Sales Center is a powerful tool to help agencies grow their business by streamlining the sales pipeline. It provides a way to track and manage sales tasks, target opportunities, and close deals. In this article, we will cover how to navigate the Sales Center Opportunities page, and how to push opportunities through the pipeline. 

Before using Sales Center, a Sales Center Admin should check that the Sales Center settings are customized for your agency. Check out our Sales Center: Setup & Settings Customization article to learn more!

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• How to access
• How to navigate
  • Card View
  • Table View
  • Expanded View
• Creating Opportunities
  • Automatically
  • Imported
  • Manually
• How to work an opportunity
  • Changing Status
  • Updating an Opportunity
  • Splitting Opportunities
  • Deleting Opportunities

Did you know? - You can click on the images in our articles to make them bigger!

How to access

To access the Sales Center Opportunities page, you must have Sales Center access. To check if you have Sales Center access, look for the Sales Center icon on the left navigation bar. If you do not see the icon, please work with your Agency Admin to get access to Sales Center. If you do see the icon, you have Sales Center access!

There are two ways you can access the Sales Center Opportunities page. 

The first way is to hover over it to open the Sales Center menu and choose the Opportunities option. 

The other way is on a customer's account. While on a customer's account that has an opportunity already created, you can select the Sales Center icon on the customer pane. If you do not see this icon while on a customer's account, it means that customer does not have an opportunity active in Sales Center.

Whichever path you take, you will land on the Opportunities page which is your home base for all Sales Center activities! If you took the path from the customer's pane, you'll have the additional benefit of already having the page filtered down so that you only see that customer's opportunity on the page.

How to navigate

There is a lot of information to be found in Sales Center and multiple ways to view that information. In this section of the article, we will cover how to navigate the Card View, the Table View, and the Expanded View.

Card View

The Card View is the default view and will be the view you land on for your first visit to Sales Center. This view provides a card for each opportunity and separated them into colored columns by pipeline status. This makes it easier to see what part of the sales pipeline certain opportunities may be blocked within the process. 

Did you know? - The Status Columns have infinite scrolling! You can scroll all the way to the end of the column if you need.

Pipeline Statuses

The statuses are broken into two categories - working & decision. The default expanded statuses are known as the "working statuses" and the default collapsed statuses found on the right-side of the page are known as the "decision statuses". Below is a list of the current pipeline statuses, which category they belong to, and their intended purpose.

By default, the decision columns (Won, X-Date, Dead) are hidden by default, but you can expand them whenever you need to. You can have a maximum of 5 total expanded columns. 

Opportunity Cards

Each Opportunity on the Card View is represented by a card. Each card can contain a lot of information. Check out the table below to see all the items that could be displayed on an opportunity card.

You can also hover over some of the items to receive more information or descriptions.

Show/Hide

You have the ability to hide all the items described on the card above with the exception of the Customer Name and the Expanded Details icon. Hiding items will change the size of the card so you can see more cards per column without scrolling. This allows you to customize your experience, so you see exactly what you want to see in your day to day. To show/hide items, select the Show/Hide dropdown, and uncheck to hide or check to show the items you would like to see.

Search & Filters

You can search for an opportunity using the search bar, by using any of the following criteria: 

• Customer Name (PL) or Business Name (CL)
  
• Primary Contact (CL Only) or Secondary Contact (CL Only) 
  
• Address (Street, City, Zip Code)

After you have selected the opportunity, you are looking for, the page will update to find any relevant opportunities for that customer. To remove a search, simply select the X in the search field.

You can also filter for an opportunity with the following filter options:

• Account Type (PL and CL selected by default) 
  
• Producer (All Producers including Disabled/Inactive)
  
• Status
  
• Priority
  
• Agency (Your agency will be selected by default)
  
• X-Date (select beginning and end range)
  
• Opportunity Source 
  
• Prior Carrier
  
• Line of Business  
  
• State  
  
• Zip Code 

To apply a filter, select the Filters option next to the Search bar. Then using the different options listed above, choose the filters you want. When you are ready to apply the filters, select the Apply button at the bottom, and the page will automatically update. To clear out all filters, select the Reset button. To close the Filters option, you can select the Filters option next to the Search Bar again or select the X in the top right-hand corner of the Filters menu.

Sort By

Finally, you can sort the cards within the status columns with the following sorting options: 

• Date Last Updated Ascending
  
• Date Last Updated Descending
  
• Name A to Z
  
• Name Z to A
  
• Priority High to Low
  
• Priority Low to High
  
• Task Due Date Ascending
  
• Task Due Date Descending
  
• X-Date Soonest First (Default)
  
• X-Date Farthest First 

When sorting, any blank fields will be at the bottom of the list. For example, when sorting by X-Date Soonest First, you will see all Opportunities with X-Dates at the top, while all Opportunities with no X-Dates will be at the bottom. To sort the cards, select the Sort By dropdown and choose the option that best suits your needs. The page will automatically update to apply the new sort.

Did you know? - The system will save your preferences for Show/Hide, Filters, and Sort by when using Card View until the next time you clear your browser cache.

Table View

The Table View is an alternate view that you can switch to easily if you prefer to view data in a spreadsheet format. To access the Table View, simply select the Table View button in the top-right. 

Opportunity Table

Each opportunity will be on its own row within the Table View and can contain a lot of information. Check out the table below to see all the items that can be displayed on an opportunity.

You can hover over some items to receive more information or descriptions. Also, the Customer Name, Phone Number, and Email Columns are frozen so that you can scroll sideways to see all the informational columns.

Show/Hide

You have the ability to hide all the items described above with the exception of the Customer Name, the Expanded Details icon, and the Multi-Select Checkboxes. Hiding items will change the size of the table's width decreasing the likelihood of needing to use the side scrollbar to see all the information displayed. This allows you to customize your experience, so you see exactly what you want to see in your day to day. To show/hide items, select the Show/Hide dropdown, and uncheck to hide or check to show the items you would like to see.

Search/Filters

You can also search for an opportunity in Table View using the search bar, by using any of the following criteria: 

• Customer Name (PL) or Business Name (CL)
  
• Primary Contact (CL Only) or Secondary Contact (CL Only) 
  
• Address (Street, City, Zip Code)

After you have selected the opportunity you are looking for, the page will update to find any relevant opportunities for that customer. To remove a search, simply select the X in the search field. 

You can also filter for an opportunity on the Table View with the following filter options:  

• Account Type (PL and CL selected by default)
  
• Producer
  
• Status (Won, X-Date, and Dead statuses are NOT selected by default)
  
• Priority
  
• Agency (Your agency will be selected by default)
  
• X-Date (select beginning and end range)
  
• Opportunity Source
  
• Prior Carrier
  
• Line of Business  
  
• State  
  
• Zip Code 

To apply a filter, select the Filters option next to the Search bar. Then using the different options listed above, choose the filters you want. When you are ready to apply the filters, select the Apply button at the bottom, and the page will automatically update. To clear out all filters, select the Reset button. To close the Filters option, you can select the Filters option next to the Search Bar again or select the X in the top right-hand corner of the Filters menu.

Bulk Actions Menu

One feature that can be found only in the Table View is the Bulk Actions Menu. This menu allows the ability to perform the following bulk actions on the Table View by selecting the checkboxes next to an opportunity: 

• Email Campaign - Will only work if the opportunities you select have an email; allows you to send an email campaign to the selected opportunities.
  
• Add A Note - Opens Workspace allowing you to add notes to multiple opportunities at once.
  
• Change Status - Allows you to bulk move opportunities from one status to another.
  
  • X-Date: Just like on Card View, you'll be prompted to select/confirm X-Date for ALL selected opportunities before saving to X-Date status.
  • Dead: Also, for Dead bulk status moves, you'll be asked if you want to turn off ALL email campaigns for ALL selected customers before saving to Dead status.
• Assign Producer - Ability to bulk reassign producers to new opportunities.
  • Only admins will be able to reassign producers.
  • You cannot assign producers to a customer if they do not have access to that account.
• Delete - Sales Center - Admins only; allows you to delete opportunities.

Attention! - The Bulk Action options only show up AFTER you have checked at least one opportunity.

Sort By

You can also sort the columns within the Table View by clicking on the column headers. The page will automatically update to apply the new sort. The following columns are available for sorting: 

• Name
• Opportunity Source
  
• Next X-Date (Soonest First Default)
  
• Next Task Date
  
• Last Updated
  
• Status
  
• Producer
  
• Sales Priority  
  
• Agency  

When sorting, any blank fields will be at the bottom.  For example, when sorting by X-Date Soonest First, you will see all Opportunities with X-Dates at the top, with all Opportunities with no X-Dates at the bottom.

Did you know? - The system will save your preferences for Show/Hide, and Filters when using Table View until the next time you clear your browser cache.

Expanded View

Whether you are in Card View or Table View, you will have the option to view an individual opportunity in Expanded View. This view holds a lot of additional information and actions. To access it, simply select the Expand Details Icon on either a card or row. This will open a new browser tab and take you to that opportunities Expanded View.

The Expanded View can contain a lot of information. Check out the table below to see all the items that could be displayed on the Expanded View.

If you are on a Commercial Lines opportunity, there will be one additional feature that you will not find on a Personal Lines opportunity. Between the PURL icon and the Create eSignature Envelope button, you will find a Create Submission option which will take you to the Create Submission page for that opportunity's account. 

Creating Opportunities

Now that you familiar with different views of Sales Center, let's talk about how Opportunities get into the system. There are three different ways that opportunities can get into the system - automatically, manually, and imported. 

Automatically

Sales Center Admins can setup settings for Sales Center to automatically create opportunities when the following events happen in EZLynx:

• When a new account is created in EZLynx a new opportunity can be created.
• When an auto or home quote is completed for an account where those lines of business do not already exist, a new opportunity can be created. 

These are great opportunity automations to enable to decrease the amount of manual work needed to create opportunities. Check out our Sales Center: Setup & Settings Customization article to learn more about setting up this feature.

Imported

Another way you can get opportunities into the system is via importing a list of prospects using our Sales Center Prospecting feature. To learn more about how to import a list of prospects using this feature, check out our Sales Center - Importing Leads via Prospecting article.

Manually

If you need to manually make an opportunity for a customer's account, select the Add Note button in the top-right of EZLynx. This will open the Add Note Workspace pane on the right. Search for the customer's account that you need to add the opportunity to, and when you find it, select the customer's name. This will open up the Create Note section of the pane.

Enter in a Discussion Title and a note into their respective fields. Finally, select the Create Opportunity icon which looks like a briefcase next to the Reset button. This will open up the Opportunity pane to the left.

If there is already an opportunity created for this account, you will see a yellow warning at the top of the Opportunity pane. Select the warning to show the link to the already created Opportunity and select the link to go to the opportunity already created. 

If there is not already an opportunity, you will not see the yellow warning. Fill out the Opportunity Pane to the best of your ability and then select the Save button back on the Add Note Pane to finalize the creation of the new opportunity. You will then be able to find the Opportunity back on the Opportunities page under the New status.

How to work an opportunity

Now that you know your way around and how to get opportunities into the system, let's talk about how to work an opportunity. Please note, that we will be explaining how to do certain tasks in the system only. Please follow your agency's operational manual on proper procedures. 

Changing Status

As you are going through the different phases of the sales pipeline, you will want to change the status of the opportunity to reflect its current stage. To do this in Card View, simply drag and drop the card into the status column it needs to be in.

Anytime an opportunity is moved to a new status in this way, a confirmation bar will appear at the bottom of the screen. in the event of mistakenly moving a card to the wrong status column, simply select "undo" to move the card back to the previous status column.

Attention! - The Undo button is only available while the system is saving your changes. Once the changes are saved, you will have to manually find and move the opportunity if you missed your change to click the Undo button.

To change a status in Table View, check the boxes on the opportunities you want to change the status for and then select the change status dropdown. Choose the status you want to change the status to and a confirmation message will pop-up. Confirm the bulk action and the system will refresh with the change applied. 

Attention! - Unlike the Card View, Table View does not have an undo option.

If you move an opportunity to the X-Date status column, you'll be prompted to set/confirm an X-Date before you're able to save the opportunity to the X-Date status. Be sure to check the year of your X-Date.

Similarly, when you move an opportunity to the Dead status, you'll be prompted to confirm if you're okay with turning off ALL email campaigns for that particular customer before confirming this update. If desired, you can unselect the option to maintain all active email campaigns for this customer.

Updating an Opportunity

Keeping track of new information or updating current information on an opportunity is super important. You can edit almost all of the information on an opportunity from within Sales Center. The only information you will need to update on the actual customer account is the contact information and the lead info. These can be updated on the customer account's Details and Lead Info tabs.

To edit an opportunity in either in Card or Table View, select the Notes icon. This will open the Edit Opportunity pane on the right side. 

When you make an edit to the opportunity, you always need to input a note. If you aren't sure what to put, documenting what you changed and why is a great thing to add to the note. When you are finished editing the opportunity, select the Save button to finalize the changes. 

Splitting Opportunities

When multiple lines of businesses exist on a single opportunity, the option to split the opportunity is available. If a scenario comes up where a customer wants to move forward with one line of business but not the other, you will want to split the opportunity so that you can document the lines of business decisions accordingly. 

To split an opportunity in either Card or Table view, select the Notes icon to open the Edit Opportunity pane on the right-side.

On the Edit Opportunity pane, select the Split Opportunity button. This will change the Edit Opportunity pane to the Split Opportunity pane. 

On the Split Opportunity pane, drag and drop the line of business you want to remove from this opportunity to the New Opportunity section. 

If you have more than two lines of businesses, and you need to split out all of the lobs into new opportunities, you can select the Add Opportunity button to add a new box to the Split Opportunity pane. This button is only click-able if you have more than 2 LOBs available on an opportunity.

Then, input a note detailing that you split the LOBs and why. Finally, select the Save button. This will cause the confirm split message to pop-up. Confirm you want to split the opportunity and the system will refresh and apply the split.

Once the system is refreshed, you will find the existing opportunity in the same status it was in before while the new opportunity with the "removed" LOB(s) is now its own opportunity and is in the New status. From here, you can continue your procedure of documenting which LOB(s) the customer purchased, and which needs to be X-Dated for future review.

Deleting Opportunities

Only those with Sales Center Admin permissions have the capability to delete an opportunity. To check to see if you have Sales Center Admin Permissions, go to Table View and check an opportunity to bring up the Bulk Actions options. If Delete is an option, then you have Sales Center Admin Permissions and can delete opportunities via the Table View. If you do not see the Delete option, you cannot delete opportunities and should work with your Agency Admin if opportunities need to be deleted. 

To delete an opportunity simply select the Delete option. This will bring up the confirmation window to confirm you do in fact want to delete the opportunity. Once confirmed, the system will refresh, and the opportunity will be gone.

Attention! - You can only delete an opportunity from the Table View and it is not reversible so use it wisely.

We hope this training article was helpful in learning how to navigate the Sales Center Opportunities page and push opportunities through the Sales Pipeline. Please let us know if this article was helpful by answering the question below. Check out our related training articles on the right-side to learn more about how to master EZLynx!