Sales and Marketing Applications · Topic 1 of 2
Sales Process and Sales Productivity Features
Salesforce sales: leads, opportunities, stages and Path, sales processes, forecasting, territory management, and Einstein lead and opportunity scoring.
- 3 min
- Opportunity stages carry probability and forecast category.
- Sales processes plus record types give teams different stages.
- Path shows key fields and guidance per stage.
What it is
The Salesforce sales process takes a potential customer from lead to opportunity to closed deal. Administrators configure the stages, guide reps with Path, and set up productivity features such as forecasting, territory management, dashboards and Einstein scoring.
How it works
Opportunities and stages
- An opportunity is a potential deal, with an amount, close date and stage.
- Each stage has a default probability and a forecast category (such as Pipeline, Best Case, Commit, Closed).
- A sales process is the set of stages available to an opportunity record type, so different teams can follow different stages.
Path
Path shows the stages across the top of a record and, for each stage, up to five key fields and guidance for success. It works for opportunities, leads, cases and other objects, and helps reps know what to do next.
Productivity features
| Feature | What it does |
|---|---|
| Collaborative Forecasts (now called Pipeline Forecasting) | Rolls up opportunity amounts by forecast category and period for users and their managers; managers can adjust forecasts |
| Enterprise Territory Management (now called Sales Territories) | Assigns accounts to territories using rules or manually, and gives territory members access to those accounts once the territory model is active; only one model can be active |
| Dashboards | Show pipeline, win rate and other sales metrics |
| Opportunity tools | Contact roles, products and price books, opportunity teams, splits |
| Einstein lead scoring | Scores leads by how likely they are to convert, based on the org's past conversions, or on a global model when the org lacks enough data |
| Einstein opportunity scoring | Scores opportunities by how likely they are to close |
| Home page and assistant | Show reps their priorities and suggested actions |
Products and price books
Opportunities can list products from a price book. The standard price book holds standard prices; custom price books hold different prices for segments or regions.
A worked example: the company has a direct sales team and a channel team with different stages. Create two sales processes, one per team, two opportunity record types that use them, and a Path for each record type with key fields and guidance at each stage.
Different teams needing different opportunity stages is solved by separate sales processes and record types, not separate objects.
How the exam asks about this
- "Show reps the key fields and tips for each stage." Path.
- "Managers want to see and adjust their team's expected revenue by quarter." Collaborative Forecasts.
- "Help reps focus on the leads most likely to convert." Einstein lead scoring.
What to remember for the exam
- Opportunity stages carry probability and forecast category.
- Sales processes plus record types give teams different stages.
- Path shows key fields and guidance per stage.
- Forecasts roll up by forecast category; territory management assigns accounts by rules.
- Einstein lead and opportunity scoring rank records by likelihood.
Changing a stage's forecast category changes how existing opportunities in that stage appear in forecasts.
Common mistakes
Creating a new object for a second sales team. Use a sales process and record type.
Confusing Path with a flow. Path guides users; it doesn't automate actions.
Forgetting price books. Products need a price book entry to be added to opportunities.
Check yourself
How can two sales teams use different opportunity stages?
Create a sales process for each team and an opportunity record type that uses it.
What does Path show on a record?
The stages, with key fields and guidance for success for each stage.
What does a forecast category do?
It decides how an opportunity counts in forecasts, such as Pipeline, Best Case, Commit or Closed.
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