An Opportunity in Salesforce represents a potential deal with a customer. It lives between an Account and a closed sale — tracking the deal value, timeline, stage, and everything that happens along the way.

What Is an Opportunity?

Think of an Opportunity as a deal in progress. Every time your team identifies a potential sale — a new client, a renewal, an upsell — they should log it as an Opportunity. This is what builds your pipeline and allows you to forecast revenue.

Opportunities are linked to an Account and often to one or more Contactsat that company (the people you're working the deal with).

Step 1 — Create an Opportunity

  1. Navigate to the Account the deal is associated with, or go to Opportunities in the top navigation.
  2. Click New.
  3. Fill in the required fields:
    • Opportunity Name — be descriptive, e.g. "Acme Corp — CPQ Implementation"
    • Account Name — the company this deal is with
    • Close Date — your best estimate of when this will close
    • Stage — where the deal currently stands in your process
    • Amount — the expected deal value
  4. Click Save.

Step 2 — Understand Opportunity Stages

Stages represent where a deal is in your sales process. Salesforce comes with default stages, but most companies customize them to match how they actually sell. Common stages include:

ProspectingYou've identified a potential deal but haven't engaged yet.
QualificationYou're confirming there's a real need, budget, and timeline.
Needs AnalysisDiscovery is underway — understanding what the client actually needs.
Proposal / Price QuoteYou've submitted a proposal or quote.
Negotiation / ReviewBoth sides are working through terms.
Closed WonDeal is signed. The client is a customer.
Closed LostThe deal didn't happen. Log the reason why.

💡 Tip:Keep the Stage updated as the deal progresses. Stale pipeline data is worse than no pipeline data — your forecast is only as good as what's in the system.

Step 3 — Add Contacts to the Opportunity

Most deals involve more than one person. Use the Contact Rolesrelated list on the Opportunity to link the people you're working with and define their role (Decision Maker, Champion, Evaluator, etc.).

  1. Open the Opportunity record.
  2. Scroll to the Contact Roles related list.
  3. Click New and select the Contact.
  4. Assign their role — mark the primary decision maker as Primary.

Step 4 — Log Activities and Notes

Every call, email, and meeting related to a deal should be logged on the Opportunity. This creates a full history that anyone on your team can reference.

  • Log a Call— use the "Log a Call" button to record what was discussed.
  • New Task — create a follow-up action with a due date and assigned owner.
  • New Event — schedule a meeting directly on the record.
  • Notes — add free-form notes that stay with the Opportunity.

Step 5 — Closing the Opportunity

When a deal is decided — won or lost — update the Stage accordingly and make sure the Close Date and Amount are accurate. For Closed Lost deals, always fill in the Loss Reason field if your org has one. That data is invaluable for improving your process over time.

💡 Tip: Never delete a lost Opportunity. Closed Lost records are important for historical reporting and understanding why deals fall through.