Open Opportunities
Open opportunities are the active deals currently in a sales pipeline, opportunities that have been created and qualified but not yet won or lost, the live deals a team is working.
Key takeaways
- Open opportunities are qualified deals in progress, not yet won or lost, the working pipeline.
- Each has a stage, value, close date, and owner, and stays open until marked won or lost.
- They are the source of future revenue and the raw material of the forecast.
- Managing them is opportunity/deal management; monitoring them in aggregate is pipeline management.
- The big risk is stale open opportunities, dead deals left open that inflate the pipeline and distort the forecast.
Open opportunities are the active deals currently in a sales pipeline, opportunities that have been created and qualified but not yet won or lost. They are the live deals a team is working, and together they make up the pipeline that future revenue will come from.
Open opportunities are the present tense of a sales pipeline: not the leads that might become deals, nor the deals already closed, but the ones in motion right now. Understanding their number, value, stage, and health is the basis of pipeline management and forecasting.
What open opportunities are
An open opportunity is a qualified deal that is still in progress, somewhere between creation and a closed outcome. It has an expected value, a stage, a close date, and an owner, and it remains "open" until it is marked won or lost. The full set of open opportunities is the working pipeline, the deals actively being advanced toward a decision.
What defines an open opportunity
| Attribute | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Stage | Where it sits in the pipeline |
| Value | Expected deal size |
| Close date | When it is expected to close |
| Status | Open, until won or lost |
Why open opportunities matter
- Future revenue. Open opportunities are where the next revenue will come from, the pipeline made concrete.
- Forecasting. Their value, stage, and close dates are the raw material of the revenue forecast.
- Coverage. The total value of open opportunities versus target is pipeline coverage.
- Workload. The count of open opportunities indicates how much each rep is actively managing.
Managing open opportunities
Open opportunities require active management to stay healthy. Each should have a current stage, a defined next step, and a realistic close date, the discipline of opportunity management and deal management. In aggregate, monitoring open opportunities, their number, value, stage distribution, and movement, is pipeline management. The biggest risk is stale open opportunities: deals left open that are really dead, which inflate the pipeline and distort the forecast.
The hygiene problem
A pipeline full of open opportunities looks healthy, but only if those opportunities are real and current. A common failure is letting dead deals stay "open", reps reluctant to mark a loss, so the pipeline shows opportunities that will never close. This inflates coverage, corrupts the forecast, and wastes attention. Good pipeline hygiene means regularly reviewing open opportunities and honestly closing the ones that are no longer alive, so the open pipeline reflects deals genuinely in play. Deal health signals help flag which open opportunities are actually at risk.
Common open opportunity mistakes
- Stale deals left open. Dead deals kept open inflate the pipeline and distort the forecast.
- No next step. Open opportunities without a defined next action drift and stall.
- Unrealistic close dates. Close dates that keep slipping make forecasting unreliable.
- Counting quantity over quality. A high count of weak open opportunities is not a healthy pipeline.
Open opportunities are the live, qualified deals in a pipeline, the concrete source of future revenue and the basis of the forecast. Kept current and honest through disciplined management and hygiene, so the open pipeline reflects deals genuinely in play, they give a clear, trustworthy picture of where revenue stands and where it is heading.
Frequently asked questions
What are open opportunities?
Open opportunities are the active deals currently in a sales pipeline, opportunities that have been created and qualified but not yet won or lost. They are the live deals a team is working, each with an expected value, a stage, a close date, and an owner, and they remain 'open' until marked won or lost. Together they make up the working pipeline.
What defines an open opportunity?
Its stage (where it sits in the pipeline), value (expected deal size), close date (when it is expected to close), and status (open, until won or lost). These attributes make each open opportunity trackable and forecastable.
Why do open opportunities matter?
They are where the next revenue will come from (the pipeline made concrete), their value, stage, and close dates are the raw material of the forecast, their total value versus target is pipeline coverage, and their count indicates how much each rep is actively managing.
How are open opportunities managed?
Each should have a current stage, a defined next step, and a realistic close date, the discipline of opportunity management and deal management. In aggregate, monitoring open opportunities, their number, value, stage distribution, and movement, is pipeline management. Deal health signals help flag which open opportunities are actually at risk.
What is the hygiene problem with open opportunities?
A pipeline full of open opportunities looks healthy only if those opportunities are real and current. A common failure is letting dead deals stay 'open', reps reluctant to mark a loss, which inflates coverage, corrupts the forecast, and wastes attention. Good pipeline hygiene means regularly reviewing open opportunities and honestly closing the ones no longer alive, so the open pipeline reflects deals genuinely in play.
Related terms
All Metrics termsACV vs ARR
ACV vs ARR is the distinction between two subscription-revenue metrics: ACV (annual contract value) measures the average yearly value of a single customer contract, while ARR (annual recurring revenue) measures the total recurring revenue across the entire customer base, annualized.
ARR vs MRR
ARR vs MRR is the distinction between two recurring-revenue metrics that measure the same thing at different time scales: MRR (monthly recurring revenue) is the predictable revenue earned each month, and ARR (annual recurring revenue) is that figure annualized, so ARR equals MRR times twelve.
Activity Metrics
Activity metrics are measures of the sales actions reps take, calls, emails, meetings, demos, the leading-indicator inputs of selling rather than its results, capturing the effort that produces pipeline and revenue downstream.
Annual Contract Value (ACV)
Annual contract value (ACV) is the average annualized revenue from a single customer contract, the total value of a contract normalized to a one-year figure, so deals of different lengths can be compared on equal footing.
Automation Rate
Automation rate is the share of a process, tasks, interactions, or workflows, that is handled automatically rather than by a human, measuring how much of the work is done by software.
Average Deal Size
Average deal size is the typical revenue value of a closed deal, calculated by dividing total revenue won by the number of deals over a period.