Opportunity Team
A group of Salesforce users assigned to work together on a specific opportunity, with each member having a defined team role and configurable access level (read-only or read/write) to the opportunity record.
Definition
A group of Salesforce users assigned to work together on a specific opportunity, with each member having a defined team role and configurable access level (read-only or read/write) to the opportunity record.
In plain English
“An Opportunity Team is a group of Salesforce users assigned to work together on a specific opportunity. Each team member has a defined role (like Sales Engineer or Account Executive) and a configurable access level (read-only or read/write) to the opportunity record.”
Worked example
An AE at Brookwood Capital is closing a $2M deal that requires Sales Engineering, Solutions Architecture, and Legal involvement. She adds the SE, the Solutions Architect, and the Legal counsel to the Opportunity Team - each with a defined role ("Sales Engineer," "Solutions Architect," "Legal Reviewer") and configured access (Read/Write for active contributors, Read-Only for the Legal counsel). All four can collaborate on the deal record without manual sharing. When the deal closes or stalls, the team is automatically removed; reports filter by Opportunity Team Role to track each function's contribution to closed deals.
Why Opportunity Team matters
An Opportunity Team is a group of Salesforce users assigned to work together on a specific opportunity, with each member having a defined team role and configurable access level (read-only or read/write) to the opportunity record. Team members might include the primary sales rep, sales engineer, customer success manager, executive sponsor, and other contributors who collaborate on the deal. Adding someone to an Opportunity Team grants them access to the opportunity beyond what the standard sharing model would provide.
Opportunity Teams are valuable for complex enterprise deals where multiple people genuinely contribute and need access. Without teams, the deal owner has full access and others have to be granted access through other means (sharing rules, role hierarchy, manual sharing). With teams, the platform supports collaborative deal management directly, with clear documentation of who's involved in what role. Mature sales operations use Opportunity Teams for any deal with multiple contributors, making the team membership visible and deliberate.
How to create Opportunity Team
Opportunity Teams are the per-deal version of Account Teams — the deal-specific cast of characters working an Opportunity. Same shape (User + Role + Access), same caveats. Most useful in Team Selling configurations where multiple reps split commission.
- Make sure Team Selling is enabled
Setup → Opportunity Settings → Team Selling → Enable Team Selling. This unlocks the Opportunity Team related list.
- Open the Opportunity
Opp Team is a related list on the Opportunity record.
- Click Add on the Opportunity Team related list
Add Opportunity Team Members. The dialog lets you add multiple.
- Pick a User and a Team Role
Team Role picklist is configured in Setup → Opportunity Team Roles.
- Pick Opportunity Access
Read Only or Read/Write on the Opportunity. Doesn't extend to Account or related records.
- Save
User is added to the Opp Team. Forecasting splits and commission rules can now reference team members.
Required. Salesforce user to add.
Required. From the Opportunity Team Role picklist.
- Team Selling must be enabled at the org level before the related list appears. The sub-feature "Opportunity Splits" (revenue-percentage allocation) requires Team Selling enabled first.
- Default Opportunity Teams (per-user setting) auto-add members to every new Opp the user creates. Often surprising on inherited orgs — audit User Personal Settings → Default Opportunity Team if you see ghost members.
- Opportunity Team Members get access to the Opp only, not to its child records (Quote, Order). For child-record access, configure separate sharing or layer with Account Teams.
How organizations use Opportunity Team
Uses Opportunity Teams for enterprise deals with sales engineers, customer success, and executives all participating.
Tracks team contribution through Opportunity Team roles, supporting team-based commission and recognition structures.
Treats Opportunity Team management as part of deal hygiene, ensuring all contributors are formally added with appropriate access.
Trust & references
Straight from the source - Salesforce's reference material on Opportunity Team.
- Account TeamsSalesforce Help
Test your knowledge
Q1. What is an Opportunity Team?
Q2. What does adding someone to a team grant?
Q3. When are Opportunity Teams valuable?
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