Opportunity
A record representing a specific potential purchase, with a value, a close date and a stage.
What the record represents
A specific potential purchase, with an amount, an expected close date and a process behind it. Not a person, not an interest — a deal that could be forecast.
The creation point is the most consequential undocumented decision in most pipelines
Writing a criterion that holds
State it in terms someone can check from the record: a confirmed need, a named buyer, and an agreed next step with a date.
Require the amount to be based on something — a discussed scope, a comparable deal — rather than a placeholder.
Require a close date derived from the buyer's process, not from the end of your quarter.
Write it down and apply it uniformly. A criterion that varies by rep makes every downstream metric a comparison of habits.
Signals the criterion has drifted
Win rate moving without any change in the sales motion.
A rising share of opportunities closing as no-decision, which usually means they were created before a decision existed.
Coverage improving while conversion falls — more opportunities, less real pipeline.
Opportunities with close dates clustered on the last day of the period, which indicates the date is administrative rather than derived.
RELATED TERMS
Sales Qualified Lead (SQL)
A lead that sales has examined and accepted as a genuine opportunity worth working. The point at which pipeline responsibility formally transfers.
Stage-to-Stage Conversion
The proportion of opportunities moving from each stage to the next. The most localised view of where pipeline dies.
Win Rate
The proportion of opportunities that close won, measured against a defined denominator — which is where most of the disagreement lives.
Pipeline Hygiene
Whether pipeline records are accurate and current — as distinct from pipeline health, which is whether the pipeline is any good.
COMMON QUESTIONS
- When should you create an opportunity?
- At a stated, checkable criterion applied consistently — typically when a qualified need and a real buying process are both established. The exact point matters less than holding it constant, because it silently determines win rate and cycle length.
- What is the difference between a lead and an opportunity?
- A lead is a person who may be interested. An opportunity is a specific potential purchase with an amount, a close date and a process behind it. The transition is a judgement, which is why it needs a written criterion.
- Why does opportunity creation timing affect win rate?
- Because win rate is opportunities won over opportunities decided. Creating them earlier adds more that will never close, lowering the rate without any change in performance. Two teams with identical results can report very different win rates.
- Should every deal have an opportunity record?
- Every forecastable deal should. Creating them for exploratory conversations inflates pipeline and coverage while telling you nothing, and it is the most common cause of a healthy-looking pipeline that misses.
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