Opportunities
📝 Note: If the AppDirect logo appears in the upper-left corner of the page, when Manage > Marketplace appears in this topic, click the grid icon > Switch to | Store, instead.
The Opportunities feature is enabled when a New Lead or Purchase button appears in the upper-right corner of the page at Manage > Marketplace > Orders.
❗ Important: Only AppDirect can enable the Opportunities feature. Contact your AppDirect technical representative to request it.
Opportunities are draft purchases that users create to perform assisted sales. In other words, users create them to purchase products on behalf of customers (end users).
Opportunities include information such as:
- customer contact and company names
- quotes versions (Early Availability feature)
- products that customers want to purchase
- product prices
- discounts
- contract terms
- payment information
- shipping addresses
Users who create opportunities are the default opportunity owners. However, Marketplace Managers and Reseller Managers can change who owns opportunities. Opportunity owners can manage the opportunities and sales that result from the opportunities that are attributed to the owners.
After users create opportunities, they can finalize them to complete the purchases immediately. Alternatively, they can save opportunities, change the purchase terms—such as prices—as sales discussions progress, and finalize the opportunities to complete the sales when the customers are ready to purchase the products. Some marketplaces require users to submit opportunities for approval before they are finalized.
Users work with opportunities differently, depending on their role:
- Marketplace Managers manage marketplace and reseller opportunities, and they can perform assisted sales for marketplace customers.
- Reseller Managers manage all Reseller opportunities. They can review, edit, and finalize opportunities that Resellers create.
- Sales Support Representatives (SSRs) use opportunities to perform assisted sales for marketplace customers.
- Resellers use opportunities to perform assisted sales for their reseller customers.
To perform assisted sales that include domains, email products with domains, or bundles, you cannot use opportunities. Instead, see Buy domains and bundles on behalf of customers.
Click the headings below for an overview of the Opportunities feature. The other topics in this section provide information about how Marketplace Managers and SSRs use opportunities to perform assisted sales.
Prerequisites
After AppDirect enables the Opportunities feature, Marketplace Managers configure role settings. For more information, see Configure opportunity role settings.
The opportunity life cycle
The following table displays a summary of opportunity statuses and the opportunity life cycle as users create, edit, submit for approval, review, and finalize opportunities.
The opportunity life cycle and statuses
| Opportunity status | User tasks and outcomes |
|---|---|
| Open | When users create opportunities, they are in Open status and can remain open indefinitely. Users can edit the opportunities. For example: add products and plans that customers want to buy, customize the product prices and contract terms, and change billing and provisioning date options. When customers are ready to buy the products, users perform one of the following actions depending on their role permissions:
|
| Pending Review | SSRs and Resellers can view the opportunities. Marketplace Managers and Reseller Managers review and edit the opportunities. Marketplace Managers and Reseller Managers can finalize the opportunities. The status changes to Closed, orders are created, provisioning starts if it is required, invoices are generated, and payments are automatically collected if the customers have saved payment methods. |
| Closed | The assisted sale is complete. Users cannot edit closed opportunities. |
Opportunity functions by role
Users only have access to opportunities that are applicable to them:
- Marketplace Managers: the opportunities that all users create
- SSRs: the opportunities that users in their company create
- Reseller Managers: the opportunities that Resellers create
- Resellers: the opportunities that they and other users in the same reseller company create
No users can change opportunities that are in Closed status. For more information about opportunity statuses, refer to The opportunity life cycle in this topic.
The following table summarizes what Marketplace Managers, SSRs, Resellers Managers, and Resellers can do with opportunities. For more information about the permissions referenced in the table, see Configure opportunity role settings.
Opportunity functions by role
| Function | Marketplace Manager | SSR | Reseller Manager | Reseller |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| View and work with opportunities | Yes, opportunities created by all users | Yes, all opportunities that users in their company create | Yes, opportunities created by Resellers | Yes, opportunities that they and other users in the same reseller company create |
| Create opportunities | Yes | Yes for marketplace customers, but either only for Company Administrators and Billing Administrators or for all users depending on permissions that Marketplace Managers give SSRs | No | Yes for reseller customers, but either only for Company Administrators and Billing Administrators or for all users depending on permissions that Marketplace Managers give Resellers |
| Delete opportunity | Enabled by default, applies to all open Opportunities in the Marketplace | Can be enabled, applies to all open Opportunities they can see | Can be enabled, applies to all open Opportunities they can see | Can be enabled, applies to all open Opportunities they can see |
| Clone opportunities | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Edit opportunities | Yes, in Open and Pending Review status | Yes, in Open status | Yes, in Open and Pending Review status | Yes, in Open status |
| Edit opportunity ownership | Yes, in Open and Pending Review status | No | Yes, in Open and Pending Review status | No |
| Edit customer payment methods | Yes, in Open status | Yes for Open opportunities depending on marketplace configuration and if Marketplace Managers give SSRs permission | No | Yes for Open opportunities depending on marketplace configuration and if Marketplace Managers give Resellers permission |
| Edit Unit selling price | Yes, in Open and Pending Review status | Yes for Open opportunities when Marketplace Managers give SSRs permission | Yes, in Open and Pending Review status | Yes for Open opportunities when Marketplace Managers give Resellers permission |
| Create and edit custom contracts | Yes, in Open and Pending Review status | Yes for Open opportunities when Marketplace Managers give SSRs permission | Yes, in Open and Pending Review status | Yes for Open opportunities when Marketplace Managers give Resellers permission |
| Edit service and billing start dates | Yes, in Open and Pending Review status | Yes, in Open status | Yes, in Open and Pending Review status | Yes, in Open status |
| Submit for approval | Not applicable | Yes, submit Open opportunities to Marketplace Managers | Not applicable | Yes, submit Open opportunities to Marketplace Managers and Reseller Managers |
| Edit opportunities in Pending Review status | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Finalize opportunities | Yes, in Open and Pending Review status | Yes in Open status if Marketplace Managers give SSRs permission | Yes, in Open and Pending Review status | Yes in Open status when Marketplace Managers give Resellers permission |
Custom purchase, subscription, and order information
To collect custom information during the opportunities assisted sales process, you can configure purchase and subscription custom attributes.
Some marketplaces collect information with order custom attribute fields during checkout, which they pass between integrated systems or include in reports. However, order custom attribute fields do not appear on the Opportunity details page. Instead, subscription custom attribute fields appear on the Opportunity details page. To address this discrepancy, create order and subscription custom attributes that have the same name and key. Information entered in subscription custom attributes fields (for example, on the opportunity details page) is automatically populated in the corresponding order custom attributes so that the information can be included in reports and passed between integrated systems.
For more information, see Create custom attributes.
Keyboard shortcuts
Opportunities pages support keyboard shortcuts. For example,
- To navigate pages, tab between fields, buttons and other elements.
- To display all items, such as companies, users, or products, click in the search field and press Enter.
- To search for, for example, products or customers, enter the following information in search fields:
- Enter fewer than one or two letters of a term and press Enter. A list of matching items appears.
- Enter three or more letters of the item name. A list of matching items appears and it is automatically filtered as you enter more letters.
- To add a product to an opportunity after you search for it, use the arrow keys to navigate the product drop-down list and press Enter to select it.
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