Microsoft Dynamics 365

CRM, stands for customer relationship management, and if you have customers you definitely should be using a CRM system. Let’s take a look at a few benefits of using a CRM system.

Data Organization

When data is housed in different locations it can be a hassle to piece together the current status of a company. With a CRM system you can store data in one location reducing the need to chase down bits and pieces of information.

Analytics

With data in one location you can quickly perform analysis, set goals and measure performance against those goals. Trends can be quickly identified and effective reporting can help drive business decisions.

Target Marketing

Effective marketing requires two things, getting your information in front of the right people and a seamless transfer of potential leads to the sales team. With a CRM system you can group customers and prospects easily to create custom marketing campaigns. Tracking this data within the system means potential leads can be easily transferred to the sales team.

Well-Defined Sales Pipeline

A CRM system allows you to prioritize leads and opportunities and helps with tracking activities to prevent potential sales from being neglected. Allowing the system to handle juggling all the data will keep your sales pipeline flowing. As you build up historical data forecasting sales will also become easier.

Better Customer Service

Customer retention lives on product value and customer service. If you track data within a CRM system you can view all the interactions a customer has had with your company and they are not forced to explain everything they have purchased or work they have done with you. High customer satisfaction can become an invaluable marketing tool for any company.

Employee Efficiency

Often overlooked, but extremely important, a CRM system can help with employee efficiency. Your employees will not have to spend time looking through multiple systems for information and they can get up to speed on customers quicker. A well-thought out system should always be designed for how it can best serve your employees to make their jobs easier and faster to complete.

Here at Implementation Specialists we work with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement and we have found it to be a system that can suit any type of business. Between what is available out of the box and the abundant customization capabilities it can be made into a personalized system that will help your business perform better and grow with your company.

If you are interested in looking at this CRM system browse through our blog posts, view historical webinars, or reach out for a personal demo.

-Jerica Coleman, CRM and Power BI Consultant

 

Join Jerica an upcoming CRM Webinar. If you can’t attend, still register and we will send you a copy of the recording.

February 10 – CRM: How to have a successful implementation 

March 17 – CRM: Working with Accounts

 

 

Email workflows are beneficial for providing notifications on CRM records. In past blog posts we have discussed basic workflow set-up and the different steps available. Today we are going to look at setting the properties on an email.

From Field

Generally, I don’t use the from field because of potential errors. If the from field is set to a dynamic field value or another user the workflow can error out if appropriate permissions are not set to send emails on behalf of another user.

The first step is to set-up a security role with the ability to send an email as another user. Underneath “Business Management” within the security role set send email as another user to the organizational level. All users that would trigger the workflow will need this security role.

Then each user that the email could be sent on behalf of needs to set their personal options to allow others to send emails on their behalf. Each user that the email could be sent from needs to go to settings, the gear icon to the right side of the top toolbar, and then select “Options” to set this up. Under the “Email” tab select to allow others to send emails on their behalf.

To, CC and Bcc Fields

Set these fields with a static set of recipients. The recipients must exist within the CRM as either users, contacts, leads or accounts. Dynamics values can also be utilized, such as owners of records, available fields will be listed under the form assistant.

Subject

Static words and dynamic values can both be utilized within the email subject. I recommend including the notification type and record information so it is easily understandable for the receiver. Here are a couple examples I have used: “Pricing Approval Required – {Dynamic Opportunity Name}” and “New Lead Received – {Dynamic Lead Subject}”.

Body

Within the body there are some different formatting options. Again, both static and dynamic values can be used. Let’s review the different formatting options available.

1. Text can be bold, italicized or underlined.
2. Choose text alignment, left, center or right.
3. Add numbering or bullets to the text.
4. Set indentation of the paragraph.
5. Choose font, size and color of text.
6. Insert a knowledge article or include a hyperlink.

Hyperlink

Both the hyperlink and text to display for the hyperlink can be customized. URL’s can be set to navigate directly to the record by selecting Record URL (Dynamic) for the URL or it can navigate to an outside URL by inserting the full hyperlink.

Regarding

The regarding field will automatically populate to a dynamic value for the record type used for the workflow. I recommend leaving it this way.

Emails can be as detailed or simple as desired, but it is important to keep the receivers in mind when creating them. With that in mind here are my top 3 tips for creating an email notification.

• Do not use the from field.
• Make the subject detailed enough so receivers understand what the email contains.
• If sending to inside users include a hyperlink directly to the record so they can navigate directly to the record to take action.

-Jerica Coleman, CRM and Power BI Consultant