Database Reference
In-Depth Information
8.2.2.5 Opportunity Management
Using SAP CRM Sales, a company can manage its sales cycle more effectively, predictably, and at
a lower cost. The sales employees can obtain full visibility into the opportunity pipeline, improve
team communication, and route leads to the right salespeople. SAP CRM can improve opportu-
nity planning, team selling, opportunity hierarchies, and sales and selling methodologies. SAP
CRM provides an SAP-proprietary methodology (based on guided selling) that helps in maintain-
ing high-quality sales process throughout the sales engagement.
Opportunity management as part of SAP CRM Sales is linked directly with the SAP CRM
Marketing functionality, allowing marketing leads to be converted into sales opportunities. The
salesperson responsible for the account will be automatically notified about the opportunity.
An opportunity is a qualified sales chance or a verified chance of a company to sell a product
or service. Opportunities can be created either from leads or directly by a sales employee as a result
of (say) a trade show discussion, a sales promotion, or a bid invitation.
Salespeople create documents called opportunities in SAP CRM to capture sales-relevant data,
including
1. Description of the sales project
2. Description of the products and services inquired
3. Budget of the sales prospect
4. Potential sales volume
5. Estimated sales probability
It is possible to set up opportunity hierarchies so that sales projects can be mapped
out even more effectively. In other words, for every product belonging to a sales proj-
ect, a separate opportunity is created and linked to the higher-level opportunity; the
structure of the opportunity hierarchy can be as deep as required. In contrast, for
sales projects with large companies, it is also possible to divide up the entire sales project, for
example, according to individual products.
The salespeople also record the names of the members of the sales team working on the oppor-
tunity as well as the members of the customer's buying center—the group of customer's employees
who are decision makers for the current opportunity.
Fundamental elements of the sales methodology of SAP CRM are
◾
Project goal description
◾
Buying center
◾
Analysis of competition
◾
Opportunity assessment
◾
Opportunity plan
◾
Analysis and reporting
This results in an opportunity plan that pulls together all key information related with each
opportunity. The opportunity plan provides a comprehensive overview of the stage a project is at
any moment. It serves as a basis for presentations and discussions in internal sales project meetings
and is available to be displayed, printed, or e-mailed at any time. An opportunity plan consists of
