Creating Opportunity

An opportunity is a specific deal you are pursuing, with an amount, a close date and a pipeline stage. Creating one for every real piece of paid work you discuss keeps your pipeline honest and lets you see which deals are due to land.

In this guide you’ll learn how to:

• Decide when a conversation deserves an opportunity
• Add an opportunity from the table or the Kanban board
• Link a company and a point of contact
• Edit an opportunity’s name and links in each view
• Convert a won deal into a client

When should you create an opportunity?

Create an opportunity when you are discussing specific paid work with someone, not a “maybe someday” conversation.

Create opportunities for:

• Specific projects with a defined scope
• Retainer agreements being discussed
• Any work with a potential revenue amount
• Deals with a realistic timeline

Don’t create opportunities for:

• General “let’s stay in touch” conversations
• Website visitors you have no contact with
• People who download resources but show no buying intent

How to add an opportunity

You add an opportunity from the Opportunities tab in CRM, either as a new row in the table or as a new card in a Kanban column.

From the table:

1. Click CRM in the sidebar.
2. Click the Opportunities tab.
3. Click Add New in the top bar, next to the All Opportunities title.
4. Type the opportunity name in the new row and press Enter. The opportunity is saved.
5. Click the name to open the opportunity and fill in its other details.

From the Kanban board:

1. On the Opportunities tab, open the view switcher and choose Kanban view.
2. In the stage you want, click Add new at the bottom of the column, or the plus icon in the column header.
3. Type the name in the New box and press Enter. The opportunity is created in that stage.

Note: you can also start an opportunity from a company or a person. Hover over their name in the Companies or People table, or open their record, and click the Add Opportunity plus icon. Enter the Opportunity name and click Create. The new opportunity is linked to that company, or to that person as its point of contact.

Note: if you have opportunity automation turned on, an opportunity is started for you when you add a contact, named by the rule you set. See How to Set Up Opportunity Automation.

What fields does an opportunity have?

Only the name is required. Every other field is filled in on the opportunity’s detail page, where you click a value to change it.

Field	What it holds
Amount	The value of the deal. Click it to enter a number and pick its currency, then press Enter.
Close Date	When you expect to win or lose the deal.
Stage	Where the deal sits in your pipeline. Your stages are set for your business. See Understanding Pipeline Stages.
Industry	The industry, from the list set in CRM customization.
Source	Where the deal came from, from the list set in CRM customization.
Company	The company the deal is for. Leave it empty for a solo client.
Point of Contact	Your main contact for the deal.
Account Owner	The team member responsible for managing and closing the deal.
Tags	Labels for grouping deals your own way.
Created By and Last Updated	Filled in by OneSuite.

A good name follows the pattern “Project type for Company name”, for example “Website Redesign for Brightwave Fitness”.

Custom fields: an opportunity can show Opportunity Custom Fields. When a linked company or point of contact has custom fields, they appear under Company Custom Fields and Point of Contact Custom Fields.

How to link a company and a point of contact

On the opportunity’s detail page, use the pencil icon beside the Company or Point of Contact heading to pick a record.

1. Open the opportunity.
2. Hover over the Company heading and click the pencil icon.
3. Search for the company and select it. If it doesn’t exist yet, type its name and click Create and Connect.
4. Hover over the Point of Contact heading and click the pencil icon.
5. Select the person. Only people linked to the selected company appear here, and Create and Connect adds a new person.

Note: the Point of Contact pencil is disabled until a company is linked. Its tooltip reads Select a company first. For a solo client with no company, set the point of contact from the table or the Kanban card instead, where every person is listed.

To unlink a company or a person, open the menu beside the linked name and click Disconnect.

How do you edit an opportunity in each view?

How you edit depends on where you are: the Kanban card, the table and the detail page each work differently.

What you want to change	Kanban card	Table view	Detail page
Opportunity name	Hover over the card and click the pencil icon (tooltip Edit). Type and press Enter.	Hover over the name and click the pencil icon (tooltip Edit name). Type the new name and click Save.	Click the title itself and type. There is no pencil.
Linked company	Click the company name on the card and pick another company. Picking the linked company again removes it.	Hover over the cell and click the pencil icon (tooltip Edit company). Clicking the company name opens the company instead.	Click the pencil icon beside the Company heading. Clicking the company name opens a quick view instead.
Linked person	Click the person’s name on the card and pick another person.	Hover over the cell and click the pencil icon (tooltip Edit point of contact).	Click the pencil icon beside the Point of Contact heading. Clicking the name opens a quick view instead.
Empty company or person	Click Associated company… or Associated people… on the card.	Use the pencil icon in the cell.	Use the pencil icon beside the heading.

Clicking the opportunity name in the table opens its detail page. On a Kanban card, the small link icon beside a company or person name opens that record in a new tab.

How to convert a won deal into a client

When a deal is won, click Convert to Client on the opportunity’s detail page and complete the drawer.

1. Open the opportunity.
2. Click Convert to Client.
3. Check the details in the drawer and click Convert to Client.

If the opportunity has a company linked, the company becomes the client. If it has no company, the point of contact becomes the client. Once converted, the Convert to Client button no longer shows on the opportunity.

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FAQs

Can I create an opportunity without a company?

Yes. Leave Company empty and set the person as the point of contact from the table or the Kanban card. On the detail page, the point of contact can only be picked once a company is linked.

Why doesn’t the person I want appear as point of contact?

On the detail page, the list shows only people linked to the opportunity’s company. Link the person to that company first, or use Create and Connect to add them.

Why does clicking the company name open the company instead of changing it?

That is how the table view and the detail page work. Use the pencil icon to change the link there. Only the Kanban card changes the company when you click its name.

What if I don’t know the exact amount yet?

Enter your best estimate. You can change the Amount at any time as the scope becomes clear.

Can one company have several opportunities?

Yes. Create a separate opportunity for each deal. Brightwave Fitness might have one opportunity for a website and another for a marketing campaign.

Can I just track deals in a spreadsheet instead?

You can, but you lose the links. An opportunity in OneSuite is tied to its company, its point of contact and its pipeline stage, and it converts into a client without retyping anything.

What to do next

Set up your pipeline: Add, rename and reorder your stages with Understanding Pipeline Stages.

See how the records connect: Learn how deals, companies and contacts fit together in How Opportunities, Companies, and People Work Together.

Send a quote: Price the work you are pursuing with How to Create Estimates.