Automate opportunities with workflows and NEO
What NEO, workflows and the public API can do with opportunities, which triggers they fire, and the «Ask Neo» buttons on the board.
NEO and workflows act with the «CRM» permission of the person using them: view mode to read, edit mode to change. The public API uses the CRM read and write scopes of its key.
Needs the , or a trial.
Some sales steps repeat with every deal: create the opportunity when an enquiry arrives, tell the team when a big job is won, chase a proposal that has gone quiet. You can hand those steps to a workflow, connect another tool through the public API, or ask NEO, Filmo's assistant, to look at your for you.
The three paths work with the same opportunities and pipelines as the screen, but each can do slightly different things. This page tells you which one to use.
What each path can do
| Operation | On screen | NEO | Workflow | Public API |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| View opportunities and pipelines | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Create an opportunity | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Create one from an email thread | Yes («Emails») | Yes | No | No |
| Edit its details | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Move between open stages, or reopen | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Close by moving to a won or lost stage | Yes (board) | No | No | No |
| Close with the close action | Yes («Mark as won») | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Link a quote | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Link an order or a project | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Link an email thread | Yes («Emails») | Yes | Yes | No |
| Change «Assigned staff» | Yes | No | No | No |
| Delete an opportunity | Yes | No | No | No |
| Set up pipelines and stages | Yes (administrators) | No | No | No |
- Only NEO, workflows and the public API can set the currency, description, owner, , campaign and UTM fields of an opportunity. Campaign and UTM fields are accepted only when it's created.
- Outside the board, the only way to win or lose is the close action. It needs a reason to lose and only works on open opportunities. Moving an opportunity to a won or lost stage is refused with «La etapa destino no es abierta: para ganar o perder la oportunidad usa el cierre» (shown in Spanish).
- Editing, moving and closing check that nobody changed the opportunity in the meantime. If someone did, the change is refused with «La oportunidad fue modificada por otro usuario…» (shown in Spanish): read it again and repeat. The public API reads the current version for you.
- The public API can't link email threads or add assigned staff.
Note: NEO never applies a change on its own: it prepares it and you confirm it. See Confirm or dismiss a change NEO proposes.
Workflow triggers for opportunities
| Trigger | When it fires |
|---|---|
| «Opportunity created» | When an opportunity is created, by any path. |
| «Opportunity updated» | When its details are edited. |
| «Opportunity deleted» | When it's deleted from the opportunity page. |
| «Opportunity stage moved» | When its stage changes, including closing or reopening it by dragging on the board. |
| «Opportunity won» / «Opportunity lost» | Only with the close action: «Mark as won», NEO, a workflow or the public API. |
| «Quote linked to an opportunity» | When a quote is linked. |
| «Email thread linked to an opportunity» | When an email thread is linked. |
Winning by dragging doesn't fire «Opportunity won»
Dropping a card in the won or lost column fires «Opportunity stage moved», not «Opportunity won» or «Opportunity lost». If a workflow must run every time an opportunity is won, start it from «Opportunity stage moved» with a condition on the status, or close with «Mark as won». Linking an order or a project fires no trigger.
Run a workflow on one opportunity
On the opportunity page, open «⋯» and choose «Run workflow». It runs the workflow you pick on that opportunity, straight away. See Run a workflow manually.
Ask NEO about your pipeline
| Where | Button | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Board → «Ask Neo» | «Pipeline health with NEO» | Reviews the pipeline you're looking at. |
| Board → «Ask Neo» | «Commercial forecast with NEO» | Estimates what your sales are likely to bring in. |
| Opportunity page → «Ask Neo» | «Summarize with NEO» | Sums up the opportunity. |
| Opportunity page → «Ask Neo» | «Next best action with NEO» | Looks at the stage, the history and the risk signals, and suggests what to do next. It can propose moving or closing the opportunity, for you to confirm. |
Every night Filmo notes which open opportunities have been in their stage longer than its , or have had no activity for 14 days. You don't see those notes on screen; «Next best action with NEO» uses them. The red days on a board card are worked out separately, from the days in the stage.
If you see an error
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| La etapa destino no es abierta… (shown in Spanish) | An automation tried to close by moving the stage. Use the close action instead. |
| Indica el motivo de la pérdida (shown in Spanish) | The opportunity was closed as lost without a reason. Add one. |
| La oportunidad fue modificada por otro usuario… (shown in Spanish) | It changed after it was read. Read it again and repeat. |
| No access to the CRM | The account has neither the CRM add-on nor an active trial. |