New Updates for Microsoft Copilot for Sales

What's New in Microsoft Copilot for Sales

3 September 2024 · By · Tagged as: Dynamics 365

Stay ahead of the curve with the latest advancements in Microsoft Copilot for Sales. Our detailed blog highlights the newest features available for public preview and general availability, designed to enhance your sales strategies and streamline your processes. From advanced sales engagement analysis and automated issue detection to efficient stakeholder profiling and seamless integration with Outlook and Teams, discover how these innovations can transform your sales operations. Each feature is crafted to provide deeper insights, improve decision-making, and boost overall productivity. Dive into our comprehensive overview to understand how these tools can benefit your sales team and help you achieve greater success.

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In this blog, we explore the latest capabilities being rolled out for Microsoft Copilot for Sales in September 2024. Whether you're looking to make the most of cutting-edge AI to enhance your sales processes or gain deeper insights into your customer engagements, these features are bound to help!

We'll start with features available for public preview and then dive into those that will be generally available this month. Our goal is to help you stay ahead of the curve and fully leverage the power of Copilot in your sales strategy.

1.  Analyse Sales Engagement (Public Preview - September 2024)

This feature offers a deeper understanding of how well your team is engaging with customers throughout the sales pipeline. By analysing the frequency, relevancy, and impact of each interaction, this capability enables you to assess the health of your customer relationships on a deal-by-deal basis.

With this insight, you can identify which opportunities are progressing well and which may require additional attention. The analysis is available directly within the Copilot for Sales add-in for Outlook and the Teams app, ensuring that you have real-time, actionable information at your fingertips. By continuously monitoring these touchpoints, you can make proactive adjustments to your sales strategy, ultimately leading to more accurate forecasting, better resource allocation, and improved chances of closing deals.

2.  Automatically Detect Issues in Sales Pipeline and Provide Alerts to Unblock Deals (Public Preview - September 2024)

This feature is designed to help sales teams stay ahead of potential problems that could derail a deal. By automatically scanning customer interactions, Copilot for Sales can detect when an opportunity is at risk due to factors such as delayed responses, lack of follow-up, or negative customer sentiment.

When an issue is detected, the system immediately alerts the relevant team members, allowing them to take swift action to address the problem. This proactive approach minimizes the risk of losing deals due to oversight or delays and helps sales teams maintain momentum. The feature integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Copilot in Outlook and Teams, making it easier than ever to stay on top of your pipeline and ensure that no opportunity slips through the cracks.

3.  Automatically Highlight Sales Coaching Opportunities (Public Preview - September 2024)

Sales coaching is critical for ongoing team development, but it can be time-consuming to manually review every customer interaction. This feature automates the process by analysing recorded conversations and emails to identify areas where team members excel or may need improvement.

Copilot for Sales flags these opportunities and provides managers with insights on specific skills or knowledge gaps, allowing for targeted coaching sessions. By focusing on key areas that can have the greatest impact, managers can enhance team performance more effectively. This feature is integrated within Microsoft 365 chat, the Copilot for Sales add-in in Outlook, and the Teams app, ensuring that managers have easy access to these valuable insights.

4.  Extract Customer Perception to Improve Sales Cycles (Public Preview - September 2024)

Understanding how customers perceive your company and products is essential for refining your sales approach. This feature leverages data from both public and internal sources to provide insights into how your customers view your brand, your competitors, and the market in general.

By analysing this perception data, Copilot for Sales helps you tailor your messaging and sales tactics to better align with customer expectations and concerns. This can lead to more effective engagements, shorter sales cycles, and improved customer relationships, ultimately boosting your sales performance.

5.  Generate Profiles of Key Stakeholders (Public Preview - September 2024)

Building strong relationships with key stakeholders is crucial for successful sales outcomes. This feature enables you to create detailed profiles of important decision-makers within your accounts, providing insights into their roles, preferences, and potential pain points.

By understanding who you're selling to, you can tailor your communications and strategies to resonate more effectively with these stakeholders. Copilot for Sales gathers data from public sources and internal systems like CRM and SharePoint, offering a comprehensive view of each stakeholder. This information is readily accessible within Microsoft 365 chat, the Copilot for Sales add-in in Outlook, and the Teams app, helping you engage more effectively and build stronger relationships.

6.  Questions and Answers for Sellers Based on Predefined Content (Public Preview - September 2024)

Providing accurate and timely information during customer interactions is key to closing deals. This feature empowers sellers by automatically suggesting answers to common sales questions during Teams meetings, drawing from a predefined knowledge base.

Whether the question is about product features, pricing, company history, or contract terms, Copilot for Sales can quickly surface the most relevant information, enabling sellers to respond confidently and accurately. This capability reduces the time spent searching for answers and enhances the overall customer experience, leading to smoother, more effective sales conversations. The feature integrates seamlessly within the Copilot in Teams interface and requires the Copilot for Sales plugin to be enabled in your environment.

7.  Add Tags to Meetings to Easily Search for Them (Public Preview - September 2024)

Managing and recalling specific details from numerous meetings can be challenging, especially when those meetings contain critical sales information. This feature introduces the ability to tag meetings with relevant keywords, making it easier to search for and retrieve important discussions later on.

After a meeting ends, sellers and managers can assign tags related to the meeting’s content, such as the topics discussed, action items, or key decisions made. These tags are stored alongside the meeting summary, enabling quick access through a simple search. This feature enhances organisational efficiency by ensuring that vital information is easily accessible whenever needed.

8.  Access Copilot for Sales Usage Data via Viva Insights Analyst Workbench (General Availability - September 2024)

Understanding how your team is using Copilot for Sales is crucial for maximizing its effectiveness and demonstrating its value to stakeholders. This feature allows you to track and analyze Copilot for Sales usage metrics through the Viva Insights Analyst Workbench.

With access to detailed usage data, you can monitor how often Copilot is being used, which features are most popular, and how it’s impacting your sales processes. The Viva Insights Analyst Workbench provides out-of-the-box Power BI templates to visualise this data, or you can create custom reports tailored to your organisation’s needs. By leveraging these insights, you can drive greater adoption of Copilot for Sales, optimise its use, and justify continued investment in the tool.

9.  Prepare for a Sales Meeting with Copilot in Microsoft Word (General Availability - September 2024)

Preparation is key to successful sales meetings, and this feature simplifies that process by automatically generating detailed meeting preparation reports. Copilot for Sales integrates with Microsoft Word to pull together all the relevant information you need before a customer interaction.

These preparation documents include participant details, summaries of past interactions, key insights, action items, and any open tasks or opportunities related to the meeting. By providing this comprehensive overview, Copilot for Sales ensures that you are fully informed and ready to engage with customers effectively. This feature streamlines meeting preparation, saving you time and helping you enter every meeting with confidence.

 

With these new features in Microsoft Copilot for Sales, your sales team is equipped with powerful tools to enhance productivity, improve customer engagement, and drive revenue growth. As always, staying updated on the latest capabilities ensures that your sales strategies are aligned with the best practices and the most innovative technology available.

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Don’t just stay informed—get ahead. Let us help you turn these upcoming features into real business advantages. Schedule your CRM Strategic Review today and be ready to capitalise on the latest innovations in Dynamics 365 Sales!