The CRM of Microsoft Dynamics 365 obviously offers a Sales part. Here, everything is centralised to give your salespeople the tools they need to perform. Task and appointment management, intelligent automation, real-time data, etc. This tool is also integrated with the other tools of the Office suite for a 365 vision.
Once your salespeople start to attract new prospects, you need to ensure that they become “hot”, in other words, ready to close. This is called an opportunity. In Microsoft Dynamics CRM, these opportunities will be displayed as a list. If you want to move a lead to another level in your sales pipeline, you will have to make several clicks, so it is not very practical.
Salesdorado’s opinion
This is a shortcoming compared to other CRMs which, for the most part, offer a “drag and drop” system by default.
Once your prospect is mature and finally ready to make a purchase, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales will allow you to :
- Create customised quotes, purchase orders and invoices,
- To send them by e-mail,
- And finally, to monitor accurately with the comprehensive and customisable reports offered by Microsoft.
Quality CRM software to manage all your quotes and invoices.
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#2 Contact Management in Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Contact management is a strong point of Microsoft Dynamics. When you view a contact record, you see options for :
- Create a new record,
- Deactivate recording,
- Link the current record to a different contact record,
- Add the contact to a marketing list,
- Assign a user to the registration.
Salesdorado’s tip
If you click on the phone number on the page of one of your contacts, and if you have integrated Skype into your account, you will be able to make calls directly from this CRM.
Like most of the best CRM software on the market, Microsoft Dynamics treats opportunities separately from leads. The Leads record displays a timeline at the top, allowing you to easily see where you are in the process: Qualify, Develop, Propose and Close. The summary section contains details of the marketing lists to which the user is assigned and their recent activities. You can also assign the lead to an opportunity from this view.
The “Opportunity” record looks very similar to the Leads record, with the same timeline at the top and the summary section at the bottom. There is a ton of information available and a lot of functionality, but it’s not quite presented like many other CRM solutions, making the learning curve for your salespeople (and therefore adoption) significantly longer.
The opinion of Salesdorado
Contact management is very well developed in Microsoft Dynamics CRM. However, it is a pity that opportunities and leads are visually very similar.
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If one were to summarise customer reviews in a few words, it could be :
“It is a very good software in general, which would benefit from being a little more intuitive and ergonomic.
Indeed, users praise the fact that it can manage all customer data in a single place, as well as its great capacity for customisation. On the other hand, the complexity of implementation and its slow adoption by all employees make this CRM a tool reserved for insiders. It is therefore not surprising that it is rated 7.9 out of 10 and 3.7 out of 5 on review sites such as Trustradius and G2.
Salesdorado’s opinion
That’s kind of the summary of this article. Microsoft Dynamics CRM offers a very developed tool with a ton of features, but with a relatively steep learning curve.
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#5 Microsoft Dynamics CRM: Integrations with the Microsoft ecosystem and other tools
If you already have a Microsoft shop, Microsoft CRM makes it easy to integrate with other Microsoft products. There is also a button to enable server-based SharePoint integration, and you can set up Skype to handle all phone calls directly from the CRM.
AppSource is similar to the Salesforce.com App Store, offering third-party tools to integrate with your Microsoft ecosystem.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online has no integration with popular software such as Quickbooks or Zendesk. To use these tools, you need to purchase third-party connectors such as DBsync from the marketplace or install your software API key in Zapier, a widely used third-party connector.
When you first log in to your trial version, you are prompted to view a video tutorial and other help material. The help material is comprehensive and it is easy to find the information you need.
Chat support is easy to access and overall I found the agents to be knowledgeable and willing to help. I sent a request for help stating that I could not log in and received a phone call within the hour to help me access the account.
The opinion of Salesdorado
The use of Microsoft Dynamics CRM is boosted if you already work with Microsoft tools. You can create a full Microsoft ecosystem to make it easier for your employees to join.
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#6 Microsoft Dynamics CRM pricing details
This only addresses the cost of the software, which is only part of the cost of a CRM. To sign up for Microsoft Dynamics CRM online, you must pay for a minimum of five users.
Smaller organisations that wish to have fewer than five users or that wish to have the on-premises version installed on their own infrastructure need to work with a Microsoft partner to get up and running. In this case, alternatives such as pipedrive or activecampaign are recommended.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM pricing plans are complicated, with different plans targeting sales and marketing professionals.
- On the Sales side, the Professional package (from £54.80 per user per month) is recommended for sales and customer support teams. It includes social media analysis, sales and customer service automation, and accurate reporting.
- On the marketing side, the Marketing package (from €1265 per month) offers campaign management, lead management and scoring, social marketing and statistical analysis.
Salesdorado’s opinion
In our opinion, Microsoft would benefit from being much more clear and transparent about their pricing plans.
