Sales Stage for abandoned opportunities

Hi Dave,

We use a sales stage of "other", then a sub-sales stage of "abandoned". We actually have two different sub-sales stages, "abandoned by customer" and "abandoned by us". Our definition for "abandoned by customer" is that it was an opportunity (or hint of an opportunity) where the customer didn't pursue anything. They didn't go with a competitor or didn't go with us. Maybe they lost funding, lost interest, etc. "Abandoned by us" is used when we pull out for some reason, we don't have a solution for their issue, we don't think we will win at all, etc. Anything with the "other" sales stage is set as status "closed" so it is removed from the funnel, but of course can still be reported on,etc.

Hi Dave,

I would suggest you always choose one of the top level 'Closed' status, and regarless if Closed Won or Closed lost, have a related selectable Won and Lost reason field, so one for the later would be the Abandoned value, as in effect that is a reason not a stage?

Hi Ben,

Thanks for your reply.  I don't believe manually adding a new sales stage is a viable approach as this would not work with the hardwired forecasting and funnel-graphs functions.  This is the advice I've received anyway.  Perhaps I am wrong.

Regards,

Dave.

Hi Tony,

Yes, that's pretty much what we have to do at this stage.  It doesn't help with the graphs and reports that are based purely on the sales stage though.  My business team don't like to see things in the Closed Lost bucket when no attempt was actually made to win the opportunity.

Regards,

Dave

Hi Dave,

You could easily adjust the reports to exclude the lost by 2nd level reason value?

Something else that you can consider is maybe more stringent Lead -to- Opportunity qualification, because maybe they can identify some of these ealier in the cycle?

Hi Tony,

Interesting suggestions.  I've been told that version 12 is introducing a new feature that will provide better support for abandoned opportunities.  I'll be having a look at that shortly and will provide an update.

Thanks,

Dave.

Hello,

I'm pretty much in line with Tony Romano's suggestions here. Also, maybe work with your team to tell them that closed lost is not necessarily a bad thing. 

To summarize and maybe add a bit: 

1. Define relevant "lost reasons", including "internal no go". Not too many, just enough
2. Filter out these lost reasons in win rate calculations
3. Use leads instead of accounts+opps for less qualified contacts. Yes, that's a bit more work but that's better for 1) opp win rate morale and 2) GDPR/data cleaning: it's easier to clean out dead leads than accounts + contacts + opps. 
4. Maybe add a "suspended" stage for those opps that are not really dead that your sales team can try to warm up from time to time. This often feels less definitive to salespeople

Hope this helps!

Damien

Hi Damien,

Thanks for your input. I like your suggestions but we are not a large organisation and I need to keep things simple where I can. 

Looking at what's new in v12, I'm probably going down the path of using the new Sales Stage Classifications feature. I may introduce "Abandoned by Us" and "Abandoned by Customer" as new Sales Stage options, both classified as "Closed Lost".  

Introducing a "Suspended" Sales Stage is an interesting idea, I think our sales teams may go for that.

Thanks!

Dave.

Hi again Ben,

Looks like version 12 is supporting exactly what you've suggested.

Thanks!

Dave.