Dynamics 365 Relationship Intelligence - Simply Explained
Key Takeaways
- Dynamics 365 Relationship Intelligence helps sales teams spot the hidden truth behind CRM deal records by analyzing whether customers are genuinely engaged or just quiet.
- Mirko Peters explains that active CRM timelines can be misleading if a salesperson has sent numerous unanswered emails without real customer participation.
- Relationship Analytics and Relationship Health provide a 'warning light' dashboard that aggregates emails, phone calls, meetings, and sentiment into an actionable view.
- Basic relationship insights update in near real-time based on Dynamics 365 activities, while enhanced insights integrate Microsoft Exchange data on a 24-hour cycle.
- Metrics like the 60-day relationship activity view, response time ratios, and hourly investment help sellers prioritize pipeline opportunities effectively without digging through separate tools.
A Dynamics 365 Sales opportunity can look healthy on paper. The deal is still open, the estimated close date is in the future, and the timeline contains emails, meetings, calls, and tasks. But there is a much more important question: Is the customer still talking to you? A salesperson may have sent several emails without receiving a response. The last customer meeting may have happened weeks ago. Another employee inside the company may already know an important decision-maker, but the salesperson has no idea that relationship exists. In this episode of Microsoft Knowledge Nuggets on M365 FM, Mirko Peters explains Microsoft Dynamics 365 Relationship Intelligence in plain English and explores how Dynamics 365 Sales can turn everyday customer communication into useful relationship signals. We look at Relationship Analytics, Relationship Health, Who Knows Whom, Microsoft Exchange integration, communication activity, response times, engagement, customer sentiment, similar opportunities, warm introductions, opportunity management, and sales pipeline prioritization. The goal is not to let Dynamics 365 decide whether a deal will close. The goal is to give sellers better context for deciding which customer relationship needs attention and what conversation should happen next.
THE HIDDEN PROBLEM INSIDE CRM DATA
A CRM system can contain enormous amounts of customer information. Contacts. Accounts. Opportunities. Activities. Emails. Tasks. Meeting notes. Phone calls. But having information does not automatically mean understanding the relationship. A salesperson can open an opportunity containing ten recent activities and assume the deal is moving forward. But what if nine of those activities came from the salesperson? What if the customer stopped replying? What if no future meeting is scheduled? What if the last meaningful conversation happened a month ago? The CRM record may look active while the actual customer relationship has become quiet. Relationship Intelligence attempts to expose that difference.
ACTIVITY DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY MEAN ENGAGEMENT
One of the most important ideas behind Relationship Intelligence is that activity needs context. Ten unanswered emails do not necessarily represent a strong relationship. Several internal tasks do not mean the customer is engaged. A large number of activities may simply mean the salesperson has been busy. By contrast, one meaningful conversation with the right decision-maker may move an opportunity significantly further than dozens of unanswered messages. Relationship Intelligence therefore looks beyond the existence of activities and helps sellers understand the communication patterns behind them. Is communication recent? Is the customer responding? Are both sides participating? Has the relationship suddenly become quiet? Those questions can reveal considerably more than a simple activity count.
WHAT IS DYNAMICS 365 RELATIONSHIP INTELLIGENCE?
Think of Relationship Intelligence as a relationship radar inside Dynamics 365 Sales. It brings together communication signals associated with leads, contacts, accounts, and opportunities and turns them into information sellers can use while working inside Dynamics 365. The supplied episode focuses on two major capabilities. The first is Relationship Analytics and Relationship Health. These capabilities help sellers understand communication patterns and identify relationships that may require attention. The second is Who Knows Whom. This capability helps identify colleagues inside the organization who may already know a lead or contact the seller wants to reach. Together, these capabilities answer two different but related questions: How healthy is the relationship we already have? and Who inside our organization can help us create a new relationship?
RELATIONSHIP ANALYTICS
Relationship Analytics takes activities associated with a sales record and transforms them into a communication picture that is easier to interpret. Instead of manually opening every email, appointment, and call, sellers can examine the overall pattern. Relationship Analytics can be relevant across contacts, accounts, leads, and opportunities. Each provides a slightly different perspective. A contact focuses on the relationship with an individual person. An account provides a broader view of communication with the customer organization. A lead can show whether an early sales conversation remains active. An opportunity connects communication signals with a potential deal. The purpose is not to reduce the relationship to a number. It is to help sellers notice communication patterns that deserve closer investigation.
BASIC RELATIONSHIP INSIGHTS
The episode distinguishes between Basic Relationship Insights and enhanced capabilities. Basic insights use emails, phone calls, and appointments that have been sent, received, or recorded in Dynamics 365. When a related activity is completed, those basic measures can update close to real time. That makes activity tracking extremely important. If a customer call occurs but nobody records it against the correct Dynamics 365 record, Relationship Intelligence cannot properly include that conversation. If an activity is connected with the wrong account or opportunity, the resulting picture becomes less useful. Relationship Intelligence can analyze captured communication. It cannot analyze conversations that the organization never captured.
ENHANCED RELATIONSHIP INSIGHTS
Organizations with the appropriate Dynamics 365 Sales licensing and configuration can use enhanced relationship insights. The episode explains that these capabilities can combine information from Dynamics 365 with email and meeting information from Microsoft Exchange when server-side synchronization is configured. This gives Dynamics 365 access to a broader communication picture. There is an important timing difference. Basic insights can update close to real time when relevant Dynamics 365 activities are completed. Enhanced insights operate on a 24-hour update cycle according to the supplied episode. That means sellers should not necessarily expect a message sent several minutes ago to immediately affect every enhanced relationship measure.
EMAIL SENT VS EMAIL RECEIVED
One useful relationship measure compares emails sent by the organization with emails received from the customer. Imagine a salesperson sends eight emails. The customer replies once. That does not automatically mean the opportunity is failing. Perhaps the customer prefers meetings or telephone calls. But the pattern raises a useful question: Are we having a conversation, or are we repeatedly sending messages without meaningful engagement? The opposite pattern can also expose problems. Perhaps the customer repeatedly sends questions while the sales team responds slowly. In that situation, the customer may be highly engaged while the organization itself is creating friction. The metric does not provide the answer. It tells the seller where to investigate.
THE 60-DAY RELATIONSHIP ACTIVITY VIEW The episode describes a Relationship Activities view that looks across 60 days of communication activity. Instead of showing only a total number, the view separates activities by date and type. Sellers can examine patterns involving emails sent and received, meetings sent and received, and phone calls made and received. This makes the rhythm of the relationship visible. A customer relationship containing regular communication across the entire period looks very different from one containing intense activity during the first week followed by several weeks of silence. The quiet period could mean many things. Perhaps a proposal was delivered and nobody followed up. Maybe a meeting was cancelled. Perhaps the customer deliberately asked the seller to wait until another date. Relationship Analytics shows the pattern. The salesperson provides the business context.
RESPONSE TIME AS A SALES SIGNAL
Enhanced insights can also include response time. This compares how quickly sellers respond to customers with how quickly customers respond to sellers. Slow customer responses can indicate reduced attention. But slow seller responses can create exactly the same problem from the opposite direction. If an interested customer repeatedly waits several days for answers, they may eventually stop asking questions. Response time can therefore expose small problems before they become larger sales issues. It gives sellers and managers another signal for understanding whether communication is moving naturally or becoming increasingly difficult.
HOURLY INVESTMENT
Another enhanced measure discussed in the episode is hourly investment. This compares the amount of time the organization spends around a sales record with the amount of time customer contacts spend. Imagine two opportunities. In the first, the sales team spends many hours on meetings, calls, and communication while the customer contributes relatively little time. In the second, both sides regularly participate. Those represent different engagement patterns. Hourly investment does not determine which opportunity will close. A short conversation with a senior decision-maker may be considerably more important than several long meetings. But the metric can highlight situations where effort appears heavily one-sided.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is Dynamics 365 Relationship Intelligence?
It is a feature built into Dynamics 365 Sales that acts like a radar for your customer relationships, combining communication signals from emails, meetings, and calls to evaluate relationship health and identify collaboration opportunities.
What is the difference between basic and enhanced relationship insights?
Basic insights rely purely on activities recorded directly inside Dynamics 365 and update in near real-time. Enhanced insights require specific licenses and server-side synchronization with Microsoft Exchange to pull broader email and meeting data on a 24-hour update cycle.
How does relationship health work in Dynamics 365 Sales?
Relationship health acts like a car dashboard warning light, categorizing relationships as good, fair, or poor based on factors like communication frequency, recency, engagement, and sentiment so sellers know where to focus their attention.
Does Relationship Intelligence replace a salesperson's judgment?
No, relationship intelligence does not replace human judgment. Signals like slow responses or quiet periods are meant to act as conversation starters or reasons to investigate further, not as absolute predictions of whether a deal will close.
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Welcome to another episode of Microsoft Knowledge Nuggets.
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I'm Mirko Peters.
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Today, we're looking at a hidden problem inside Dynamics 365 sales.
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You open a deal record and see emails, tasks, and meeting notes.
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Everything looks active.
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But what if the customer has already stopped talking to you?
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Here's why that matters.
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Your email sits in Outlook, your calendar keeps your meetings,
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a phone call might land in Dynamics 365,
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and a useful note might end up somewhere completely different.
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By the end of this Knowledge Nugget,
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you'll understand how relationship intelligence pulls all those signals together,
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your spot, relationship health,
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see communication patterns, and find possible warm introductions
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without jumping between five tools.
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Think of it as a relationship desk inside Dynamics 365 sales.
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It watches who's talking to whom and whether the conversation is still alive.
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Our, our, our, why sales teams need relationship intelligence.
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So let's imagine you open an opportunity on a Friday afternoon.
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The amount looks solid and the close date is still ahead.
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The timeline shows several activities, so the record seems active.
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But here's the real question.
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When was the last time the customer actually replied?
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Suppose you sent three emails over two weeks and got no response.
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Maybe the last meeting was a month ago.
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Your colleague might have spoken to an important contact,
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but you'd never know because you only checked your own inbox.
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The CRM holds customer information,
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but information alone doesn't tell you if the relationship is healthy.
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For a long time, sellers filled that gap using memory alone.
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So A, searching their inbox, scanning their calendar,
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checking CRM notes, trying to remember who talked to whom.
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That works when you manage five deals,
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but when you're juggling dozens of leads, accounts, and opportunities,
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it breaks down.
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Small warning signs are the first to disappear.
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You might remember a great meeting from last month
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and feel good about the deal while the customer has stopped replying.
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A manager sees an opportunity marked open and assumes you have a plan.
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When the next conversation hasn't even been scheduled,
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the record looks fine, but the relationship may not be.
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Think of the CRM record as a customer file inside a filing cabinet.
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It holds the company name, contacts, deal amount, notes, and logged activities.
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Relationship intelligence is like someone opening that file and asking,
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are we still talking to these people?
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Kua?
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Oran is the conversation going both ways?
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That question changes how you prioritize your day.
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Activity counts can fool you.
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10 emails with no reply, and that's not a strong relationship.
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Several internal tasks that never involve the customer, that's busy work.
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On the other hand, a short conversation with the right decision-maker
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can move a deal forward more than a long list of unanswered messages.
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So activity needs context.
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You want to know if contact happened recently,
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whether the customer responds, and whether quiet periods mean forgotten opportunities.
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And when you're reaching out to a new lead,
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you want to know if someone in your company already knows them.
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Relationship intelligence brings those questions into the sales record,
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instead of leaving you to piece together the answer from memory.
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Now it won't predict every sale.
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Can't tell you why a customer changed priorities or lost budget.
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A number on a screen can't replace listening carefully during a real conversation,
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but it can point you toward the relationships that need attention.
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That means less time hunting through separate tools and more time deciding what to do next.
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Maybe you schedule a follow-up, contact a different person at the customer,
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or ask a colleague for background before reaching out.
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Behind those prompts, sit two connected building blocks, and each handles a different part of the relationship story.
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Oh, oh, oh, what relationship intelligence actually is.
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So what exactly is relationship intelligence?
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Let me explain it in plain English.
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Think of it as a radar for your sales relationships.
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Inside Dynamics 365 sales, this feature does two things.
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First, it shows you the health of a customer relationship.
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Second, it finds colleagues who already know someone you need to reach.
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Instead of digging through emails and call logs manually,
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you get a dashboard that reads all the communication tied to your sales records
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and turns that activity into signals you can actually use while you're working.
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Let's break that down into two core pieces.
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The first building block is relationship analytics and health.
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This piece watches the pattern of contact around a lead, contact account, or opportunity.
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Instead of seeing a pile of separate activities,
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you see the shape of the whole conversation.
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That's the real difference.
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The second piece is called Who Knows Whom.
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This tool scans your company for co-workers who already have a connection with a lead or contact.
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So instead of starting from zero with a cold call, you can ask for a warm introduction.
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Much better, right?
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Here's what I mean.
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Imagine a normal sales week.
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You send an email after a discovery call.
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A customer replies with a question.
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Someone on your team schedules a meeting.
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A phone call gets logged in Dynamics 365.
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Each item looks small on its own,
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but together they tell a complete story about the relationship.
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Relationship intelligence reads that story for you.
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For basic insights, Dynamics 365 uses emails, phone calls,
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and appointments that people send, receive, or record in the system.
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Once a related activity is marked complete,
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those basic signals update close to real time.
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That means the picture depends entirely on activity being connected to the right sales record.
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Actually, let me clear this up.
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If a seller logs a call against the wrong account,
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the picture becomes less useful.
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If nobody records customer activity at all,
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Dynamics 365 has less to work with.
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The tool can organize communication signals,
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but it cannot fill in conversations that were never captured.
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That's just how it works.
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Some organizations also use enhanced insights.
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With the right Dynamics 365 sales license,
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setup and server-side synchronization relationship intelligence
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can pull information from both Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Exchange.
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Exchange is the service behind business email and calendars in Microsoft 365.
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In that setup, email and meeting information
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can add more context to the relationship picture.
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But here's the important detail.
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Enhanced relationship insights update every 24 hours,
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not right after each completed activity.
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That difference matters when you look at a record.
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Basic insights give you a view based on activity already in Dynamics 365.
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Enhanced insights can provide a broader view
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when exchange data is connected
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and your organization has set it up properly.
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As a seller, you do not need to memorize the technical setup,
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but you should know why one colleague might see more detail than another.
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It is not magic.
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It is just different data sources working behind the scenes.
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Now, let me clear up a common misunderstanding.
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None of this replaces your judgment.
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A customer may reply less often
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because they are busy closing their fiscal year,
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not because the deal is failing.
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A quiet week may actually follow a very productive meeting.
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A busy email thread might signal confusion instead of progress.
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So do not treat a signal like a final answer.
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Use it as a reason to look closer.
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Imagine opening an opportunity
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before your weekly pipeline review.
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Instead of guessing whether the relationship feels active,
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you see the pattern of contact around that deal.
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Then you can ask a better question,
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"Who should I speak with next?"
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And what should that conversation be about?
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That is the real job of relationship intelligence.
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It turns normal sales communication into useful context
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inside Dynamics 365 sales.
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So the record helps you choose your next action.
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Relationship analytics takes that context further
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by putting the conversation interviews
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and measures you can read quickly.
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That brings us to our next piece,
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O-O-O, relationship analytics, reading the conversation.
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Relationship analytics takes all the activity
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around a sales record and builds a picture you can read
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without digging through every email
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and calendar entry manually.
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You can use it on contacts, accounts, leads and opportunities.
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Each record answers a slightly different question.
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A contact shows your relationship with one person
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and accounts shows the wider customer company.
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A lead helps you see whether an early conversation
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has any life left in it.
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An opportunity lets you look at the people
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and activity connected to a possible deal.
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The goal is not to judge a seller by a number.
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It helps a seller notice where the conversation needs
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a closer look.
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That is the whole point.
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Start with a simple version called Basic Relationship Insights.
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It uses emails, phone calls and appointments
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that have been sent, received or recorded in Dynamics 365.
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Once someone completes a related activity,
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the measures update close to real time.
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So you finish a customer call and market complete.
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Soon after, that call becomes part of the activity picture
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for the related record.
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If you schedule a meeting, send an email or receive one
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that is tracked against the customer,
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those actions build the history too.
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The quality of the view follows the quality of the records.
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If people link activities to the correct contact,
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account, lead or opportunity, the picture becomes useful.
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If a team leaves calls unlogged
186
00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:33,120
or attaches meetings to the wrong place,
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the view can only report the information it receives.
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There is no substitute for good data entry.
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00:07:37,640 --> 00:07:40,520
Some teams use enhanced relationship insights instead.
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00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:43,960
Enhanced insights need the right sales license, admin setup
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and server-side synchronization with exchange.
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In plain English, Dynamics 365 can then use more email
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00:07:49,240 --> 00:07:51,480
and meeting information from the business email system
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alongside the activity already inside Dynamics 365.
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00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:57,720
That gives the sales record a wider view of communication.
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00:07:57,720 --> 00:07:59,120
One practical detail to remember,
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enhanced insights update every 24 hours.
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00:08:01,600 --> 00:08:03,960
So do not expect a message from 10 minutes ago
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to appear in every measure right away.
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Basic insights respond close to real time
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after activities are completed in Dynamics 365,
202
00:08:11,160 --> 00:08:13,920
while enhanced insights work on a daily update cycle.
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00:08:13,920 --> 00:08:15,640
That difference matters when you are checking
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00:08:15,640 --> 00:08:16,960
on yesterday's conversation.
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00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:17,960
So what can you actually see?
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00:08:17,960 --> 00:08:20,600
One useful measure compares emails sent by your team
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00:08:20,600 --> 00:08:22,440
with emails received from the customer.
208
00:08:22,440 --> 00:08:24,320
Imagine a seller sends eight messages
209
00:08:24,320 --> 00:08:26,440
and the customer sends one short reply.
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00:08:26,440 --> 00:08:28,040
That does not prove the deal is dead.
211
00:08:28,040 --> 00:08:30,160
The customer might prefer meetings or phone calls.
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00:08:30,160 --> 00:08:31,520
Still it asks a fair question,
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00:08:31,520 --> 00:08:32,800
are you having a conversation
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00:08:32,800 --> 00:08:35,360
or are you sending reminders into an empty inbox?
215
00:08:35,360 --> 00:08:36,840
The ratio can also point the other way.
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00:08:36,840 --> 00:08:38,320
If the customer sends many questions
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00:08:38,320 --> 00:08:40,200
and your team takes a long time to respond,
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00:08:40,200 --> 00:08:41,800
the issue may sit on your side.
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00:08:41,800 --> 00:08:43,560
The number does not tell you what to write next,
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00:08:43,560 --> 00:08:46,040
but it can stop you from missing an uneven pattern.
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00:08:46,040 --> 00:08:48,000
Then there is the relationship activities view.
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00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:49,720
This view looks back across 60 days
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00:08:49,720 --> 00:08:51,600
and sorts activity by date and type.
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You can see email sent and received,
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meeting sent and received,
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00:08:54,080 --> 00:08:55,640
and phone calls made and received.
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00:08:55,640 --> 00:08:56,800
Instead of one total number,
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00:08:56,800 --> 00:08:58,840
you see the rhythm of contact.
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00:08:58,840 --> 00:09:00,960
A busy first week followed by three quiet weeks
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00:09:00,960 --> 00:09:02,200
tells a very different story
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00:09:02,200 --> 00:09:04,120
from regular meetings across the whole period.
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That gap matters.
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00:09:05,160 --> 00:09:06,920
Maybe the customer asked for a proposal
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00:09:06,920 --> 00:09:08,000
and nobody followed up.
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00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:10,640
Maybe a meeting was canceled and never replaced,
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00:09:10,640 --> 00:09:13,320
or perhaps the team agreed to pause until a certain date,
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00:09:13,320 --> 00:09:15,360
which means the quiet period is expected.
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00:09:15,360 --> 00:09:17,040
Relationship analytics shows the pattern
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00:09:17,040 --> 00:09:18,320
while you bring the context.
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00:09:18,320 --> 00:09:19,800
For some records, enhanced insights
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00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:21,280
also include response time.
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00:09:21,280 --> 00:09:23,400
This compares how long your sellers take
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00:09:23,400 --> 00:09:25,040
to answer customer emails
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00:09:25,040 --> 00:09:27,400
with how long customers take to answer yours.
245
00:09:27,400 --> 00:09:30,000
Slow customer replies can suggest low attention,
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00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:31,920
but slow seller replies can create
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00:09:31,920 --> 00:09:33,840
the same problem from the other side.
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00:09:33,840 --> 00:09:35,560
A customer who waits four days for an answer
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00:09:35,560 --> 00:09:36,960
may stop asking entirely.
250
00:09:36,960 --> 00:09:39,680
That is why response time is more than just a score.
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00:09:39,680 --> 00:09:41,840
It can reveal a small delay in the sales process
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00:09:41,840 --> 00:09:43,480
before it becomes a larger problem.
253
00:09:43,480 --> 00:09:45,760
A manager can spot a pattern across accounts
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00:09:45,760 --> 00:09:47,800
while a seller can look at one relationship
255
00:09:47,800 --> 00:09:50,480
and decide whether a reply needs to go out today.
256
00:09:50,480 --> 00:09:52,640
Another enhanced measure is hourly investment.
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00:09:52,640 --> 00:09:54,400
This compares the time sellers spend
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00:09:54,400 --> 00:09:56,800
with the time customer contact spend around a record.
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00:09:56,800 --> 00:09:58,040
Think about two opportunities.
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00:09:58,040 --> 00:10:01,400
On one, your team has put many hours into calls, meetings,
261
00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:03,360
and emails while the customer has spent
262
00:10:03,360 --> 00:10:04,360
very little time.
263
00:10:04,360 --> 00:10:06,440
On the other, both sides have joined meetings
264
00:10:06,440 --> 00:10:07,960
and kept the conversation going.
265
00:10:07,960 --> 00:10:09,840
Those are not the same kind of engagement.
266
00:10:09,840 --> 00:10:12,680
Auerly investment does not decide which deal will close.
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00:10:12,680 --> 00:10:15,440
A short customer meeting can matter more than a long internal call
268
00:10:15,440 --> 00:10:17,800
and some buying processes naturally take time,
269
00:10:17,800 --> 00:10:20,000
but it helps you spot where effort may be running
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00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:21,120
in one direction.
271
00:10:21,120 --> 00:10:23,360
Opportunities can also show similar one deals
272
00:10:23,360 --> 00:10:25,560
when enhanced insights are available.
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00:10:25,560 --> 00:10:28,440
Dynamics 365 can list closed one opportunities
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00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:30,320
it considers similar to the current one.
275
00:10:30,320 --> 00:10:32,720
You look at activity counts, time spent, response time,
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00:10:32,720 --> 00:10:35,960
and response ratio from those past deals as a reference.
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00:10:35,960 --> 00:10:38,440
It is not a copy and paste, sales plan.
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00:10:38,440 --> 00:10:42,120
Every customer has different people, needs, budgets, and timing.
279
00:10:42,120 --> 00:10:45,040
Still, if previous wins usually involved regular meetings
280
00:10:45,040 --> 00:10:48,000
and fast customer replies while your current deal has neither,
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00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:49,640
that difference deserves attention.
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00:10:49,640 --> 00:10:51,360
The activity views give you the evidence.
283
00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:53,680
Next, relationship health turns that evidence
284
00:10:53,680 --> 00:10:56,400
into a quicker signal for where your attention may belong.
285
00:10:56,400 --> 00:10:59,360
Oh, oh, oh, relationship.
286
00:10:59,360 --> 00:11:02,080
Health, a warning light, not a crystal ball.
287
00:11:02,080 --> 00:11:04,200
The activity views give you detail.
288
00:11:04,200 --> 00:11:06,040
Relationship health gives you a faster way
289
00:11:06,040 --> 00:11:08,200
to spot where a relationship may need attention.
290
00:11:08,200 --> 00:11:10,720
Think of it like the warning light on a car dashboard.
291
00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:14,120
A warning light doesn't tell you exactly which part needs repair.
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00:11:14,120 --> 00:11:15,320
It doesn't fix anything either.
293
00:11:15,320 --> 00:11:17,920
It tells you to stop, check what's happening,
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00:11:17,920 --> 00:11:21,000
and decide what to do before a small problem becomes a bigger one.
295
00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:24,760
That's how relationship health works inside Dynamics 365 sales.
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00:11:24,760 --> 00:11:26,080
It gives the seller a simple view
297
00:11:26,080 --> 00:11:28,280
of the current condition of a customer connection.
298
00:11:28,280 --> 00:11:30,880
Dynamics 365 builds that view from the communication
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00:11:30,880 --> 00:11:32,320
signals around the relationship,
300
00:11:32,320 --> 00:11:33,840
assures our activity, how recent it is,
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00:11:33,840 --> 00:11:36,000
engagement and the sentiment inside those activities.
302
00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:37,640
Let's put those words into plain English.
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00:11:37,640 --> 00:11:40,520
Activity means contact between your team and the customer.
304
00:11:40,520 --> 00:11:42,800
Emails, meetings, calls connected to the record.
305
00:11:42,800 --> 00:11:45,080
Recent contact asks whether that communication happened
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00:11:45,080 --> 00:11:46,680
recently rather than months ago.
307
00:11:46,680 --> 00:11:49,280
Engagement looks at whether both sides take part.
308
00:11:49,280 --> 00:11:52,000
If your team keeps sending messages and the customer never
309
00:11:52,000 --> 00:11:53,720
responds, that pattern is different
310
00:11:53,720 --> 00:11:56,960
from a customer who asks questions, attends meetings,
311
00:11:56,960 --> 00:11:59,120
and keeps the discussion moving.
312
00:11:59,120 --> 00:12:02,240
Sentiment looks at the tone found in the recorded activity,
313
00:12:02,240 --> 00:12:03,920
adding another clue to the bigger picture.
314
00:12:03,920 --> 00:12:07,040
From those signals, Dynamics 365 can show relationship health
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00:12:07,040 --> 00:12:09,400
as good, fair or poor.
316
00:12:09,400 --> 00:12:11,240
Good means the relationship signals look healthy
317
00:12:11,240 --> 00:12:13,080
based on what the system can see.
318
00:12:13,080 --> 00:12:15,120
Fair means something may need a closer look.
319
00:12:15,120 --> 00:12:17,120
Poor means the record has signals that suggest
320
00:12:17,120 --> 00:12:18,800
the relationship could be at risk.
321
00:12:18,800 --> 00:12:20,440
Those labels help you sort your attention
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00:12:20,440 --> 00:12:22,680
without making a final judgment on a deal.
323
00:12:22,680 --> 00:12:25,040
Imagine an opportunity where the timeline contains
324
00:12:25,040 --> 00:12:26,120
plenty of old emails.
325
00:12:26,120 --> 00:12:28,000
At first glance, the record looks busy,
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00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:29,960
but there have been no recent customer replies,
327
00:12:29,960 --> 00:12:32,040
no new meeting, and no follow-up planned.
328
00:12:32,040 --> 00:12:33,040
The health may drop.
329
00:12:33,040 --> 00:12:34,640
That doesn't automatically mean the customer
330
00:12:34,640 --> 00:12:35,840
has rejected your proposal.
331
00:12:35,840 --> 00:12:37,400
They could be in a busy period,
332
00:12:37,400 --> 00:12:38,800
waiting for an internal decision,
333
00:12:38,800 --> 00:12:40,600
or dealing with a delayed project.
334
00:12:40,600 --> 00:12:42,640
But now the seller has a reason to check the record
335
00:12:42,640 --> 00:12:44,400
instead of assuming the old activity means
336
00:12:44,400 --> 00:12:46,120
the relationship is still active.
337
00:12:46,120 --> 00:12:47,760
The direction of the health signal often
338
00:12:47,760 --> 00:12:49,600
tells you more than a single label.
339
00:12:49,600 --> 00:12:51,280
A relationship that stays good over time
340
00:12:51,280 --> 00:12:53,200
looks different from one that drops from good to fair
341
00:12:53,200 --> 00:12:54,760
during an important stage of a sale.
342
00:12:54,760 --> 00:12:57,400
In the same way, a relationship moving from poor to fair
343
00:12:57,400 --> 00:12:59,640
after a useful customer meeting may show
344
00:12:59,640 --> 00:13:01,120
that contact has started again.
345
00:13:01,120 --> 00:13:02,120
Watch the movement.
346
00:13:02,120 --> 00:13:04,080
A single score gives you a snapshot.
347
00:13:04,080 --> 00:13:06,720
The trend shows whether the relationship is gaining attention,
348
00:13:06,720 --> 00:13:08,600
losing attention, or staying flat
349
00:13:08,600 --> 00:13:10,520
while the deal moves through its stages.
350
00:13:10,520 --> 00:13:13,200
Sellers can see relationship health on opportunity forms,
351
00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:15,000
in list views and in charts.
352
00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:17,600
That changes the daily work of managing a pipeline.
353
00:13:17,600 --> 00:13:19,640
Instead of opening every record one by one,
354
00:13:19,640 --> 00:13:22,280
you can scan for opportunities that need a closer look.
355
00:13:22,280 --> 00:13:25,440
A manager can also use those views during a pipeline review
356
00:13:25,440 --> 00:13:28,520
rather than asking only, is this deal still on track?
357
00:13:28,520 --> 00:13:31,240
They can ask, what changed in the customer contact?
358
00:13:31,240 --> 00:13:32,760
And what are we doing next?
359
00:13:32,760 --> 00:13:34,640
The conversation becomes more specific.
360
00:13:34,640 --> 00:13:36,600
That's usually more useful for the seller too.
361
00:13:36,600 --> 00:13:38,520
Your Dynamics 365 administrator can shape
362
00:13:38,520 --> 00:13:40,280
how the score works for your organization.
363
00:13:40,280 --> 00:13:41,600
They can change the weight,
364
00:13:41,600 --> 00:13:43,120
give it to different activity types
365
00:13:43,120 --> 00:13:45,760
and set the expected level of customer communication.
366
00:13:45,760 --> 00:13:48,040
That matters because a sales team closing large projects
367
00:13:48,040 --> 00:13:50,160
over many months won't communicate in the same pattern
368
00:13:50,160 --> 00:13:52,600
as a team selling a shorter service contract.
369
00:13:52,600 --> 00:13:54,880
The health signal should fit the sales process.
370
00:13:54,880 --> 00:13:57,760
As a seller, your response stays practical.
371
00:13:57,760 --> 00:14:00,080
Open the record, look at the activity story,
372
00:14:00,080 --> 00:14:02,240
check who is engaged, who has gone quiet,
373
00:14:02,240 --> 00:14:04,520
and whether a next conversation is already planned,
374
00:14:04,520 --> 00:14:05,800
then choose a real action.
375
00:14:05,800 --> 00:14:07,160
Send a focused follow-up,
376
00:14:07,160 --> 00:14:08,920
call the person who owns the decision,
377
00:14:08,920 --> 00:14:10,040
schedule the next meeting,
378
00:14:10,040 --> 00:14:12,480
lock that next step in Dynamics 365.
379
00:14:12,480 --> 00:14:13,960
Then watch how the relationship changes
380
00:14:13,960 --> 00:14:15,480
after the customer responds.
381
00:14:15,480 --> 00:14:17,280
Relationship health tells you where to look.
382
00:14:17,280 --> 00:14:18,480
It can't replace the conversation
383
00:14:18,480 --> 00:14:20,680
that brings a customer back into the deal.
384
00:14:20,680 --> 00:14:23,480
Oh, oh, oh, who knows whom,
385
00:14:23,480 --> 00:14:25,520
finding the warm introduction.
386
00:14:25,520 --> 00:14:27,400
A relationship health signal helps you care
387
00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:29,240
for an existing customer connection.
388
00:14:29,240 --> 00:14:31,880
But what happens when you need to reach someone new
389
00:14:31,880 --> 00:14:33,520
and don't know them at all?
390
00:14:33,520 --> 00:14:35,320
Most sellers start with a cold email.
391
00:14:35,320 --> 00:14:37,440
You find a lead, write a thoughtful message,
392
00:14:37,440 --> 00:14:39,600
and hope it reaches the right person at the right time.
393
00:14:39,600 --> 00:14:40,720
Sometimes that works.
394
00:14:40,720 --> 00:14:42,400
Often though, the lead receives messages
395
00:14:42,400 --> 00:14:43,920
from many sellers every week,
396
00:14:43,920 --> 00:14:45,680
and yours joins a crowded inbox,
397
00:14:45,680 --> 00:14:47,640
who knows whom gives you another place to start.
398
00:14:47,640 --> 00:14:49,280
It looks for colleagues in your organization
399
00:14:49,280 --> 00:14:51,000
who already have a connection with the lead
400
00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:52,520
or contact you want to reach.
401
00:14:52,520 --> 00:14:55,000
If Dynamics 365 finds a connection,
402
00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:57,640
it can show you the colleague's name and email address.
403
00:14:57,640 --> 00:14:59,480
You can then ask them for an introduction.
404
00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:01,040
Think of a new lead named Alex.
405
00:15:01,040 --> 00:15:01,880
You haven't met Alex.
406
00:15:01,880 --> 00:15:04,280
Nobody on your immediate sales team has mentioned them.
407
00:15:04,280 --> 00:15:05,880
Yet a colleague in another department
408
00:15:05,880 --> 00:15:08,800
exchanged emails with Alex or met with them before.
409
00:15:08,800 --> 00:15:11,280
Who knows whom can bring that connection interview
410
00:15:11,280 --> 00:15:13,240
rather than leaving you to discover it by chance
411
00:15:13,240 --> 00:15:14,800
during a hallway conversation.
412
00:15:14,800 --> 00:15:16,440
The goal isn't a skip relationship building.
413
00:15:16,440 --> 00:15:18,280
It helps you begin with context.
414
00:15:18,280 --> 00:15:19,920
Your colleague might tell you that Alex focuses
415
00:15:19,920 --> 00:15:22,000
on a certain problem prefers a direct conversation
416
00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:24,280
or already knows your company from a past project.
417
00:15:24,280 --> 00:15:25,560
That small amount of background
418
00:15:25,560 --> 00:15:27,720
can change the first message you send.
419
00:15:27,720 --> 00:15:30,320
For basic insights, Dynamics 365 uses emails
420
00:15:30,320 --> 00:15:33,000
and appointments recorded in Dynamics 365.
421
00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:34,560
It can suggest up to five colleagues
422
00:15:34,560 --> 00:15:36,200
who contacted that person most often
423
00:15:36,200 --> 00:15:37,840
through those emails and appointments.
424
00:15:37,840 --> 00:15:39,560
Frequency drives those basic suggestions.
425
00:15:39,560 --> 00:15:42,040
If one colleague exchanged the most messages
426
00:15:42,040 --> 00:15:44,160
or attended the most appointments with the lead,
427
00:15:44,160 --> 00:15:46,760
that colleague is more likely to appear near the top.
428
00:15:46,760 --> 00:15:49,600
Phone calls don't shape those basic suggestions.
429
00:15:49,600 --> 00:15:51,160
Sys or Al-Tam-Oa.
430
00:15:51,160 --> 00:15:52,760
Person who spoke often by phone
431
00:15:52,760 --> 00:15:54,240
may not show up in the list.
432
00:15:54,240 --> 00:15:57,200
Enhanced insights can use Dynamics 365 information
433
00:15:57,200 --> 00:15:59,440
along with email and meeting information from exchange
434
00:15:59,440 --> 00:16:00,960
when your organization has connected it
435
00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:02,960
through server-side synchronization.
436
00:16:02,960 --> 00:16:05,400
In that case, the system considers both frequency
437
00:16:05,400 --> 00:16:07,200
and how recent the contact is.
438
00:16:07,200 --> 00:16:09,840
A colleague who spoke with the lead, often a year ago,
439
00:16:09,840 --> 00:16:11,880
may not be the best person to ask today.
440
00:16:11,880 --> 00:16:13,720
Someone who has a recent and regular connection
441
00:16:13,720 --> 00:16:15,120
probably has more current context.
442
00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:17,040
So recent contact carries way too.
443
00:16:17,040 --> 00:16:19,320
Every seller sees the same suggested introduces
444
00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:21,240
for a particular lead or contact.
445
00:16:21,240 --> 00:16:22,960
That gives the team a shared starting point
446
00:16:22,960 --> 00:16:24,480
instead of a private list that changes
447
00:16:24,480 --> 00:16:26,120
depending on who opens the record.
448
00:16:26,120 --> 00:16:27,600
It also means you should still speak
449
00:16:27,600 --> 00:16:29,560
with the colleague before you act.
450
00:16:29,560 --> 00:16:31,960
A suggestion tells you that communication happened.
451
00:16:31,960 --> 00:16:33,480
It doesn't tell you whether the relationship
452
00:16:33,480 --> 00:16:36,720
feels positive, current or appropriate for an introduction.
453
00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:39,960
The lead or contact can sit outside your exchange organization.
454
00:16:39,960 --> 00:16:41,920
Your colleague works inside your organization.
455
00:16:41,920 --> 00:16:43,560
The person you want to reach may work
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at a customer or prospect company
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who knows whom searches for that link
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through the communication data available to Dynamics 365.
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A warm introduction still needs good manners.
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Don't treat a colleague's past contact
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as permission to use their relationship.
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Send a short note, explain who you want to meet and why.
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Ask whether they know the person well enough to introduce you.
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Ask whether there is anything you should know first.
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Maybe they introduce you, maybe they tell you
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the person changed jobs, the timing is wrong,
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or another colleague owns that relationship.
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All of those answers save you from an awkward first approach.
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Who knows whom doesn't turn a stranger into a customer?
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It helps you find the right human connection
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before you send the first message.
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O-O-O. A simple sales day example.
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Let's walk through a real day.
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Imagine you start your morning with a list
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of open opportunities sitting in front of you.
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Maybe a deal catches your eye
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because the relationship health score feels shaky
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or the recent trend has taken a dip.
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Instead of guessing what went wrong,
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you pull up that opportunity
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and look at the communication history around it.
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The activity timeline tells you
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there have been fewer customer meetings lately.
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You also notice that replies have slowed down
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even though your team kept sending messages their way.
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That doesn't automatically mean the deal is dead,
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so it just means a generic just checking in email
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isn't going to cut it anymore.
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So you check the contacts connected
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to that specific opportunity.
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One person was in the earlier meetings
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and asked some detailed questions along the way,
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but nobody has reached out to them recently.
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You write a focused message based on that last open question
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they had, or you pick up the phone
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and ask if their team still needs help working
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through that part of the decision.
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Later in the day, a new lead shows up in Dynamics 365.
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You don't know this person at all,
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so before sending any cold email, you open, who knows whom.
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The record shows a colleague who has communicated
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with that lead before.
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You message your colleague first,
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asking how they know them,
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whether an introduction makes sense,
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and what context would help?
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If they say yes, you start that first conversation
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with a real connection and a reason to talk,
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not just another message that could have gone to anyone,
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that's how these tools fit into an actual normal day.
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They don't choose your words for you.
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They don't run the sale on your behalf.
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They just help you spend your time
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on the next conversation
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that actually has a clear reason behind it.
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That's the whole point.
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Oh, oh, oh, conclusion.
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Use the signals, then have the conversation.
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So relationship intelligence takes all that customer contact data
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and internal connections
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and turns it into useful context you can actually act on.
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But the seller still has to make the move.
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00:18:59,760 --> 00:19:02,000
Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform,
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00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:03,160
then check out the next knowledge
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00:19:03,160 --> 00:19:05,520
nugget on Dynamics 365 sales building blocks
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00:19:05,520 --> 00:19:07,120
and how they all fit together.
