Boost your sales by properly managing your business opportunities

To be successful, a company needs to be in the right place at the right time. It needs to capture consumer needs as they emerge and respond appropriately... if possible before its competitors do!

This ability to seize a business opportunity is a key factor in the success of organisations, especially sales departments. It is the starting point of a whole process which, in the end, ideally culminates in a transaction.

But what exactly does this concept mean? How do you identify a business opportunity and turn it into a sale? What software can help you do this?

Find out in this article.

See all software Customer relationship management

What is a business opportunity?

A business opportunity is an integral part of your sales process. It reflects behaviour on the part of a prospect indicating a clear or potential interest in your offer.

👉 Example of a business opportunity: at a trade show, you talk to someone who agrees to leave their contact details so that you can get back in touch with them and find out more about your products or services. This curiosity is a real business opportunity.

From then on, it becomes part of your sales cycle. In other words, you need to take it through the various stages until it closes. That's why this notion goes hand in hand with that of CRM and its sales pipeline.

💡Note: the business opportunity can also be understood in a broader sense, i.e. business creation, capturing new market share, opening up internationally, etc. Here, it all starts with an idea (the launch of an innovative product, for example)... provided that it creates value and is likely to have a real impact on a given segment of the population.

In all cases, a qualified commercial opportunity emerges from consumers/customers. In a way, it's the response you give to your prospects' requests at a specific moment in time.

What's the difference between a business opportunity and a lead?

Lead and business opportunity are two key concepts in the sales cycle. They are part of a progression logic, but do not refer to the same level of maturity in the prospect-company relationship.

The lead corresponds to an identified contact, often via a form, a download or a newsletter subscription. They show an initial interest, which is sometimes still unclear. This weak signal may be the result of a one-off marketing action, without any concrete commitment on the part of the prospect.

A business opportunity, on the other hand, reflects a real or emerging need. The prospect has expressed a more obvious interest in your solution, is looking to solve a specific problem, and your offer is within their field of thought. At this stage, we speak of a qualified lead, integrated into the sales pipeline.

The transition from lead to opportunity does not happen automatically. It requires qualification work (calls, exchanges, scoring, etc.) to detect the right moment to activate the sales approach.

👉 To put it simply:

• a lead is like an attention signal;

• the opportunity defines a plausible intention to buy.

What does a business opportunity contain?

To ensure optimal monitoring over time, the business opportunity managed on CRM software incorporates various pieces of information.

Here are the main ones:

• The contact and all associated information, such as contact details, event history, interactions with your company, etc.
  
  
• The owner, i.e. the sales person in charge of managing the opportunity until the sale is concluded. In some complex cases, several players may be involved.
  
  
• The source, or the channel through which the opportunity is generated: contact form, professional event, SEA campaign, etc. Whatever the case, this information is always good to know in order to determine your best acquisition levers.
  
  
• Probability of success and potential sales. With this data, you can understand the associated challenges and allocate your efforts accordingly.
  
  
• The pipeline, in other words the different phases of your sales tunnel (making contact, appointments, etc.). As you will have realised, the aim is to move your sales opportunity from one stage to the next.

Of course, the business opportunity is bound to "end". So you need to determine what in your process corresponds to its completion: the sending of the quotation? the invoice?

Similarly, ask yourself when you consider this opportunity to be lost. For example, after three unanswered reminders to make contact, it's best to give up.

How to find business opportunities in 3 steps?

Step 1: Understand your market and your target audience

Identifying business opportunities involves understanding :

• your market and your environment, so that you can identify current and emerging issues. Remember, it's all about being more reactive than your competitors. For example, why not position yourself on Google Ads keywords related to a new trend?
  
  
• your target audience, by precisely identifying your personas. Who are they? And above all, what are their deepest needs?

In this respect, the explosion of the Internet has made things much simpler. All you have to do is be where your potential customers are, listen to what they have to say on social networks, forums and so on.

There is also software capable of doing this monitoring work for you, spotting trends, but also the actions of your competitors.

💡 Special mention should be made of PESTEL analysis, which is based on exploring the micro-environmental factors (political, economic, socio-cultural, etc.) that surround you. It's a useful tool for identifying risks... but also opportunities!

Stage 2: Responding concretely to a need

Once you know what the market opportunities are, ask yourself how your offer responds to them.

This involves drawing up a clear outline of your value proposition, i.e. the assets you have at your disposal to address your target's needs and build your sales pitch.

Of course, you need to find that extra something that sets you apart from your competitors. Don't forget that you're not alone in your market and that your prospects regularly deal with other salespeople!

Step 3: Capturing leads

Now it's time to make yourself known to your potential customers so as to bring leads into your sales pipeline.

You have several strings to your bow here.

The first is inbound marketing, which exploits the digital ecosystem to find business opportunities online. It's based on distributing quality content that's in tune with your target audience's needs. Your objective? To obtain your prospects' contact details, using a contact form for example. The advantage of this method is that it generates qualified leads.

At the same time, there are the good old techniques of commercial prospecting: events, telemarketing, prospecting in the field and so on. But here too, practices are being modernised, as demonstrated by the boom in social selling.

Examples of business opportunities

Business opportunities take a variety of forms, depending on the sector, the context and the maturity of the prospect.

Here are a few concrete examples, taken from common B2B situations:

• An incoming call from a decision-maker wanting to know more about a specific solution. They have a budget and a defined need, and are looking for a responsive service provider.
  
  

• A former customer contacting you again after several months of inactivity about a new project. In this case, you know that they are already familiar with your offerings and have placed their trust in you.
  
  

• A dormant prospect who suddenly interacts with high added-value content (webinar, case study, simulator, etc.), showing renewed interest.
  
  

• A request for a demonstration via your website. The consumer wants to try out your solution for themselves and is therefore entering an active evaluation phase.
  
  

• A referral from a partner or satisfied customer. Here, the recommendation acts as an accelerator and you start with a favourable preconception.
  
  

• A call for tenders to which your company is invited to respond. Even if the competition is still there, the opportunity is real.
  
  

• Entering a new market after monitoring the competition or the sector. An under-exploited geographical area, an under-addressed customer segment... these are all levers for creating value.

A business opportunity can be the result of a direct signal or a proactive strategy. The important thing is to know how to qualify its potential quickly!

💡 To wit: the more active your market intelligence, the greater your chances of detecting opportunities before your competitors do.

What tools should you use to manage your business opportunities?

As you will have realised, the best tool for handling your business opportunities is undoubtedly your CRM.

Customer Relationship Management software will help you meticulously monitor your operations and interactions with your customers.

More specifically, a good commercial CRM should include the following functionalities

• management and centralisation of contacts and all customer information ;
• management of sales actions and the sales pipeline;
• reporting and monitoring sales performance
• automation of recurring and time-consuming tasks.

Sellsy Prospection & Vente, for example, is designed for very small businesses and SMEs. 100% French, Sellsy supports your sales process from start to finish. In particular, it incorporates a highly intuitive pipeline view. This means you can process your business opportunities efficiently, right through to sending the quote and settling the invoice (electronic signature, online payment, etc.). And thanks to the activity reports, you can monitor the performance of your sales staff with a view to improving them.

See all software Customer relationship management

Business opportunities: what's in it for me?

A business opportunity is not always easy to seize: its value depends largely on how well it is qualified.

Once captured, it's in your best interests to handle it intelligently, scrupulously respecting the stages of the sales pipeline: at the end of the tunnel, the prospect of a successful transaction and its positive impact on the company's turnover.

These days, however, it's out of the question to do things the old-fashioned way. A successful sales team is one that knows how to use the right software, the famous CRM.

These tools intelligently guide you through your processes and automate many tasks. As a result, you have more time to concentrate on what matters most: understanding your customers and providing them with the best possible support in bringing their projects to fruition.