How to Create an Opportunity in Salesforce

In Salesforce, an opportunity is a sale or a potential sale you want to track.

Types of Opportunities

There are four types of opportunities in Salesforce:

• Account: An associated account
• Amount: An estimated amount of the sale
• Close Date: An estimated close date when you think the sale will close
• Stage: The stage the opportunity is at

Create an Opportunity

1. Open the account related to the opportunity.
   

   An opportunity is always associated with an account, so the best way to create a new opportunity is to start from its account.

2. Scroll down to the Opportunities list and click New Opportunity.
   
3. Type a meaningful name for the opportunity.
4. Select a Close Date.

   This is your best guess as to when the sale might close.

5. Select the stage your opportunity is at in the sales cycle.
6. Enter an Amount.

   This should be your best guess as to the amount the opportunity will close for.

7. Click Save.
   

Salesforce saves the opportunity.

Define Contact Roles

Now, there can often be several contacts involved in a sale, such as decision makers, influencers, and buyers. You can add these contacts to an opportunity in the Contact Roles list--here’s how.

1. Click New in the Contact Roles list.
   
2. Click the Contact Lookup button next to an empty contact field.
   
3. Find and select the contact you want to add.
   
4. Select the contact’s role.
5. Add any additional contacts & role.
6. Click Save when you’re done.
   

Salesforce adds the contacts to the opportunity.