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Sound familiar? You just had a great conversation with a potential customer. But now comes the part you dread: entering everything into your CRM.For many salespeople, CRM systems feel like an administrative burden that eats into valuable selling time. But what if your CRM could actually become your best ally in the sales process?
Microsoft Copilot changes that dynamic entirely. The AI assistant you might already know from Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) is now available in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales—and it’s designed to make your sales process more efficient while turning your CRM into what it was always meant to be: a tool that helps you sell more.
Research shows that sales professionals spend a significant portion of their workweek on administrative tasks instead of direct customer engagement. A recent LinkedIn State of Sales report confirms this: salespeople spend less than 30% of their time interacting with customers. The rest is consumed by updating CRMs, creating quotes, or writing reports. That’s a problem—because it’s in that personal connection where the magic of sales happens.
While CRM systems are vital for maintaining accurate customer data, they’re often seen as a time-consuming burden. The result? Low adoption rates, incomplete data, and missed opportunities.
This is exactly where AI comes in. By automating routine tasks, it gives salespeople back their most valuable asset: time. Time to do what they do best—build relationships and close deals.
The problem: You want to quickly know when you last had contact with a customer, but to do that you first need to launch your CRM and navigate through multiple screens.
The solution: Simply ask a question in natural language, such as “What was the last interaction with Company X?” or “Which open deals do I have this month?” Copilot retrieves the information for you immediately, without needing to open Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales.
The result: The threshold for using the CRM drops significantly, making you more inclined to use it—which in turn leads to better data and ultimately smarter sales decisions.
The problem: Drafting quotes and follow-up emails takes up a lot of time.
The solution: Copilot generates personalized quotes and emails based on your CRM data in a matter of seconds. Need a quote? Copilot automatically retrieves the correct customer information and pricing details. Need a follow-up email? You’re immediately presented with a professional message, based on previous interactions.
The result: You respond faster to potential leads and are also more motivated to keep your CRM updated—because the more complete your data, the better the automatically generated communication.
The problem: Valuable information comes up during phone calls with customers, but it often gets lost or takes a lot of time to document.
The solution: Copilot automatically summarizes your customer conversations, including action points and follow-up steps. After a meeting, you'll immediately find the key takeaways and next steps in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales—no need to take extensive notes.
The result: You can respond more quickly to customer needs and spend less time on admin work and more on strategic customer interaction.
The problem: Leads and deals often get delayed because follow-up actions are forgotten.
The solution: Copilot helps ensure you never miss important follow-ups by quickly providing insight into previous interactions and outstanding tasks. This way, you immediately see what the next step is and can take action right away—much better.
The result: You miss fewer opportunities and bring more structure and consistency into your sales process. No more deals slipping through the cracks.
The problem: Sales forecasting is often based more on gut feeling than on hard data.
The solution: Copilot analyzes your CRM data and predicts which deals are likely to close, which need extra attention, and which customers are showing purchasing behavior similar to previous successful deals.
The result: With these data-driven insights, sales managers can guide their teams more effectively, and salespeople can make smarter decisions about how to allocate their time.
The benefits of Copilot in your sales process are immediately noticeable:
Perhaps the most powerful effect of Copilot is the positive spiral it creates: as sales reps immediately experience the benefits of a well-maintained CRM, adoption increases. With better data, Copilot becomes even more effective, which in turn drives further adoption.
Copilot in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales doesn’t just help you sell smarter and faster with less admin—it also transforms the way your team interacts with the CRM. The AI assistant takes over routine tasks, delivers valuable insights, and finally turns your CRM into what it was always meant to be: an indispensable sales assistant.
Important side note: Microsoft continuously develops new AI features for Dynamics 365. The exact functionalities may have changed since the publication of this article. Do you have questions about the latest capabilities or need advice on implementation? Then contact a 9altitudes expert for personalized guidance.