Transforming Sales with AI: Copilot for Sales in Action

In the dynamic world of sales, productivity and efficiency are paramount. Copilot for Sales, a role-specific AI assistant, bridges the gap between customer relationship management (CRM) systems and Microsoft 365 productivity tools. Designed to integrate seamlessly with both Dynamics 365 Sales and Salesforce, Copilot for Sales enhances productivity throughout the entire sales journey—from proposal to deal closure and beyond. This innovation marks a significant step forward in transforming seller experiences, building on the foundation laid by Microsoft Viva Sales.

From Viva Sales to Sales Copilot

Launched in June 2022, Microsoft Viva Sales initiated a transformation in how sellers interact with their tools and data. Viva Sales aimed to streamline sales processes and enhance productivity through advanced integration with Microsoft 365. However, the evolution did not stop there. Recognizing the potential for even greater impact, Microsoft rebranded Viva Sales as Sales Copilot, encompassing all the capabilities of its predecessor while introducing new functionalities that harness the power of AI.

Early adopters of Sales Copilot have reported remarkable improvements in productivity. By automating information retrieval, minimizing the number of steps required for various processes, and enhancing the overall sales workflow, Sales Copilot has significantly reduced time-to-action.

The Evolution to Copilot for Sales

On February 1, 2024, Microsoft took another significant step by launching Copilot for Sales. This new product showcases how Copilot capabilities work better together across your productivity apps, further revolutionizing the sales process. Copilot for Sales brings together Microsoft 365 capabilities with role-specific insights and actions to streamline business processes, automate repetitive tasks, and unlock productivity.

Copilot for Sales in Dynamics 365

Copilot, integrated in Dynamics 365 helps sales teams through a chat interface that sellers can use to get a quick summary of their opportunity and lead records. It also enables them to catch up on recent changes to their records, prepare for meetings, and read the latest news about their accounts. Sellers can chat with Copilot in natural language or use predefined prompts to get the information they need.

View an updated list of Dynamics 365 Sales Capabilities:

• Record summarization
• Recent changes
• Information assistance
• Meeting preparation
• Email assistance
• News updates

Use Copilot to Stay Informed

Copilot helps you track your pipeline, summarize opportunities, leads, and accounts, and stay updated on the latest news about your accounts.

Summarize an Opportunity

The Summarize an Opportunity feature in Copilot provides sales teams with a quick and comprehensive overview of an opportunity without manually reviewing extensive records. By automatically generating a summary, it saves time and enhances efficiency, allowing users to focus on strategic decision-making rather than administrative tasks

The opportunity summary includes the following information, if the information is available in the opportunity record:

• Basic information: Estimated revenue, estimated close date, key contact, and account name.
• Key information: How long the account has been associated with your organization, the total value of closed opportunities, the most recently closed opportunity, progress on the most recent opportunity, the contact at the account with the most opportunities, and other AI-generated information.
• Product insights: All products that are associated with the opportunity, along with the budget and estimated revenue.
• Quote insights: The number of quotes that are shared with the opportunity, along with the date of the most recent quote.
• Competitor insights: The competitors that are associated with the opportunity, along with their strengths and weaknesses.

Summarize a Lead

The Summarize a Lead feature in Copilot provides a quick and detailed overview of a lead, helping sales teams prioritize and act efficiently. Instead of manually searching through records, users can instantly access key details such as lead rating, source, status, and parent account.

The lead summary includes the following information, if the information is available in the lead record:

• Basic information: Rating, lead source, status reason, and parent account for lead.
• Key information: Follow-up on the latest activity, preferred method of contact, lead creation date, annual revenue, closed opportunities associated with the lead, parent account, primary contact of the parent account associated with the lead, and other AI-generated information.
• Competitor insights: The competitors that are associated with the lead, along with their strengths and weaknesses.

Summarize an Account

The Summarize an Account feature in Copilot provides a concise yet comprehensive view of an account, allowing sales teams to quickly understand its history, status, and potential opportunities. Instead of manually searching through records, users can instantly access key details such as annual revenue, employee count, country, and parent account.

The account summary includes the following information, if the information is available in the account record:

• Basic information: Annual revenue, number of employees, country/region, and parent account.
• Key information: How long the account has been associated with your organization, its domain, the total value of closed opportunities, the most recently closed opportunity, the most recent activity, and other AI-generated information.
• Leads, opportunities, and cases: Open leads, opportunities, and cases that are associated with the account and that you have read access to. Up to 10 records are displayed in each section. Your organization must have the Dynamics 365 Customer Service app for cases to be displayed. Select the section to view the details of the associated records. To summarize a specific lead, opportunity, or case, hover over the record and select Summarize.

Summarize a Proposal or Sales Document

The Summarize a Proposal or Sales Document feature in Copilot helps sales teams quickly grasp the key points of lengthy documents without manually reviewing every detail. It extracts essential information such as pricing, key deliverables, terms, and customer requirements, ensuring users can easily understand the proposal’s main objectives.

Use Copilot to Stay Ahead

Prepare for upcoming sales appointments

If you have meetings scheduled on your Outlook calendar in the next seven days, Copilot can help you prepare for them.

1. Open Copilot.
2. Select Stay ahead > Prepare for sales appointments.
3. From the list of sales appointments, hover over the meeting that you’d like to prepare for and select Prepare. A list of meeting insights are displayed. The first point of the meeting insights always shows the short summary of the opportunity.
4. Select Source corresponding to the insight to view the record from which the insight is created. The insights are generated based on the following considerations for the opportunity:

Display unanswered emails

Copilot can help make sure that you don’t miss important emails by reminding you of messages that need a reply.

1. Open Copilot.
2. Select View Prompts above the Copilot chat box, and select Stay ahead > Show emails that need follow up

To be included in the list, emails must meet the following criteria: They are in your mailbox, unanswered, for the past three to seven days (Emails that are unanswered for longer than seven days fall off the list). They contain a buying intent, a question, a query, or an action item. They have the Regarding field as a lead or an opportunity.

For Upcoming Features

Microsoft Dynamics 365 – Release Plans

Conclusion

Microsoft’s Copilot for Sales is revolutionizing the way sales teams operate, bringing together powerful AI capabilities and seamless integrations across productivity apps. By automating repetitive tasks, providing real-time insights, and enhancing collaboration, Copilot for Sales empowers sellers to work more efficiently and effectively. Whether you’re using Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales or Salesforce, Copilot for Sales offers the tools and flexibility to drive your sales success. Embrace the future of sales with Microsoft Copilot for Sales and reimagine what your sales team can achieve.

Check out this Youtube video on how you can transform your Business with Microsoft Copilot for Dynamics 365
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ld9VDXvAQUA