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Creating Opportunities

Jessica Abejar
Jessica Abejar
  • Updated

In this article we’ll guide you through the process of creating Opportunities including linking Opportunities to Customer interactions.

Before you read this article, you should be familiar with:

In this article, we’ll cover:

VIDEO: Jump ahead to our Spektrix Training: On-Demand video - Opportunities Management for a guided walkthrough of this process.

 

Creating an Opportunity

You can create an Opportunity when you have identified a Customer as a prospect for giving. You should create Opportunities for those Customers you’ve identified as having the potential to give larger or repeat Donations and with whom you want to build one-to-one relationships.

In order to link a Customer to an Opportunity, they must have a Customer Record. Learn how to create an Individual or Organization Customer Record in Creating, Updating and Deactivating Customer Records.

TIP: Creating and managing Opportunities takes place in the Opportunities Interface. In order to navigate to and access the Opportunities Interface you will need the Opportunities User role. If you don’t have this user role, contact a Settings Administrator in your organization to edit your User Account and add the Opportunities User role.

To create an Opportunity linked to a Customer Record, follow these steps:

  1. In the Opportunities Interface, navigate to the People Dashboard and search for a Customer.
  2. Click on the Customer Record you’d like to add an Opportunity to.
  3. Click on Opportunities in the top menu.
  4. On the bottom of the Opportunities screen, click on the New Opportunity link. A pop up will appear. Continue to follow the steps in the New Opportunity Pop Up Screen.

New Opportunity in the Customer Record.

 

New Opportunity Pop Up Screen

Enter the following information on the New Opportunity pop up screen:

The New Opportunity pop up screen.

  1. Campaign (required): Select the Campaign, Sub-Campaign or Sub-sub-Campaign you want to add this Opportunity to.
  2. Description (optional): Adding a description can be useful to make important notes about an Opportunity. You can search for Opportunities by keyword.
  3. Owner (required): The User responsible for moving this Opportunity forward.
  4. Current Stage (required): The current Opportunity Stage.
  5. Expected Close Date: The date you expect you’ll have received the Donation and thanked the donor by.
  6. Target Amount: The minimum amount you’re aiming for.
  7. Asked Amount: The amount you plan to actually ask for or have already asked for.
  8. Likelihood of Success: To override the default Likelihood of Success at its current Opportunity Stage, enter a custom percentage.
  9. Closed: Leave this box unchecked if you’d want the Opportunity to remain active.

TIP: You can also add Pop Up Notes on Opportunities to add more information.

Click Save to create the Opportunity. Click Cancel to cancel creating the Opportunity.

You can also create Opportunities in two other ways: creating Opportunities in bulk to multiple Customers in a Customer List or while linking to Customer interactions and transactions.

 

Bulk Creating Opportunities

You can create multiple Opportunities at once for a group of potential donors by building a Customer List. 

TIP: Creating Opportunities in bulk takes place in the Insights & Mailings Interface. In order to navigate to and access the Insights & Mailings Interface you will need the Insights & Mailings User role. If you don’t have this user role, contact a Settings Administrator in your organization to edit your User Account and add the Insights & Mailings User role.

Before you can create Opportunities in bulk, you need to build a Customer List to identify who you want to create Opportunities for.

For example, you might want to include the following:

  • Current or past Members
  • Mid-level or regular donors
  • Regular attenders who consistently donate at checkout
  • Customers who have attended a specific Event
  • Anyone who you might want to cultivate for a donation, on a one on one basis

Once you’ve got your Customer List, you can bulk create the Opportunities.

REMINDER: When you add Opportunities in bulk, the Customers will have identical Opportunities with the same details. You can edit these later.

From your Customer List, go to the Choose an action dropdown and select Bulk create opportunities.

Creating Opportunities in bulk using Customer Lists.

This will take you to a new screen called Create Opportunities from Segmentation Results:

The Create Opportunities from Segmentation Results pop-up screen.

REMINDER: These details will be applied to all of the Opportunities you create from the Customer List. Once created, you can edit these individually.

Most of these fields are the same as when creating individual Opportunities. However, there are additional fields:

  • Action to take if this job would overwrite an existing opportunity (required): Choose one of the two options for what to do when attempting to create an Opportunity for any Customer with an existing Opportunity:
    1. Skip creation of that opportunity: Don’t create this new Opportunity for any Customers with existing Opportunities.
    2. Cancel creation of all opportunities in this job: Don’t create any Opportunities at all for any Customers on this Customer List.
  • Create Activity with each Opportunity: Check this box if you want to automatically create an Activity at the same time as creating the Opportunities. For example, if you’re creating a number of Opportunities at the Research stage, you might choose to create Activities at the same time to remind you to spend time researching each new prospect individually.

If you haven’t selected Create Activity with each Opportunity, click the Save button and the system will attempt to bulk create your Opportunities.

If you’ve selected Create Activity with each Opportunity then the Save button changes to a Next button. Click Next to go to the Activity Details screen.

Clicking Cancel from either screen will discard any changes. Any Opportunities will not be created.

Creating Activities while creating Opportunities in bulk.

REMINDER: The details you enter will be applied to all of the Activities you create and link to the new Opportunities you’re creating. After you’ve created the Activities, you can edit these individually.

Fill out the Activity with the following information:

  • Subject: The Subject of the Activity
  • Date: The Date of the Activity
  • Type: The Activity Type
  • Priority: Priority level for the Activity
  • Assignee: User assigned to the Activity

REMINDER: There is no option to mark these Activities created through the Customer List as complete. You’ll need to edit and mark them individually.

For more information on creating Activities in bulk, read Creating and Managing Activities.

Click the Save button to create your new Opportunities and new Activities. Click Back to change any details in the Opportunity Details screen. Click Cancel to cancel the creation of the Opportunities and Activities.

Once new Opportunities have been created, you’ll get an email notification. You’ll be able to see these Opportunities in the Opportunities Interface.

 

Linking Opportunities to Customer Interactions

You can link the Opportunity to track different interactions and transactions from the Customer. As you link the Opportunity to these interactions, you’ll also have the option to create new Opportunities or view and select closed Opportunities.

You can link Opportunities to:

 

New Pledges and Legacies

All Pledges and Legacies are linked to an Opportunity, which you can create at the time of recording the Pledge or Legacy.

    1. In the Opportunities Interface, navigate to the People Dashboard and search for a Customer.
    2. Click on the Customer Record you’d like to create a Pledge or Legacy for.
    3. Click on Pledges and Legacies in the top menu.
    4. On the bottom of the Pledges and Legacies screen, click New Pledge or New Legacy.

      The Pledges and Legacies screen.

    5. If the Customer doesn’t have any existing Opportunities, a pop up will appear. Continue to follow the steps in the New Opportunity Pop Up Screen.
    6. If the Customer has any existing Opportunities, you’ll be prompted to select an Opportunity. You can do the following from this screen:

      The Select Opportunity screen.

      • Choose an active Opportunity.
      • Check the box Show closed opportunities to view and select closed Opportunities.
      • Create a new Opportunity by clicking the Add New Opportunity button, which will take you to the New Opportunity Pop Up Screen.

    After linking an Opportunity, you can continue recording the Pledge or Legacy. For more information read, Pledges and Legacies.

    WARNING: You can’t change the Opportunity of a Pledge or Legacy. To amend the Opportunity linked, you’ll need to delete or cancel the Pledge or Legacy and create a new Pledge or Legacy.

 

New Transactions

At the time of performing a Sale, return or exchange, you can link an Opportunity. You can also create a new Opportunity during the transaction.

TIP: You can link or create an Opportunity while performing a transaction in either the Sales Interface or the Opportunities Interface. While in the Sales Interface, you must have both the Sales User and Opportunities User roles.

  • While performing a Sale in the Opportunities Interface

  • TIP: If you perform a Sale in the Opportunities Interface you’ll always need to link to an Opportunity.

    1. In Opportunities Interface, navigate to the Basket tab on the Pinboard and select a Sales Channel.
    2. Add a Customer or pledge installment or legacy to the Basket/Cart.
    3. If the Customer doesn’t have any existing Opportunities, a pop up will appear. Continue to follow the steps in the New Opportunity Pop Up Screen.
    4. If the Customer has any existing Opportunities, you’ll be prompted to select an Opportunity. You can do the following from this screen:

      The Select Opportunity screen.

      • Choose an active Opportunity.
      • Check the box Show closed opportunities to view and select closed Opportunities.
      • Create a new Opportunity by clicking the Add New Opportunity button, which will take you to the New Opportunity Pop Up Screen.

    After linking an Opportunity, you can continue performing a Sale.

  • While performing a Ticket Return or Exchange in the Opportunities Interface

  • REMINDER: You can’t return or exchange Donations or Memberships in the Opportunities Interface. You’ll need to go to the Sales Interface. Tickets can be returned in the Opportunities or Sales Interface.

    1. In the Opportunities Interface, navigate to the People Dashboard and search for a Customer.
    2. Click on the Customer Record with containing the Order.
    3. In the Orders tab, search and open the Order.
    4. Select the Ticket to Return.
    5. Select a Sales Channel.
    6. After the Item is added to the Basket/Cart, close the Order by clicking OK.
    7. In the Basket/Cart, click Select Opportunity under the Customer’s Name.

      Select Opportunity in the Basket/Cart for a Returned Order.

    8. If the Customer doesn’t have any existing Opportunities, a pop up will appear. Continue to follow the steps in the New Opportunity Pop Up Screen.
    9. If the Customer has any existing Opportunities, you’ll be prompted to select an Opportunity. You can do the following from this screen:

      The Select Opportunity screen.

      • Choose an active Opportunity.
      • Check the box Show closed opportunities to view and select closed Opportunities.
      • Create a new Opportunity by clicking the Add New Opportunity button, which will take you to the New Opportunity Pop Up Screen.

    TIP: If you add a Donation or Membership to the Basket/Cart, you’ll be prompted to add or select an Opportunity.

    After linking an Opportunity, you can continue performing a Return or Exchange.

  • While performing a transaction in the Sales Interface

  • REMINDER: While in the Sales Interface, you must have both the Sales User and Opportunities User roles in order to link or create an Opportunity.

    1. In the Sales Interface, navigate to the Basket/Cart and select a Sales Channel
    2. Add a Customer to the Basket/Cart or start a Return.
    3. Under the Customer’s Name click the Select Opportunity button.

      New Opportunity in the Sales Interface.

    4. If the Customer doesn’t have any existing Opportunities, a pop up will appear. Continue to follow the steps in the New Opportunity Pop Up Screen.
    5. If the Customer has any existing Opportunities, you’ll be prompted to select an Opportunity. You can do the following from this screen:

      The Select Opportunity screen.

      • Choose an active Opportunity.
      • Check the box Show closed opportunities to view and select closed Opportunities.
      • Create a new Opportunity by clicking the Add New Opportunity button, which will take you to the New Opportunity Pop Up Screen.

    After linking an Opportunity, you can continue performing a Sale, Return or exchange.

 

Existing Orders

You can also link an Opportunity after an Order is confirmed. You can also create a new Opportunity during this time.

TIP: You can link or create an Opportunity while editing an Order in the Sales Interface or the Opportunities Interface. While in the Sales Interface, you must have both the Sales User and Opportunities User roles.

    1. In the Sales Interface, search for the Order or search for the Customer whose Order you’d like to edit. Click on the Customer Record and click Orders in the top menu.
    2. In the Opportunities Interface, search for the Customer whose Order you’d like to edit. Click on the Customer Record and click Orders in the top menu.
    3. Find the Order you would like to Edit. Click the Order.
    4. Scroll down the Order Details to Opportunity which should say “There is no opportunity associated with this order. Click to add one.”

      Opportunity in an Order.

    5. If the Customer doesn’t have any existing Opportunities, a pop up will appear. Continue to follow the steps in the New Opportunity Pop Up Screen.
    6. If the Customer has any existing Opportunities, you’ll be prompted to select an Opportunity. You can do the following from this screen:

      The Select Opportunity screen.

      • Choose an active Opportunity.
      • Check the box Show closed opportunities to view and select closed Opportunities.
      • Create a new Opportunity by clicking the Add New Opportunity button, which will take you to the New Opportunity Pop Up Screen.

    After linking an Opportunity, you’ll return back to the Order Details.

 

New and Existing Activities

You can also link Opportunities to an Activity. Linking an Opportunity to an Activity is optional.

  • While linking an Opportunity to an Activity
  • While linking a Customer to an Activity
    1. Search for the Customer in the People Dashboard.
    2. From the search results or from their Customer Record, drag and drop the person icon into an Activity.
    3. You’ll be prompted to select an Opportunity. You can do the following from this screen:

      The Select Opportunity screen.

      • Choose an active Opportunity.
      • Check the box Show closed opportunities to view and select closed Opportunities.
      • Create a new Opportunity by clicking the Add New Opportunity button, which will take you to the New Opportunity Pop Up Screen.
      • You can also choose Do not select an opportunity if you would like to attach the Customer to an Activity without an Opportunity.

    After linking an Opportunity, you can continue creating or editing the Activity.

 

On-Demand Training Video - Opportunities Management

In this section of our Spektrix Training: On-Demand video on Fundraising and Opportunities, we cover Opportunities Management.

This chapter is a guided walkthrough of:

  • Setting up an Opportunity
  • Opportunity Stages
  • Managing Opportunities

VIDEO TIP: With our Spektrix Training: On Demand videos- you can stop, restart or move to specific chapters. Click the CC option to turn on captions. Click in the Settings menu cog icon to control speed, captions and quality.

 

Further Reading

You now have the information to create Opportunities. You can continue reading to learn about Managing and Closing Opportunities. For more information on Opportunities, take a look at the articles in the Donor Pipeline and Stewardship section.