Increasing sales productivity with Office 365

May 19, 2017

The tools and apps available through Office 365 are powerful productivity extensions to CRM. In the following blog we take a look at some of these apps and how they can be combined for increasing sales productivity.

In this example, we take a look at how the tools can be used to empower your sales team and increase day-to-day efficiencies. The integrated Office 365 features support an end-to-end sales process from enquiry.

View contextual CRM information within Outlook

With Dynamics 365 and Office 365, you can now view contextually rich information about your contacts  from Dynamics 365 straight from within Outlook. This includes any up-coming appointment opportunities about to close or open cases that you should be aware of when speaking to clients.

Nurture the lead with a follow- up call via Skype for Business

Now the enquiry has been received and tracked, it’s time for a follow-up call to gather further requirements. This can be done through Skype for Business either as voice call or video call. Skype calls and follow-up activity can be recorded within CRM, providing a centralised view of all the interactions you have had with your opportunity

Capture all the details with OneNote

Whilst on the Skype call or during a meeting you can record notes directly on OneNote. These can be synchronised with CRM, utilising Microsoft’s Common Data Service or shared the customer or colleagues. With OneNote there is no need to lose track of what was said or forget a crucial customer requirements.

Keep the team updated with Yammer

Keep team members in the loop with any deal updates by sharing the latest news in Yammer and allow other members of the organisation to contribute crucial information for sales proposals. This secure and private collaboration tool can only be accessed by team members and colleagues.

Discover with Delve… 

Sales teams can easily discover relevant documents through Delve and OneDrive for Business. Has a prospect just requested a price list? No problem, before you have even opened the email, Delve has already provided a link to the latest version of your pricelist within Outlook, ready for you to respond!   Collaborate across the organisation with support from Office 365 Groups and create real-time proposals as a team.

…collaborate with SharePoint

SharePoint provides a central repository for all CRM documents, so versions can be tracked and members of the team who do not use CRM can access crucial information directly from SharePoint.  Manage versions, and restrict sensitive competitive information by leveraging Office 365’s Information Rights Management security features, i.e. by disallowing information to be printed or shared beyond specific users.

Manage the pipeline with Excel 

Quickly update the sales pipeline by exporting to Excel online and quickly updating close dates, sales stages, estimated revenue and more without the need to go into individual records.  Simply press save, and the information is automatically updated within CRM. There are many more ways that tools can be combined and used. With the increasing range of apps from the Microsoft AppStore, the opportunities for collaboration and increased productivity continue to expand. We will release further examples of tool & app combinations that can improve and enhance all business processes.

If you are looking for an upgrade or to purchase further licences, please contact us on 01296 328 689 or info@seelogic.co.uk. SeeLogic is a gold certified and leading UK Microsoft partner, we can help you with all aspects of your CRM project.