When to convert Lead in the sales process

[oozypal]

Hello,

This question might not relate directly to SugarCRM....Sorry!

When do you guys/gals convert Lead to Opportunity during the sales process. Let us say that I got a lead and called up that person and he provided me with his website requirement and asked me to send him an offer.

Is this still a lead or should be converted to an opportunity.

[robertbmirth]

A Lead is essentially someone that might have interest in your product/service but that you have not done business with. If you send them a quote, then that's some business and you should convert them to a contact/create an associated account/opportunity.

[eggsurplus]

That's a great question. There are tons of books covering different sales process theories, etc. I think the important question for you is what do you define as a qualified lead. I've seen that answered differently based on the type of business someone is in. It may be if you provide an initial demo, a quote, or even if the lead submits a request via a web form. Once you've defined what is important to your business then you can use that to determine when to convert the lead to an opportunity.

[oozypal]

Thank you guys for your spending your valuable time to help me.

I usually do the following:
When I get a lead throw someone, web, etc, it is a lead until I get in contact with this person. If s/he says that they are interested in our services and requested us to send them an offer, I convert this lead to an opportunity.

Now, there is a controversy among our team whether we convert the lead after offer is requested or we wait until we make sure that they customer is serious about our services.
What do you guys/gals do?

[tparson]

Ultimately it depends on how you define "Opportunity". While some determine that anyone they mention their products to is an opportunity, I believe there has to be a "need" for an opportunity to exist.

Need can be determined prior to a quote being requested. From my perspective, once you determine need, convert. This could be in your initial conversation, in some cases, or after many discussions, in others.

That is how I use Sugar for Opportunities.

[oozypal]

Hello,

Thank you all for your comments.

I have one more questions, if I had a lead and that lead was converted to opportunity and the it was ended successfully. Now, were seeing that this account might need a service.

Now, should I create a lead or opportunity? If I create a lead then convert later to an opportunity, then another contact will be created.

What do you guys/gals usually do in such cases.

OOzy

[tparson]

That would be an opportunity, existing business, in my opinion.

[eggsurplus]

That would be an opportunity, existing business, in my opinion.

Same here.