Manage More Than Just Contacts: Dynamics 365 for Customer Engagement

If you’re considering equipping your sales team with “CRM”, DON’T DO IT.

Most sales reps will tell you “CRM” is a dirty word, and I, begrudgingly, must agree. Having been in the CRM business for nearly 20 years, I participated in the cruel exercise of helping business management force a new “Sales Tool” on unsuspecting sales teams with grand promises of improved effectiveness and efficiency, which often didn’t turn out as expected.

Don’t get me wrong, when fully implemented, business and sales managers could be more effective and efficient because they had current information on the pipeline and sales staff activities that made their jobs a lot easier. Long drawn out sales review meetings became a lot shorter and to the point since the managers could monitor sales efforts and focus on areas of concern.

So CRM turned out to be a good solution for sales management, but ask a room of sales folks how CRM helps them sell and you’ll hear crickets, because up until recently CRM was a time and data eating machine. “Don’t forget to enter your leads! Update your sales report this weekend please! Type in your notes after dinner!” And on it goes. A lot of work but no real sales help: UNTIL NOW.

Microsoft has listened and gotten serious about helping sales professionals. Dynamics CRM has been replaced with Dynamics 365 for Customer Engagement (Sales, Marketing, Customer Service, Field Service, Project Service Automation) which focuses on the realities of selling.

For instance, if you use Linkedin Sales Navigator to prospect or build new relationships you can now manage those activities from within Dynamics 365 for Customer Engagement (D365CE). Imagine opening a Lead record and having Linkedin profile information incorporated directly to provide suggestions for icebreaker conversations or recommend connections to make introductions. Once you make the connection, you can assemble relevant sales literature, and auto-personalize proposals and contracts stored in D365CE for delivery to the prospect.

So D365CE + Linkedin is a real sales accelerator, is that all? Not at all. Microsoft also provides free access to InsideView company and people profiles. Say you get a business card from a potential prospect, but by the time you get a chance to take follow-up notes, your memory refuses to cooperate.  No sweat, you got this if you use D365CE: enter their name, company, and any details from the business card and InsideView Insights will serve up the latest profile information on the contact and company. And as an added bonus, with a click or tap, Insights will fill in your Lead data for you.

With just these two capabilities, D365CE turns a data sinkhole into an information fountain. Put in a little and get back a lot. And when there’s news or staff changes the system will keep you abreast of those critical events so you can be proactively engaged and not out maneuvered by the competition.

But wait, there’s more! (Has this blog turned into an infomercial?) In our next post we’ll look at amazing email capabilities. Would you like to know that recipients actually open and read your messages? If the answer is yes, then stay tuned for some exciting news. Contact us to learn more about Dynamics 365 for Customer Engagement.