Lead

A lead is a prospect (customer or non-customer) that your sales team evaluates to determine if they are qualified to advance to the probability of a sale. When you qualify a lead, the lead is then converted to an opportunity.

When you create the implementation layer, the Lead case type contains a set of preconfigured stages and steps.

You can customize the Lead case type by adding stages to reflect the processes your sales team follows to qualify a lead. You can further divide your Lead case type stages into steps that define the tasks or activities that your sales representatives perform within each stage, such as managing campaign responses, creating lead profiles, or scheduling appointments.

For more information about managing leads, see Managing leads.

Opportunity

An opportunity is a qualified deal, or a potential sale that you track, nurture, and manage. Opportunities are the foundation of your sales pipeline, goal attainment, and sales forecast.

When you create the implementation layer, the Opportunity case type contains a set of preconfigured stages and steps.

You can customize the Opportunity case types by modifying the default stages or adding your own stages and steps to reflect the processes that your sales team follows to move an opportunity through the sales pipeline. You can also modify the out-of-the-box steps or add your own steps to define the tasks or activities that your sales representatives perform within each stage, such as identifying competitors, developing proposals, and scheduling appointments.

For more information about managing opportunities, see Modifying the opportunity case type.

In Pega Sales Automation for Financial Services, you can use specialized case types for the Retail and Small/Medium Business market segments. Both case types include stages and steps that match the market segment that they support.