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Last updated: 2025-09-19


SmartOpportunities - Advancing a Contact through the Sales Process


Overview


After setting up a sales process and creating an opportunity for a contact, a SmartOpportunities user can begin selling. This section describes the general steps involved in advancing a contact through the sales process.


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Watch the Training Class: Adding and Advancing a Contact Through the Opportunity Process


Step 1: Find and Open the Opportunity


Find the opportunity in the system as described in Searching for Opportunities. Then open the opportunity's Detail content link.


Step 2: Review the Current Stage


The current stage is specified in the Current Stage field. Click the Opportunity History button next to this field to see a chronology of past stage changes for this opportunity.


Step 3: Review, Perform and Complete Current Stage Actions


Any actions that the user must perform and complete in the current stage of the sales process—create calendar activities, send correspondence, etc.—are displayed in the Stage Actions for Current/Previous section. The Completed column indicates whether an action has been completed.


Stage actions are defined in Opportunity Setup for all opportunities based on the same sales process. However, the user can add, delete or modify the actions associated with a particular opportunity without affecting other opportunities.


Performing Actions


  1. Tag an action that has not been completed.
  2. In the Stage Actions for Current/Previous section, click the Options button Image from base_button_options.png and select Perform Actions.
  3. Perform the action as appropriate for the action type:
  • Calendar Activity: If the calendar activity associated with the action has not already been created, SmartOffice displays the Activity dialog box, enabling the user to enter the activity details. If the calendar activity already exists, SmartOffice notifies the user. (The activity may already exist if the action was configured to automatically create the calendar activity when the opportunity advanced to the current stage. For more information, see Opportunity Setup.)

The activity can be viewed by clicking the Show Linked Activity button in the Linked Activity column. If the column is not visible, it can be added using List Layout Customization. Activities linked to actions can also be viewed by opening SmartCalendar.


If an activity is created for an action, another activity cannot be created for the same action unless the user deletes the current activity. The Created On column displays the date on which the activity was created. - Letter: SmartOffice opens the Correspondence Options dialog box. Send the letter by selecting the appropriate option. - Event: The contact is invited to an existing event. If the contact is already on the invitee list for the event, SmartOffice notifies the user.


Completing Actions


To mark an action as completed:


  1. Tag an action that has not been completed.
  2. In the Stage Actions for Current/Previous section, click the Options button Image from base_button_options.png and select Mark Stage Action(s) Complete.

Generally speaking, an action is automatically marked Completed after it is performed. However, this manual method is used to:


  • Complete calendar activity actions: A calendar activity action is not considered completed when the associated activity is created. The action and its activity are linked. If the user marks the action as Completed, the linked activity is marked Done. Similarly, if the activity is marked Done, the action is marked Completed. In either case, if the activity has outcome tracking enabled and its status is Active, the user is first prompted to enter an activity outcome. However, if multiple actions are tagged and marked completed, the Activity Outcome dialog box does not open; the Completed column for all of the tagged actions simply changes to Yes.
  • Complete actions without performing them: An action can be marked completed without being performed.

Adding Actions


  1. Ensure that the appropriate stage of the sales process is selected from the Stage drop-down list located in the Stage Actions for Current/Previous section of the opportunity's Detail content link.
  2. Click the Options button Image from base_button_options.png and select New 'Action' record.

See Creating a Process in the Opportunity Setup section for details about creating actions. Actions created in this way apply only to the current opportunity and not to other opportunities containing that stage.


Deleting Actions


  1. Ensure that the appropriate stage of the sales process is selected from the Stage drop-down list located in the Stage Actions for Current/Previous section of the opportunity's Detail content link.
  2. Tag an action.
  3. Click the Options button Image from base_button_options.png and select Delete 'Action' record.

Actions deleted in this way are deleted from the current opportunity only and not from other opportunities containing that stage.


Step 4: Advance the Contact to the Next Stage


Note: SmartOpportunities may automatically advance the contact to the next stage when the actions in the current stage are completed. This occurs if the sales process is configured to change stage automatically in Opportunity Setup.


Typically, the user advances a contact to the next opportunity stage after completing the actions for the current stage. However, SmartOpportunities enables the user to change the stage at any time, regardless of whether actions have been completed.


From the Opportunity Record


  1. Go to the opportunity's Detail content link.
  2. Select the new stage from the Current Stage drop-down list.
  3. Select Menu \> Save.

From an Activity Outcome


The user can also change the stage of an opportunity while recording the outcome of an activity linked to an action.


The Activity Outcome dialog box includes a Linked Opportunity section in which the user can specify the new stage. For more information, see Updating the Status of an Opportunity.


Effects of Stage Changes


Changing the stage may cause one of more of the following to occur:


  • If there are existing activities for the opportunity from the previous stage, a dialog box may open to confirm whether those activities should be cancelled. This confirmation occurs if the process is configured to allow activities to be cancelled (see Opportunity Setup).
  • The Activity dialog box may open if the new stage has an action that is configured to create a calendar activity automatically (see Opportunity Setup). This enables the user to view and change activity details immediately without having to access the activity details manually.

Tip: The user can update the stages of multiple opportunities at once. See Mass Modifying Opportunities and Automatically Moving an Opportunity to the Next Stage.