Salesforce Opportunity Picklist Values Explained [Stages & Sales Processes]

In Salesforce, stages define the sales process by showing where an opportunity is in the sales cycle, from the first contact with a customer to the final deal.

Each stage shows a step in the sales process, such as qualification, proposal, or negotiation, and helps sales teams track progress and understand the next steps.

Salesforce provides standard stages as picklist values to represent the sales process. However, every organization has different business needs. So, we can add, remove, or modify these picklist values to customize the Opportunity stages.

In this article, we will learn how to use Salesforce opportunity picklist values to customize opportunity stages and configure a sales process that matches our business needs.

What are the Opportunity Stages in Salesforce

Salesforce Opportunity Stages are Picklist fields with values. These stages are considered steps that the user takes to define the current status of a product or service sale. Salesforce has built-in default Opportunity Stages that fulfill the requirements for opportunity stages.

There are 9 opportunity stage values, as follows.

• Prospecting
• Qualification
• Needs Analysis
• Value Proposition
• Id. Decision Makers
• Perception Analysis
• Proposal/ Price Quote
• Negotiation/Review
• Closed

Salesforce Opportunity Picklist Values [Stages & Sales Processes]

Below, I will explain how to add, remove, or modify opportunity stage picklist values and configure a sales process accordingly.

Add Values to Opportunity Stage Picklist in Salesforce

To add values to the Opportunity Stage Picklist in Salesforce, first log in to your Salesforce developer account and follow the steps below.

1. On the Salesforce Setup page, click the Object Manager tab at the top of the screen.

2. In the Object Manager, we can see a list of objects; from this list, select the object Opportunity. We can search for this object in the search bar or scroll down the list.

3. In the Opportunity object setup, go to the details section in the left sidebar and click on Fields and Relationships.

4. In the Fields and Relationships, there is a list of multiple items. Scroll down this list, and at the end, select the item Stages.

5. In the Opportunity field Stage, go to the section Opportunity Stages Picklist Values. This section lists staging values. To create a new opportunity stage value, click on the New button.

6. In the Stage Name field, enter the name of the custom stage. In the Type field, select the option Open. In the Probability field, set the probability percentage for the new opportunity stage. After making these changes, click on the Save button.

As we click on the Save button, the Opportunity Stage value will be created. The newly created stage value, Develop proposal, is added to the section Opportunity Stages Picklist Values.

Now, we have successfully created an Opportunity Stage Picklist Value in Salesforce.

Configure the Sales Process with Opportunity Stage Picklist Value

To configure the Sales Process with the created Opportunity Stage Picklist Value, go to the Salesforce Lightning Setup page and follow the steps below.

1. On the Setup page, go to the Quick Find box, search for Sales Processes, and click on Sales Processes from the dropdown menu.

2. In the Sales Processes, select the sales process where you configure the opportunity stage Picklist Value we created above. If you haven’t created a Sales Process earlier, click on the New button to create a new sales process.

3. In this step, we will enter the values in the required fields to create a New Sales Process. In the Existing Sales Process, select Master, and in the next field, Sales Process Name,  enter the sales process name.
   • In this case, I have named it Opportunity Process. After writing the description, click Save.

4. In this step, we can see two columns: Available Values and Selected Values. Here, remove the existing values from the selected values column using the remove arrow button  “Add.” Keep the Opportunity process values that we have created, and then click on the Save button.

5. When we click Save, a new sales process is created with the selected value. We can see the created sales process in the Sales Processes window.

Till we have configured the Opportunity stage picklist value to a Sales Process.

6. To check the Opportunity stage picklist values configured in Sales processes, go to the Opportunity tab in the Sales application and, in the Stage column, click the pencil icon, as shown in the picture below.

7. When we click on the pencil icon, a drop-down menu opens. Here, we can see a list of Opportunity stages with added value: Develop Proposal.

Now, we have successfully assigned the added value of the opportunity stage to a sales process.

Conclusion

I hope you have got an idea about how to use Salesforce opportunity picklist values to customize opportunity stages and configure a sales process that meets our business needs. We also assigned the Opportunity Stage picklist values we created to Sales Processes.

You may like to read:

• New button missing on Opportunity in Salesforce
• Convert Lead to Opportunity in Salesforce
• Manage Territories and Territory Models for Opportunities in Salesforce
• How to Create an Opportunity from a Contact in Salesforce

Bijay Kumar

I am Bijay Kumar, the founder of SalesforceFAQs.com. Having over 10 years of experience working in salesforce technologies for clients across the world (Canada, Australia, United States, United Kingdom, New Zealand, etc.). I am a certified salesforce administrator and expert with experience in developing salesforce applications and projects. My goal is to make it easy for people to learn and use salesforce technologies by providing simple and easy-to-understand solutions. Check out the complete profile on About us.