When designing a deal registration system on Salesforce, is it best to use the lead or opportunity object? The answer is: it depends. There are a number of factors to consider when determining which object to use. Consequently, this seemingly simple question has generated a lot of confusion and debate.

To help guide your decision, we’ve indentified the top five factors to consider when determining whether leads or opportunities offer a better starting point for your deal registration system.

Who Approves Deal Registrations?

The question of who approves deal registrations impacts the decision of whether to use leads or opportunities. Let’s consider the options:

Channel Manager

If the channel manager is approving deal registrations you want as few steps as possible.  We all know that channel managers are busy with multiple partner activities and they risk becoming a bottleneck in the process. When starting with leads, the approval process at a minimum requires that the approver search for potentially duplicate deals – whether internal or from another partner – approve or reject the deal, and then convert the registration to an opportunity. These processes are time consuming yet imperative. The importance of searching for duplicate deals cannot be understated in order to minimize channel conflict. Starting with opportunities simplifies the process by eliminating the conversion step.

Deal Desk

Larger companies with high deal registration volumes may have a dedicated deal desk to process registrations and therefore the bottleneck issue is less of a concern. Furthermore, a central deal desk will have more time to search for duplicate registrations and manage the lead-to-opportunity conversion process. Consequently, starting with leads is a viable option.  If you decide to start with opportunities, be aware that opportunities cannot be assigned and owned by a queue for approval when using the native Salesforce workflow. The current work around is to grant deal desk users greater administrative rights to be able to approve deals, which we have found to be an acceptable tradeoff.

What is the approval criteria and process?

Your approval process can be designed for both lead and opportunity objects. However, if deal registration approval hinges on the ability to identify whether net-new products are being sold into an account that is either existing or new, then it makes sense to start with the opportunity object.

What is the volume of registrations?

If you have a large volume of registrations, consider using the leads object. The advantage is that leads can be owned by a queue. This alleviates process bottlenecks by enabling multiple approvers – whether centralized at a deal desk or decentralized in the field – to rapidly respond to registrations.

How do you identify duplicate registrations?

Salesforce ships with robust functionality for identifying duplications using the lead object. The intended goal is keeping account and contact data clean. Yet this same functionality allows you to avert potential channel conflict by effortlessly identifying dupes and consistently adjudicating approvals. If you start with the opportunity object, a similar level of functionality is achievable, but custom development is required.

How do you forecast registered deals?

If your deal registration program is offered to an elite sub-set of trusted partners that are empowered to update opportunity sales stages, thus directly impacting your forecast, then starting with the opportunity object may be advantageous. If you pursue this path, you will need to consider how to handle the accounts and contacts associated with approved opportunities so data integrity is maintained. You will also need to bullet proof your de-duping and approval processes to safeguard forecast accuracy so multiple representations of the same opportunity don’t slip onto your forecast.

Who owns the opportunity for approved registrations?

If you use a referral sales model where the partner identifies the deal and your team closes the opportunity, then starting with leads is an obvious choice. If you have a high touch channel model where your partner is responsible for identifying and closing deals, but your team updates the opportunity, leads may also offer a good starting point. In both scenarios, you maintain control over opportunity conversion and forecast management. If you pursue this path, beware of potential bottlenecks on the front and back end of the sales process and adjust internal resources accordingly.

So, where will you start, with leads or opportunities? The answer will differ from organization to organization based on channel structure, deal registration approval criteria, deal volume and a number of other considerations. Whether starting with leads or opportunities, you can rest assured that Salesforce supports both equally well.

If you need advice regarding which Salesforce object is right for your deal registration system, feel free to contact Apprivo directly for a no-obligation consultation.