A funnel step represents a chronological “checklist” to move through each Funnel Phase – when the Phase is complete, the Probability % is updated based on the funnel setup (e.g. from 10% to 25%).  Activities are more explicit in nature and are typically where notes are kept for the Sales Person and others to keep track of and have a documented history.  There may be one to many activities correlated to a funnel step and some companies name their Activities to correlate to the Funnel Step, but they do not have to.  So, in the case where they do correlate it will feel duplicative – but the purpose of the two items is distinct and therefore both will require completion.

There can be multiple funnels established to correlate to the Interest of the Opportunity.  We typically see 4 – 6, with the most common being: Bid-build, Design-Build, Design-only, Service Agreement, and Box.  Each funnel may have different phases with different probabilities per phase – a Design-Build (relationship) Opportunity will usually have greater probabilities than a Bid-Build due to the nature of the sale.  Funnels usually top out at “Verbal Agreement” with a 90% probability.  A Won Opportunity will be converted into a project and selected as “W” in the Won/Lost Reason drop down menu with a corresponding Won reason.  A Lost Opportunity will be displayed as an “L” and an applicable reason code.  Both Won and Lost Opportunities should have the “Won/Lost” date field annotated with the applicable date.  The reason codes give the organization insights into past trends and help to intelligently inform future decisions.

Funnel (Opportunity) value may be adjusted directly on the Sales Forecast (within the grid), or on the opportunity itself using the EDIT function.  Please also see our Help Center for additional content related to this topic.

Probability % takes into consideration the entire pipeline, including the weighted total.  Typically, the funnel step you are in will drive your percentage.  Each funnel step will be assigned a percentage toward opportunity completion (fully booked).  Funnel configuration within Q360 is very flexible – your company may wish to track funnel steps in larger increments e.g. 10%, 25%, 50%, 90%, or may prefer to divide the funnel into much smaller steps.  Generally, we recommend no more than 10 or so funnel steps – too many steps are difficult to track and it is easy to forget to close small funnel steps – this may result in inaccurate probability percentages.

This is often an organizational culture conversation.  Some Sales people think optimism is helpful – most Executives want realism – especially with regards to forecasting costs and revenue.  With some of the new Probability fields, a Sales Rep and Manager can have the best of both worlds – one probability driven by the funnel phases, the second a more subjective probability entered by the Sales Rep – usually geared towards a shorter timeframe.

Activities are added directly to an opportunity and are an excellent tool we can use to track communications with the customer, notable changes to requirements/needs, and other important information.  We recommend creating activities after each communication with a customer – this creates a searchable historical record for later use as needed.  The latest entered activity date will appear on the Sales Forecast and hovering over the red chat bubble in that column will display the comment associated with that activity.  As a part of activity input in Q360, you may set an Opportunity Reminder – see our Help Center articles and core procedures for more information about both activities and reminders.

This varies by company, depending on your company’s defined milestones.  Typically, any time there is a dollar value associated with something that might come to fruition, we recommend tracking that as an opportunity.  An opportunity differs from a prospect when it starts to involve focused effort – at this point, you should be keeping detailed notes in Q360 and consider moving into the sales funnel.

We recommend using the Q360 “Set Reminder” function for this purpose – see this feature demonstrated in this webinar.

Yes, this may be done via the Sales Forecast.  Highlight one or more opportunity rows, right click and select “Change Close Date.”  You may also close each individually on the Sales Forecast by placing the grid in EDIT mode and double clicking on the Close Date you wish to change.

Sometimes.  Very large items involved may warrant creating a new opportunity for this type of change order.  More often than not, these will be handled as quotes against projects, but you could create a quote and link it to an opportunity.  It really depends on how your company prefers to handle this.