Leads and opportunities
Close an opportunity as won or lost, put it on hold or reopen it
Record the outcome of a deal with the reason and the competitor, pause or cancel a deal that is not moving, and reopen a closed deal when it comes back.
3 min readLast updated
In this article
Every opportunity ends one way or another. Recording the outcome with a reason is what turns your pipeline into a lesson: over time you see why you win, why you lose and to whom.
Mark a deal as won
Open CRM › Sales › Opportunities.
In the deal's Actions menu, select Mark as won.
Enter the Win reason and confirm.
The system shows Opportunity won. The deal moves to your won stage, its probability becomes 100% and its close date is recorded. The responsible person and the team are notified. If your company uses awards, a draft award may be created for the deal; see awards.
Then issue the sales quotation and invoice from the sales screens, using the deal's customer.
Mark a deal as lost
In the deal's Actions menu, select Mark as lost.
Enter the Loss reason and, if you know it, the Competitor who won.
Confirm.
The system shows that the deal is lost. It moves to your lost stage and its probability becomes 0%. Record the competitor's details on the deal's Competitors tab, and mark them as the Winner, so the loss shows up in your competitor analysis.
Put a deal on hold or cancel it
Not every deal ends in a decision. Use the status buttons on the opportunity page:
Open the deal from the list with View.
In the page header, select Put on hold when the customer has paused the project, or Cancel opportunity when the deal will not happen at all.
Type the Reason. It is required and is kept in the stage history. Select Confirm.
The page header shows the deal's Status - Open, On hold, Cancelled, Won or Lost - and the Status reason.
Reopen a deal
Open the deal and select Reopen in the page header.
Type the Reason and select Confirm.
The deal is open again and can be moved on the pipeline. A won deal that already has an award cannot be reopened; the system tells you so.
Which button to use
Situation | Action |
|---|---|
The customer signed or ordered | Mark as won |
The customer chose someone else, or said no | Mark as lost |
The customer postponed the decision | Put on hold |
The need disappeared, or the deal was entered by mistake | Cancel opportunity |
A paused, cancelled or lost deal is back | Reopen |
Keep the reasons useful
The win and loss reasons are free text. Agree on a few standard phrases with your team - "price", "delivery time", "existing supplier" - and start each reason with one of them, so reasons can be compared across deals.
Common questions
Can I drag a won deal back on the pipeline board? No. Closed deals are locked on the board. Use Reopen on the deal page.
Does marking a deal as won create an invoice? No. Winning a deal records the sale in the CRM. The quotation and the invoice are issued from the sales screens.