Artificial Intelligence, often referred to as AI, continues to grow in popularity across marketing, sales, and other areas across a company’s operational processes. One prevalent example of how AI is currently being used is to personalise the customer experience - often by the use of chatbots or virtual assistants which manage complaints, answer questions, or offer suggestions based on previous actions. For many companies, however, there is a bigger opportunity when AI is used to understand sales and marketing KPI’s by proactively identifying gaps and improvements. By recognising the cause of problems and offering the best solution, the use of AI not only saves time but also reduces the probability of issues happening in the future.
For homebuilders, the use of AI can ultimately convert more enquiries to reservations. By combining Dynamics 365 with Sales Insights, homebuilders gain greater visibility of data (which is stored in one place), that in turn delivers faster, live sales and marketing reporting. As Dynamics 365 Sales Insights continuously analyses customer-interaction data, businesses and sellers gain a better understanding of customer relationships; previous and future activities; and consequently, a better understanding of the best path to take. By understanding customers and their journeys, homes sales executives and advisors can form a stronger connection with them – converting purchasers into reservations faster.
There are four areas of Dynamics 365 Sales Insights: Guided Selling, Productivity Intelligence, Connection Insights and Predictive Models. These key areas work together to provide intelligent insights of all data, forming a joined-up view of enquiry or sales information.
The AI assistant provides suggestions to the seller, for personalised insights which guide them on the best route for each homebuyer. By analysing data from Dynamics 365 as well as other sources, Sales Insights can configure prioritisation, driving the sales advisor to the customer that is more likely to make a reservation.
A key advantage of incorporating AI into sales and marketing is that it minimises data entry whilst providing real-time suggestions, thus saving valuable time for the sales advisor. The Auto Capture tool tracks customer engagement through emails and meetings. Based on these activities, it makes suggestions for new contacts. The Email Engagement feature works alongside Auto Capture by learning how sellers interact with customers, and then aiding in writing creative, persuasive emails and prioritising the most engaged contacts. Notes Analysis continues to enhance productivity by offering suggestions based on notes taken during meetings, proposing further actions or activities based on the information. Lastly, Sales Accelerator and Sequence tailors the sales experience to customers by accumulating the data from a variety of sources and distinguishing the best customer to reach based on the likelihood of a sale.
While saving time is a significant benefit of AI, it also improves customer satisfaction and promotes faster sales by building stronger relationships with customers; therefore, mitigating risk. The Conversation Intelligence feature is one of the most notable features across Sales Insights. By monitoring calls, it gives sales advisors the option to playback conversations and read transcripts to recap discussions. The feature also provides sales advisors with pipeline and deal information, as well as KPI updates, helping to transform engagements into revenue. The Talking Points feature provides sales advisors with conversation topics based on prior emails, whether it’s specific areas that the customer previously mentioned, information on family, or general likes/dislikes. The sales advisor can then use this to continue to build a strong relationship with the buyer while using the data to find a suitable property.
Predictive lead/opportunity scoring helps to streamline revenue generation efforts by prioritising the leads or opportunities that are most likely to enquire or make a reservation. Premium forecasting makes predictions with assistance from historical and sales pipeline data.
By increasing efficiency and saving time, the sales team can focus on closing deals and making appointments. Sales advisors no longer have to rely on just their own judgement to decide which customers are more likely to reserve their next home – AI and the technology supports them to know where to best spend their time. Executive and Directors don’t have to pull together multiple spreadsheets or gather the data to analyse KPIs – AI brings all the data in one place to streamline every aspect of selling. By reliably reporting on performance, proactive recommendations can be made for the next best action, which continues to reduce the risk of problems arising in the future.