To guarantee that a set of tasks are completed with repeatable activities, there needs to be a system in place for businesses, acting as a guide for all employees to follow.
In the October 2018 update, Microsoft released the Playbook tool in Dynamics 365 for Sales and Customer Service. This tool is designed to guide users with a series of tasks and activities that should be followed-up on and completed based on specific events and situations. These playbooks may arise with a lead, opportunity, invoice or other sales entity, for example:
- A new lead is generated on a website
- A key-decision maker departs while pursuing a large opportunity
- A top-tier customer requests a discount on a quote
How do Playbooks work?
Playbooks help to empower businesses by moving to a proactive and predictive event-driven guidance system, which can automate repeatable processes and respond to external events.
The playbooks inside Dynamics 365 for sales and customer service can be customised and setup using Playbook Templates, in which managers or administrators can set up actions and surface relevant sales activities in-line with their business processes and customers.
Within the configuration of the Playbooks, the owner of the template can determine the timeline as to when tasks should be completed, the number of tasks that need to be completed and the type of record entity that the template is available for.
If required, documents can be uploaded to playbook activities to ensure that users have all the necessary material required when completing tasks. For example, if a sales representative needed to close a business deal, then the document for pricing details and proposal forms would be attached. This way, businesses can ensure that all documents required for that process are delivered.
Once a template is set up, users can apply these templates in the future when they are setting up opportunities, leads or other sale/administration activities.
Templates created inside of Playbooks can either be manually applied or automated, depending on record-based events, in which the automation can trigger a play which will create a set of tasks needed for a situation. If the automation is not set up, the user can manually launch a Playbook to a lead or opportunity. However, for maximum efficiency and continuity, we would recommend that automated Playbooks are configured.
Should I use Dynamics 365 Playbooks in my business?
If you are looking to improve your sales efficiency and productivity of your sales reps, then the Playbooks tool for Dynamics 365 sales and customer service should be considered for your system. It is especially helpful if a salesperson leaves your organisation, as a new salesperson can use the same events or activities followed by the previous employee.
As well as benefiting your employees, you can ensure a consistent outcome across the business, so you don’t have to worry about customers missing out of appointments or not receiving the correct documents.
As a manager, you have the ability to review and monitor your Playbook template usage in the management portal. This overview offers a coherent and in-depth view of:
- The name of the Playbook
- Total number of activities assigned within the template
- Total number of completed activities
- The result (whether the user marked it as successful or not successful marked by users)
- What it is regarding (the type of event/scenario it relates to e.g. lead initial process)
- The date that it was started on.
Getting Started with Dynamics 365 Playbooks
The Dynamics 365 team at Synergy Technology are specialists in CRM, with more than 25 years’ experience in helping clients to achieve their goals with Microsoft Dynamics 365 customer engagement solutions.
If you are interested in finding out more, then contact the team at Synergy Technology to see how we can help you and your business succeed.
