relationships, thus boosting productivity.
Most CRMs can plan and manage your opportunities. They give your sales team the necessary context and information to turn prospects into revenue.
CRM software offers a holistic view of all deals, so you can take controlled measures. It makes it easier to track critical deals at a glance and lets you know which deal requires immediate attention.
This software also features advanced filters to find opportunities with specific criteria. It, thus, promotes sales reps to take necessary actions to push high-value opportunities further along in the pipeline.
Sales automation software
Sales automation allows you to speed up tedious, manual tasks, thus increasing efficiency and productivity. These tools can help free your sales reps of cumbersome administrative tasks, so they can focus on nurturing productive relationships with potential opportunities.
Not only does sales automation software helps you focus on selling, but it also eliminates the barriers that make it challenging to finalize deals. In addition, these tools improve lead generation. They also cultivate a relationship with your audience, even after they become customers.
Sales Strategic tools
Sales Strategy software, also known as collaborative software, is designed to improve the customer experience. These tools help sales reps to develop a well-thought strategy to nurture the potential opportunity and translate it into a paying customer.
Moreover, this software streamlines communication between your organization and customers to maintain transparency. Overall, Sales Strategic tools give you an ideal platform for uniting various stakeholders, aiming for the same goal.
Sales analytics tools
The adoption of sales analytics tools is proliferating throughout the business world for good reasons. Such tools help you access all valuable data on any device, thus increasing accessibility.
This software eliminates the possibility of any error with data manipulation. Reports are done in seconds, thus saving you time and effort. Accurate reports help you make informed decisions. Sales Analysis gives you complete transparency and help mentor your sales team.
With the error-free information in hand, your sales reps can take well-thought steps to convert the opportunity into revenue. It offers the sales team unparalleled insights and helps them make better choices to drive sales.
How to choose the right management tools?
Here’s a quick rundown of factors to consider when selecting opportunity management tools. Scroll through them and navigate the crowded world of options quickly.
Ease of Usage
The purpose of opportunity management software is to provide the necessary insights into the sales pipeline. Hence, the tool must be easy to use and requires no external assistance. Sales professionals must easily use it without putting in the extra effort.
Scalable
You should pick scalable opportunity management software that can be moved up or down based on your business requirements. It’s practical and worth using if modified to fit your needs.
Mobility
Gone are the days when businesses are confined to office boundaries. Nowadays, organizations work on the go. Hence, the opportunity management tool you choose must have automatic sync capabilities. This feature helps you access information on any device with an internet connection, thus increasing productivity.
Integration
When choosing this tool, seamless integration with other systems is the next important feature you should consider. The software must integrate with other business-related tools, such as the accounting system, to improve win rates.
Price
It plays a massive role in choosing the opportunity management software for your business. While plenty of options are available on the market, not everyone fits your budget and requirement. Hence, decide how much you want to spend on this software and pick the option that fits your budget.
Conclusion: If handled correctly, opportunities are valuable to your business and can boost your bottom line. Hence, you need to employ opportunity management tools to manage high-value leads effectively. Always equip your sales reps with the appropriate set of tools and streamline the process to boost productivity.
