Hi there

Here are updated definitions of those two critical words:

Prospect: a prospect is an individual (or organisation) assessed to have a non-zero probability of purchasing during a reasonable time horizon

Notice the complete absence of qualification.  If you are not certain that an individual cannot purchase during a reasonable time horizon, then you should assume that he is a prospect.  Obviously, prospect lists can – and should – be indexed (prioritised) based on available information.

Opportunity: an opportunity is a prospect to whom you have allocated – or intend to allocate – a unit of a salesperson's capacity (note: you should only deem a prospect to be an opportunity if he has requested an appointment or if there is a reasonable likelihood of him accepting one if offered)

This definition of opportunity ensures that any prospect who is placing (or who may soon place) a load on your salesperson's finite capacity is identified within your CRM's Opportunity-management module – and that your assumptions relating to this opportunity (objective, dollar value, etc) have been recorded.

As you know, opportunity queues are also indexed (according to the expected yield each opportunity is expected to produce if allocated to the salesperson's next available appointment slot).  Qualification (which is categorical) is out: indexing (which is incremental) is in.

Now, you deem a prospect to be an opportunity if you send him a pre-approach letter with the intention of following-up that letter with the offer of an appointment.  The acid-test for reasonable likelihood (see the definition above) is the number of calls the sales coordinator needs to make (on average) in order to schedule an appointment.  If the ratio is 10:1 or less, that's okay.  If it's 20:1 it's definitely not.

If your sales coordinator needs to make 20 calls in order to schedule an appointment you either have an unappealing or a poorly communicated offer.  You need to fix this problem for a number of reasons – not the least of which that your sales coordinator is not – and should never be allowed to become – a telemarketer.

Justin