# Companies and opportunities

Keep the businesses your contacts work for, and track deals on a pipeline board you drag between stages.

Updated Oct 28, 2026. Source: https://smallbusinesschatbot.com/docs/user-guides/crm/companies-and-opportunities

## What this does

A company in the Small Business Chatbot CRM holds the details its [contacts](https://smallbusinesschatbot.com/docs/user-guides/crm/contacts) share: the business's name, phone, email and website. An opportunity is a deal with one contact. It sits in a stage of a pipeline, and the pipeline is a board you drag cards across.

## Add a company and link a contact

1. **Open Companies**

   In the app, open **[CRM › Contacts](https://smallbusinesschatbot.com/app?panel=contacts)** and click the **Companies** tab. The list shows **Company**, **Website**, **Industry**, **Phone** and **Tags**.

   ![The Companies list with company, website, industry, phone and tags columns](https://smallbusinesschatbot.com/static/images/docs/user-guides/companies-and-opportunities-companies-2026-10-28.webp)
   *CRM › Contacts › Companies, October 2026*

2. **Add the company**

   Click **New company**. Fill in **Company name**, the only required field, and any of **Website**, **Email**, **Phone**, **Industry**, **Tags** and **Description**. Click **Save company**.

3. **Link a contact**

   Open the contact in the **Contacts** tab. Under **Primary Company**, pick the company and click **Save Contact**. The contact now shows a **Company details** card with **Company phone**, **Company email** and **Company website**.

Opening a company shows its details beside its **Activity** timeline, where you add [notes and tasks](https://smallbusinesschatbot.com/docs/user-guides/crm/notes-and-tasks). **Search companies** searches the list. The sort menu orders it by **Last updated**, **Company name**, **Industry** or **Created**, and the filter menu narrows it by **Industry**, **Name** or **Tag**. Tick companies to use **Edit selected**, **Add tag** or **Archive**. Before you archive a company, change the company on its contacts and opportunities.

### Automatically create and link companies

This switch is under **CRM › Contacts › Settings**. When it's on, a contact that arrives from a CSV import or a connected integration with a business name is linked to the company with exactly that name, and a missing company is created. Existing links stay in place. It's off by default.

## Track opportunities on the board

1. **Create a pipeline**

   In the app, open **[CRM › Opportunities](https://smallbusinesschatbot.com/app?panel=opportunities)** and click **New pipeline**. Type a **Pipeline name**. Under **Stages, separated by commas**, list every stage in order: the name and stages stay as you set them. The box starts with New lead, Qualified, Proposal, Won. Click **Create pipeline**.

   ![The New pipeline dialog with a pipeline name and four comma-separated stages](https://smallbusinesschatbot.com/static/images/docs/user-guides/companies-and-opportunities-new-pipeline-2026-10-28.webp)
   *CRM › Opportunities, October 2026*

2. **Add an opportunity**

   Click **New opportunity**, or **+ Add opportunity** in an empty stage. Fill in the fields and click **Save opportunity**.

   ![The opportunity form with name, contact, company, stage, status, value and expected close date](https://smallbusinesschatbot.com/static/images/docs/user-guides/companies-and-opportunities-form-2026-10-28.webp)
   *CRM › Opportunities, October 2026*

3. **Move it between stages**

   Drag the card to another stage. The move saves when you drop it.

   ![The opportunity board with New lead, Qualified, Proposal and Won columns, each with a count and win percentage, and deal cards with value, contact and company](https://smallbusinesschatbot.com/static/images/docs/user-guides/companies-and-opportunities-board-2026-10-28.webp)
   *CRM › Opportunities, October 2026*

Each stage shows how many opportunities it holds and a win percentage. The app sets the percentage from the stage's place in the list: 0% for the first stage, then 25 points more for each stage after it, up to 100%.

**Fields** chooses what each card shows: **Value**, **Primary contact**, **Primary company**, **Status**, **Expected close**, **Next due date** and **Source**. **Pipeline** switches between your pipelines.

On a contact, **Related opportunities** lists their deals. Clicking one opens the board with that card highlighted.

## Opportunity fields

| Field | What it holds |
|---|---|
| **Name** | Required. The deal's name. |
| **Contact** | Required. The person the deal is with. |
| **Company** | The business, if any |
| **Stage** | The board column it sits in |
| **Status** | **Open**, **Won**, **Lost** or **Abandoned**. Moving the card keeps the status, so set it here. |
| **Value (CAD)** | The deal's value, in Canadian dollars |
| **Expected close** | The date you expect to close |

To close a deal, set its status to **Won**, **Lost** or **Abandoned**.

Creating a company or an opportunity, or changing an opportunity, can start a workflow. [CRM changes](https://smallbusinesschatbot.com/docs/workflows/triggers/crm-changes) lists those triggers.

## If something goes wrong

| What you see | Why | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| **Create or select a pipeline to begin organizing opportunities.** | No pipeline exists or none is selected. | Click **New pipeline**, or pick one under **Pipeline**. |
| **New opportunity** or **Save opportunity** is greyed out | No pipeline is selected, or **Name** or **Contact** is empty. | Pick a pipeline and fill in both fields. |
| The card moves back and an error shows, such as **Opportunity changed since it was loaded** | The save failed, for example because the opportunity changed in another tab. | Reload the page and drag the card again. |