What are Opportunity Products?

Opportunity Products are native Salesforce functionality that enables companies to improve visibility into their sales pipeline, forecast future fulfillment loads accurately, and provide detailed quotes to engaged prospects.

Sometimes called Opportunity Line Items, they are the missing ingredient that many businesses need to get the most out of their existing Salesforce implementation.

Opportunity Products are always used with Salesforce Pricebooks, Products and of course Sales Opportunities!

  • What are Opportunity Products versus Opportunity Line Items?  These are interchangeable terms – though Opportunity Products is more widely used. the term “Opportunity Line Items” tends to be used more in technical conversations (APEX/programmatic references).

 

  • How do Products compare to Opportunity Products?  Products are any/all products or services that your company sells. These can include support offerings, platform(s), add-ons, etc.
    • Products don’t have pricing information, “just” description, family, product code, etc. plus any custom fields you add to the Product object. These custom fields can include: Cost of Goods Sold (COGS), size, color, warranty, taxable, etc.
    • Opportunity Products are just those (subset) that are associated with each specific Opp. Specific pricing comes from Pricebooks (see below) but can be overridden using the Sales Price fields in the Opportunity

 

  • What’s the Relationship of Opportunity Products to Pricebooks?  Pricebooks are used to tailor products/prices for specific kinds of customers / opportunities – for example direct versus partner Pricebooks, an updated 2017 Pricebook, government/non-profit Pricebook, etc.
    • Only one Pricebook can be used for each Opportunity – keep this in mind if you decide to create separate pricebooks for licenses versus services. Any combination of Products that can be included in an Opportunity should all be included in a single Pricebook.
    • There is a default (standard/master) Pricebook – this includes your company-wide Standard Prices for each Product; think of this as a “master” Pricebook that can be cloned to create new Pricebooks with different Products, prices, etc.

 

  • What’s the Standard Price versus List Price versus Sales Price?  Standard Price is the default price across the company worldwide while List Price is the default price for a specific Pricebook – for example you may have discounted List Prices available only for your partners/distributors. Sales Price is the actual unit price for each specific Opportunity. These can be changed/updated as needed (subject to Validation Rules, etc.) without affecting the Standard Price (company-wide) or List Price (for the specific Pricebook).

 

  • How do Opportunity Products get used with Reports?  All Opportunities show up in both the “Opportunities with Products” and “Opportunities with Products and Schedules” report. This is different than what would normally be expected with Salesforce naming of report types. You can use the “Has Products” filter to focus on Opportunities that have associated Opportunity Products. Or use it to identify which Opportunities don’t have Opportunity Products listed.

 

  • What are Product Schedules? Used when products are intended to be sent/consumed by customers over a period of time, usually associated with billing recognition or order fulfillment.  These necessitate that the specific products to be shipped/recognized for revenue are listed in the Opportunity.

 

  • Why can’t I edit my total Opportunity Amount?  When using Opportunity Products, the Opportunity Amount becomes a calculated field – no longer editable directly. It is calculated by taking each Opportunity Product and multiplying the Sales Price by the Quantity. These are then summed to generate the total Amount. Note that the Expected Amount (Revenue) is different. That is calculated by multiplying the specific probability for the Opportunity Stage (or the override percentage input) by the Amount.

 

  • Why can’t I see/add a Product to my Opportunity? Opportunity Products can only be added if the Product is active and the correct Pricebook is active and associated with the Opportunity. Try the steps below in order:
    1. Check to see that the Product exists, and is active.
    2. Review the Pricebook to see if it has the Product listed, and verify that the Pricebook is also active.
    3. Open the Opportunity and check to see if the correct Pricebook is being used for the Opportunity. Remember that only one Pricebook is allowed per Opportunity, and changing the associated Pricebook will potentially reset the Opportunity and eliminate any existing Opportunity Products associated with the record!

 

  • What if I use multiple currencies in my Salesforce org?  When using Products/Pricebooks, you need have multiple entries for each currency you use.
    • For instance if you use one Pricebook for Canadian and U.S. Opportunities, than each Product will be listed twice: once with the U.S. List Price and once with the Canadian List Price – each in their own respective currency. 
    • This would not be required if you use different Pricebooks for U.S. Opportunities versus Canadian Opportunities.

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