A sales opportunity is a source of potential business and you can import a spreadsheet file listing a number of opportunities using Method's Import / Export tool.
The process for importing can be found in the article:
However, preparing the spreadsheet import file will be the trickiest thing, for there are a lot of fields that are required.
In this article, we will show you how to prepare your spreadsheet so you can import it properly.
Preparing the Import File
Before you begin, you may want to make sure you have the proper permissions. Please see our article Giving Access to the Import / Export Tool.
Furthermore, it is important to understand which fields are needed and how to populate them.
Below is a sample template to use for importing an opportunity. We provide one in Google Docs and another as an Excel .xls file.
We will go through each field detailing their purpose.
Name* (required): This is the name of the opportunity and it's a required field. This will identify the opportunity in the opportunities list and, at most, can be 150 characters in length.
Amount: The estimated amount you hope to gain from the opportunity.
AssignedTo* (required): This is the Method user assigned to the opportunity and it's a required field. This field must contain the username as shown within the Preferences > Users list. In other words, do not use the Record ID.
CloseDate* (required): This is the estimated date the opportunity will be closed and it's a required field.
ContactName: This is the name of the contact whom you have the opportunity with.
Contacts: This is the Record ID of contact whom you have the opportunity with. Although not a required field, you must populate this field. Please see the next section about this.
Customer* (required): This is the customer for whom the opportunity is with and it's a required field. This must be entered in exactly as their name is found in QuickBooks. Unlike the contact, you do not use the Record ID.
CreatedBy: This is the Method user who created the opportunity.
Description: Text description of the opportunity.
OpportunityStage* (required): This is the stage the opportunity is at and it's a required field. This is normally populated by a dropdown field, and so the text put in here must exactly match the dropdown options found in the OpportunityStage table. For example, if you misspell "Prospecting", it will not import properly.
ProbabilityPercent: This is the probability percent associated with the Opportunity Stage. Unfortunately, this percentage is not automatically calculated for you. You will need to find the correct value associated with the opportunity stage and manually enter it in.
ExpectedRevenue: This result is calculated by applying the probability percent to the amount. However, this is not automatically calculated for you. You will need to calculate this manually and enter it in here.
LeadSource: This is the Lead Source for the opportunity and it's a required field. This is normally populated by a dropdown field, and so the text put in here must exactly match the dropdown options found in the LeadSource table. For example, if you misspell "Word of mouth", it will not import properly.
NextStep: A text field indicating what to do next with the opportunity.
OpportunityType: The Opportunity Type is normally populated by a dropdown field, and so the text put in here must exactly match the dropdown options found in the OpportunityType table. For example, if you misspell "New Business", it will not import properly.
Once properly filled in, you can use this template to import a number of opportunities for any number of contacts.
Getting the Contact's Record ID
One of the most difficult aspects about importing records into Method is including all the values that relate to other tables.
For example, many tables rely on the Contact's Record ID, as well as the Customer associated to the Contact.
Instead of searching for and manually inputting each Record ID manually, you can use export your Contacts table and use the VLOOKUP function in your spreadsheet to automatically associate the Record ID and the customer to your contact.
Due to the complexity of this process, we have an article called How to use VLOOKUP in a Spreadsheet. When following this article, remember to replace Entity with Customer.
The Opportunities Import Sample file has an example of using VLOOKUP with a sample contacts spreadsheet.
A Note on Activities
Within Method, every opportunity created will also create an associated activity. However, if you import an opportunity using the import tool, there will be no activities associated with it.
Although not covered in this article, you could import a number of activities and associate each one to an opportunity using the Activity's Opportunity field which references the opportunity's Record ID.
Of course, the opportunity must exist first, so you will need to import all your opportunities first.
Furthermore, you will run into the same problem as above. An activity import will need following fields populated:
Contacts: The contact's Record ID.
Entity: The customer name of the contact.
Opportunity: The opportunity's Record ID.
Fortunately, you could use the same VLOOKUP as detailed above, but use the opportunities table to create your look up file.