The objective of the Opportunity Portfolio Management sales methodology is to unlock the potential in the overall portfolio of sales opportunities. To do this, each opportunity must be valued; once a value is established, salespeople can correctly apply their resources, most importantly their time. The most valued opportunities will be those most likely to be won, given appropriate attention. This caveat is important!

At first glance, valuing a sales opportunity may seem straightforward, but it isn’t. Putting effort into a one million-dollar deal at the expense of a twenty thousand dollar deal may not be the best way to go. There are many important factors other than dollar value that can, and do, come into play.

The attention given to one sale might be at the expense of something else, because there is only so much time to go around. The ability to administer sufficient attention to each opportunity is the only way for the salesperson to get the best out of their portfolio. Some opportunities may need a lot of attention, and others, hardly any.

If you are not valuing your opportunities properly, and therefore investing your efforts optimally, you could be losing out overall.