Opportunity Management Best Practices for Revenue Teams

Opportunity management is where CRM strategy meets revenue reality. When opportunities are created inconsistently, stages are advanced on gut feel, and close plans live in a rep’s head instead of the system, your forecast becomes guesswork. These best practices give revenue teams a repeatable framework for managing every deal from creation to close.

Standardizing Opportunity Creation¶

Not every conversation is an opportunity. Define explicit creation criteria to prevent pipeline inflation:

An opportunity should be created when:

• A qualified meeting has occurred (not just a form fill or email exchange)
• The prospect has a confirmed business problem your product addresses
• There is an identified timeline - even if loose (this quarter, this half, this year)
• A budget conversation has happened or is explicitly planned

An opportunity should NOT be created when:

• A lead downloaded content or attended a webinar
• An SDR booked a meeting that hasn’t happened yet
• The prospect said “send me some info” with no follow-up commitment

The test: If the deal closed tomorrow, would finance recognize it as real revenue from a real buyer? If not, it’s not an opportunity yet.

Stage Advancement Criteria¶

Every stage transition should require verifiable evidence, not just a rep’s judgment. Build advancement criteria into your CRM with validation rules.

Enforce this with required fields at each stage. When a rep tries to move a deal to Proposal without populating the Champion field, the system blocks it. This isn’t bureaucracy - it’s data discipline that makes forecasting trustworthy.

Multi-Threading Requirements¶

Single-threaded deals are the silent killer of pipeline. Require contact role documentation on every opportunity:

• Minimum 2 contact roles for deals under $50K
• Minimum 3 contact roles for deals $50K–$200K
• Minimum 4 contact roles for deals over $200K

Track these contact roles with standard labels:

1. Economic Buyer - Controls the budget
2. Champion - Internal advocate driving the deal
3. Technical Evaluator - Assesses product fit
4. Blocker - Person who can kill the deal (identify early)

Run a weekly report showing deals in Evaluation or later with insufficient contact roles. Flag them in pipeline review.

Close-Plan Documentation¶

Deals in Negotiation stage or later need a documented close plan. Use a structured Next Steps field or a custom Close Plan object with these components:

• Remaining steps - What must happen before signature (legal review, security questionnaire, board approval)
• Owners - Who owns each remaining step (your side and theirs)
• Dates - Target completion date for each step
• Risks - What could delay or kill the deal

Example close plan in the CRM:

1. [Feb 3] Security review - Owner: Their CISO / Our SE - Status: In progress
2. [Feb 7] Legal redlines - Owner: Their counsel / Our legal - Status: Not started
3. [Feb 10] CFO sign-off - Owner: Champion to schedule - Status: Pending
4. [Feb 12] Contract execution - Owner: AE - Status: Blocked by #1–3

Opportunity Hygiene Automation¶

Set up these automations to keep opportunity data clean without relying on manual effort:

• Stale deal alerts - Notify rep and manager if an open opportunity has no activity logged in 14 days
• Close date enforcement - Prevent close dates in the past for open opportunities
• Amount validation - Require Amount > $0 for all deals past Discovery
• Stage regression logging - Track when deals move backward and capture the reason
• Auto-archive - Move Closed Lost deals older than 90 days out of default list views

Key Takeaways¶

• Define explicit opportunity creation criteria to prevent pipeline inflation
• Tie stage advancement to verifiable evidence, not subjective judgment
• Require multi-threading with minimum contact role thresholds based on deal size
• Document close plans in the CRM for every deal in Negotiation or later
• Automate hygiene checks so clean data doesn’t depend on rep discipline alone