The sales pipeline is a visual representation of where prospects are within the sales funnel. Managing the pipeline is one of the core activities of any seller; it helps sellers to stay organized and focused on moving deals forward. A seller who can successfully master the sales pipeline will drive more revenue.
But mastering a sales pipeline is not easy, especially when sellers must balance multiple active deals, an array of contacts, and conversations across multiple channels while trying to figure out when the next interaction will occur, what next steps are required, and which app or process will help accomplish the job.
The deal manager workspace is an updated user experience in Dynamics 365 Sales that puts the seller at the center of their workflows, and is now available for public preview.
This enhanced deal manager workspace allows sellers to get a full view of their pipeline, quickly gather context and take action, collaborate with their colleagues, and effectively work the way they want to work.
Watch this video for an overview of how to manage deals in Dynamics 365 Sales:
Visualizing the pipeline with charts
The easiest way to get an overview of the sales pipeline is by visualizing the deals on a chart. Charts form a key component of the deal manager. Not only do they provide key insights on opportunities, but in the deal manager these charts are interactive and allow sellers to quickly locate and focus on the right deals.
In the July release, two charts are available out of the box:
- A bubble chart that allows sellers to track risky deals on a timeline.
- A funnel chart that allows sellers to see where deals are in the sales process.
These charts are configurable by administrators. In future releases, we will introduce additional charts.
Keeping track of key metrics
Another tool that keeps sellers informed are key performance indicators (KPIs). In the deal manager, we’ve introduced tools to track and highlight metrics that help sellers stay on top of their most important KPIs. Sellers can choose from a subset of metrics, re-order them, or even create their own metrics.
A modern, seller-optimized spreadsheet experience
When it comes to managing deals, it’s no wonder that sellers love spreadsheets. Spreadsheets provide a table view of all opportunities, with aggregation, quick filtering, sorting, grouping with pivot tables, re-ordering of columns, and the ability to edit fields inline easily. Unfortunately, data in a spreadsheet is static and not up to date within Dynamics 365.
The deal manager workspace comes with an inline grid that can be edited. This grid behaves just as a spreadsheet would. Sellers can:
- Edit any cell inline.
- Filter by any column (advanced querying is also supported).
- Re-order columns by dragging them into place.
- Freeze a column.
- Hide and show any field from the table.
- Summarize column data by SUM, MAX, MIN, or AVG.
- Group the data by any field or option set.
The grid has also been optimized for salespeople. Sellers can add special “smart columns” to make their pipeline management even more insightful and efficient:
- Close date: Intelligently combines the value of the Estimated Close Date and the Actual Close Date fields into one column for sellers to use and update.
- Revenue: Intelligently combines the value of the Estimated Revenue and the Actual Revenue fields into one column for sellers to use and update.
Getting context without navigating away
With the deal manager workspace, useful information is easily accessible. When you select a record in the workspace, an optimized form appears in the side panel. This form contains a modern task management experience and provides useful information, such as:
- Key entity fields
- A timeline list of activities
- An optimized list of notes
Administrators can customize the form to select the most relevant fields for your business.
Collaborate in context
Selling is a team sport. Now that Microsoft Teams is part of the Dynamics 365 experience, collaborating with your colleagues is seamless. Within the deal manager workspace, sellers are able to instantly follow up with any colleague regarding any deal of interest.
In this release, we have focused on empowering sellers with an intuitive workspace experience allowing sales reps to better manage their pipeline by getting to the information they need quickly.
Next steps
The public preview will gradually roll out over the next few weeks. For more information on how to enable the experience in your environment, read the documentation.
